The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

No early solution to salinity, waterlogging in Fatehabad
Tribune News Service

Fatehabad, September 2
The Haryana Government's efforts to solve the twin problems of waterlogging and salinity in Fatehabad are unlikely to have any immediate positive result in five badly affected villages while work is underway to plan a strategy to combat the problem in six other villages.

According to a report, over 4,000 acres of agriculture land in as many as 11 villages of the district is badly hit by waterlogging and salinity.

Water having salinity content of more than two deciSiemens per meter (dS/m) is rendered unfit for irrigation and the land affected by salinity in Fatehabad has Mean Soil Salinity up to as much as 11.5 dS/m.

Though the district authorities have initiated moves to reclaim the affected land, a report on the extent of salinity and work plan for the land's reclamation by the Central Soil and Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), Karnal, does not inspire much confidence among affected farmers.

After complaints from farmers, the authorities had announced to solve the problem of waterlogging and soil salinity through the efforts of the CSSRI and the Haryana Operational Pilot Project (HOPP).

The HOPP has been working on reclaiming land affected by waterlogging and salinity in Haryana by adopting the subsurface drainage (SSD) technology developed by the CSSRI for amelioration of about 50,000 hectares of waterlogged and saline irrigation land across India.

The technique involves horizontal perforated corrugated PVC pipes, covered with synthetic filter, installed at about 5 ft below soil surface and at a design gradient surface with laser controlled trencher machines to control watertable depth and drain saline groundwater out of the area by gravity or pumping from an open well into a surface drain flowing adjoining to the area.

A team from CSSRI led by Dr Sushil Kumar Kamra, a Principal Scientist and Head, Division of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering of the Institute, visited Fatehabad recently to prepare a plan for the reclamation of waterlogged land.

Chief Parliamentary Secretary Prahlad Singh Gillankhera, who represents Fatehabad in the state Assembly, and Fatehabad Deputy Commissioner Saket Kumar took the team to some of the worst-affected villages for this purpose.

A report prepared by Dr Kamra suggests that the CSSRI- HOPP has nothing to offer for reclamation of nearly 1,600 acres of land falling in Badopal, Kumharia, Kajal Heri, Mohamedpur Rohi and Chinder villages.

Classifying these villages in cluster A, the report said the villages required vertical tubewells, as conditions suitable for SSD project did not exist in these villages.

Since, the CSSRI-HOPP do not have expertise for vertical tubewell technology, the report has recommended that the task be given to some other agency like the Irrigation Department.

For Banmandori, Pili Mandori, Thuian, Mehuwala, Dhabi Kalan and Khabra Kalan villages falling under cluster B, the CSSRI report suggests subsurface drainage (SSD) technique by setting up an open surface drain for the disposal of saline drainage from nearly 2,400 acres of land.

The SSD technique involves formation of Farmers Drainage Societies (FDS), who could share cost of pumping out saline drainage after initial cost of 200 hours is borne by the HOPP. Incidentally, a similar project started by the HOPP at Banmandori village some time back is hanging fire, as the villagers have not shown interest in constituting FDSs in the village.

Civic bodies cannot take up development activities 'randomly'
Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service

Sirsa, September 2
Municipal corporations, municipal councils and municipal committees in Haryana will no longer be able to carry out development activities, particularly construction of streets, on a pick and choose basis.

Some recent reforms suggested by the Urban Local Bodies Department will also curb the tendency of politicians ordering the construction of streets at their will without even caring to invite tenders first.

After complaints of irregularities in the matter of development, the Director, Urban Local Bodies Department, in a letter to all Deputy Commissioners of Haryana, has suggested some reforms and sought a report within 15 days.

According to the reforms suggested by the department, each and every street in a particular town would be given an ID number mentioning its ward number, street number with the house number from which is starts and the house number where it ends.

After allocation of ID numbers, the authorities will get a survey conducted to know when the street was last constructed and how much money was spent on it.

Since people generally object to construction of some streets because their construction renders their houses low-lying leading to accumulation of water during rains and choking of drainage problem, these issues will have to be taken into account while deciding the level of streets.

As tenders for 50 to 100 development works are taken up together whenever the municipal bodies have funds, the officials normally fail to take care of such important issues.

The letter has also suggested that departments like Public Health Engineering and Telephones should be taken into confidence before starting work so that they could also install their pipes and cables etc at the same time, if needed.

The department had also suggested immediate measures to introduce e-tendering system in municipal bodies, as is being done in other engineering departments.

Nagrik Parishad, Sirsa, an organisation of some enlightened residents from here, had taken up the issues of irregularities in the construction of streets in Sirsa with P Raghavendra Rao, Principal Secretary, Urban Local Bodies, Haryana, and suggested some measures.

The department has adopted many of its suggestions in verbatim. Development work without tenders is an irregularity common to several municipal bodies in Haryana.

In the recent “resignation drama” by Panipat MLA Balbir Pal Shah, clearance of development works worth Rs 4.5 crore that had already been done by the municipality at Shah’s instance, was a major issue.

Further, constructing same streets repeatedly is a common practice, as it involves the use of lesser material and as a result scope for corruption for municipal officials and contractors.

Bridging gap between academic, industry must for growth, says HR expert
Sunit Dhawan
Tribune News Service

Gurgaon, September 2
Knowledge, integrity and professional competence are the qualities which the HR experts look while hiring people for jobs at various levels. Apart from these, the ability to adapt to the changing needs and demands of time is also a must to work and progress smoothly.

This was stated by Jonathan Lawrence, executive vice-president of the Intertek group, in an informal chat with The Tribune during his recent visit to the country.

“Hiring competent professionals, especially specialists in different fields, is one of the toughest tasks for a global HR head,” observed Lawrence, adding that apart from professional excellence, the flexibility of the job aspirant had also to be assessed to fulfill the purpose behind his/her employment in the long run.

The HR expert maintained that bridging the gap between the academic institutions and the industry was a must in order to ensure a healthy growth of both.

“There has to be more interaction between the functionaries of the educational institutions and industry so that they have a fair idea of the framework, requirements and limitations of each other and work in constant synchronisation,” he asserted.

Lawrence pointed out that they recruited professionals from grade-A as well as grade-B academic institutions.

Third-party testing was a pre-requisite for consumer-durable companies according to a recent regulation by the Union Government. Hence, the need for companies providing testing and quality-control services has grown manifold.

A leading service-provider in the field to companies worldwide, Intertek will complete 20 years in India shortly. From a team of 500 when it was established in the country in 2009, the company now has a manpower of 1,600. It provides services in soft-line as well as hard-line sectors which consist of clothing, electrical safety, cargos, petro-chemicals, food security and power generation, among others.

“The process of testing has become highly specialised due to the fact that the products are complicated and consumers have high expectations. In the given scenario, service-providing companies need technical experts to carry out testing and ensure quality control,” Lawrence stated.

He said though most of the manufacturing companies had their own testing facilities, experts at the companies specialising in testing procedures provide value addition by offering recommendations on the designing, quality as well as marketing prospects of a given product.

Medico-legal cases
Doctors to record clear findings on referral slips
To avoid rush of patients at advanced centres
Tribune News service

Chandigarh, September 2
The Haryana Health Department has issued instructions for referring medico-legal cases to higher health institutions.

Now, doctors will have to mention clear findings on the basis of which a patient is being referred to higher centres.

While giving this information, an official spokesman said it had been observed that the medico-legal cases or other patients were being referred to higher centres without any details of examination. Neither the refer slip nor the registers at the hospital indicated that such patients need a treatment at higher centres, he added.

By doing so, there is an unnecessary rush of patients for the want of treatment at the higher centres. The principal medical officer or the medical superintendent of the respective institution would then analyse the cases as to why such patients were being referred to the higher centres. It has also been decided that a standard protocol would be followed for referring the cases.

As per the protocol, whenever a patient enters an emergency ward or an OPD or is already under treatment at the hospital, the doctor will have to thoroughly examine the patient and record the findings on the refer slip or an indoor file. The staff nurse who is making an entry in the register will also have to write the same.

Apart, the medico-legal reports would be prepared as per the ‘Medico Legal Manual-2012’ in detail. The doctor would write clearly the finding on the refer slip as to why a patient is being referred to the higher centres. The medico-legal reports would be carried along with the patients who were being referred to the higher centres, he added.

Kurukshetra University LLB student
'fails' in two papers
'Evaluator did not mark answersheets'
Deepender Deswal/TNS

Hisar, September 2
An LLB student from here has alleged that he was failed in two papers by the evaluator without marking the answer sheets in the first semester in results announced by Kurukshetra University earlier this year.

The student, Ramesh Varma, has been pursing the course from a local college affiliated to Kurukshetra University. The aggrieved student recently submitted a written complaint to the Superintendent of Police, B Satish Balan, demanding registration of a criminal case under the IPC. The SP has assured the student that appropriate action would be taken after a preliminary inquiry into the complaint.

Varma in his complaint stated that he was surprised when he received the results which declared him fail in papers -- Indian Penal Code

(IPC) and Jurisprudence -- though he had attempted all questions in the paper. He filed an application with the university under the Right to Information Act and procured the photocopies of his answer sheets.

"I was taken aback when I found that there was no marking on any of the answers attempted by me in the answer sheets and marks were allotted question-wise on the front-page performa. It indicates that the evaluator did not go through the answers to give marks to each of my written answers," he stated.

The student maintained that it amounted to criminal breach of trust and disobedience of law by a public servant besides forgery. He said he had also applied for revaluation of papers with the university.

A large number of cases of marking anomalies in the answer sheets of students were detected in Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, last year. The 'university had debarred ten evaluators from two to ten years after the inquiry into these cases.

Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojna
Minister to lay foundation stone of 2,144 houses in Sirsa
Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service

Sirsa, September 2
The Union Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Dr Girija Vyas, will soon lay the foundation stone of 2,144 houses to be constructed at a cost of Rs 95 crore in Sirsa under Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojna.

While stating this recently, Member of Parliament Ashok Tanwar said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and other leaders would also be present on the occasion. He said the Haryana Government had accorded approval to make four towns, including Sirsa, slum-free under a pilot project. He said the Municipal Council had also identified the land for the purpose. As many as 2,016 houses would be constructed adjoining Kanganpur village on an area of 55,776 square metre and 128 houses would be built on an area of 28,716 square metre in Khaja Khera near Auto market.

Elaborating on the features of houses, he said each house would have a carpet area of 25.61 square metre having a drawing room, a bed room, a kitchen, a bathroom, a toilet and a balcony. The facilities such as concrete roads, pump station for drinking water, tube well, sewerage, electricity, boundary-facing, and rain-water harvesting would be provided on housing premises. A sum of over Rs 10.94 crore would be spent on providing basis facilities in the entire area. The balance amount would be spent on construction. Ownership rights of houses would be given to beneficiaries, he added.

Tanwar said as many as 3,862 multi-storey houses would be constructed in Sirsa, Ambala, Rohtak and Yamunanagar towns at a cost of Rs 311.09 crore. Initially, 2,144 houses would be built in Sirsa on a pilot-project basis. Similarly, 1,518 houses would be constructed at Rohtak and 200 at Ambala. Hundreds of houses would also be constructed at Yamunanagar at a cost of Rs 60 crore. All these houses would be constructed by Haryana Housing Board. Every house would cost Rs 3.51 lakh. Fifty per cent cost would be borne by the Central Government and the rest 50 per cent would be shared by the state government and the beneficiary. The beneficiary would have to pay a marginal cost of the house. Apart from this, the cost borne by the beneficiary would also be financed by the DRI Scheme of nationalised banks on low rate of interest.

Alluring insurance sops bane for vehicle owners
Consumers lured by offers like cashless insurance, free insurance
Bhanu P Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Karnal, September 2
The attractive policies for insurance of automobiles offered by the insurance companies have become bane for the policy holders who are falling prey to the alleged nexus between the private insurance companies, automobile dealers and surveyors.

A large number of consumers who were lured by the offers like cashless insurance, free insurance by automobile dealers and rebate in premium, had to run after the insurance companies for their claims and even forced to fight protracted legal battles.

A customer Tejveer Singh bought an octavia car from Skoda showroom in Karnal in 2005. He got a cashless insurance from a TATA AIG general insurance company agent, who was available in the Skoda showroom, is a glaring example of harassment faced by customers in settlement of claims.

Tejveer Singh's vehicle got submerged in rain waters in Panchkula in 2011, but when he approached the concerned agent of the insurance company, the surveyor of the company denied the claim.

Later, the company started negotiations. The company offered to pay only Rs one lakh against an estimated loss of Rs 3.30 lakh.

The company's surveyor offered a compensation of Rs 2.50 lakh in case of total loss against an ensured sum of Rs 5.50 lakh and issued a cheque of Rs 25,000 to be a part payment of the unsettled claim. Tejveer approached the Consumer Court that decided in his favour and asked the company to pay Rs 2.50 lakh.

The State Commission did not provide any relief to the company. The company then moved the National Commission but it asked the company to pay an interim amount of Rs one lakh and the cost of litigation as pre-condition for hearing the case.

Another customer Manoj Gautam said he had a harrowing time in getting the insurance claim of his Micra car bought in March 2011 and insured for Rs 5 lakh with Bharti extra general insurance. The vehicle was hit by a truck in March 2013 and he wanted the car to be repaired but the surveyor insisted to go for total loss.

"I kept running after the insurance people for past six months and it was after a long struggle that I received the insurance claim of Rs 4.50 lakh from the insurance company," he added.

A senior member of the Indian Institute of Insurance Surveyor and Loss Assessors (IISLA), JK Sharma, said three year diploma in any engineering stream, one year training with senior surveyor and passing IRDA test are the prerequisites of being a surveyor. At present, there are 7,749 surveyors in the country affiliated to IISLA.

The entry of the private sector companies in the insurance sector in 2000 increased the number of insurance companies to 25 including four public sector undertakings namely Oriental, New India, United and National. Today, the practice of employing unqualified surveyors has become a routine.

He said as per the applicable law and IRDA norms in India, every loss exceeding Rs 20,000 has to be compulsorily attended and authenticated by an independent surveyor. But, the private companies were recruiting their own surveyors in violation of norms to reduce the burden of compensation.

Bishnoi calls upon his community to be politically united
Deepender Deswal
Tribune News Service

Hisar, September 2
The birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Jambheshwar Maharaj, founder of the Bishnoi sect, took political colours when a number of speakers projected the Haryana Janhit Congress supremo and Hisar MP Kuldeep Bishnoi as next Chief Minister of the state.

Bishnoi himself called upon the community to be politically united and work toward gaining power in the next elections.

The Bishnoi Sabha organised a function recently, at the Bishnoi temple in the town to celebrate the 563rd birth anniversary of Maharaj which falls on Janmashtami every year.

Kuldeep Bishnoi is the patron of the sabha. He was the chief guest on the occasion while his party's alliance partner BJP's state president Ramvilas Sharma and many other BJP leaders also attended the function.

Kuldeep Bishnoi urged the community people to follow the path shown by their spiritual and religious leader.

He maintained that the coming elections were an appropriate opportunity to get political strength and urged the gathering not to let this chance off by remaining united.

He also called for solution of their disputes on a social platform instead of dragging each other in courts.

However, earlier speakers named Kuldeep as the next Chief Minister of state in their speech while stating that the blessings of guru would bring him success in his efforts.

Dura Ram, former minister, who was a relative of Kuldeep, stated that it's high time for the community people to politically consolidate themselves for the next polls.

Former MPs Jawant Singh and Ramji Lal Shara too expressed their solidarity with Kuldeep.

The BJP president Ramvilas Sharma was also present on the occasion.

AAP to contest all Assembly seats in Haryana: Kejriwal
Ravinder Saini

Jhajjar, September 2
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief, Arvind Kejriwal, has said that his party will contest all Assembly seats of Haryana after playing a significant role in the coming Delhi Assembly elections. The AAP will offer its ticket to those who have a clean image and the ticket of those candidates will be cancelled even a day before the poll if proof of corruption is found against them.

Kejriwal stated this while addressing a gathering at vegetable market in Bahadurgarh, located on the border of Delhi and Haryana, here recently. He said the AAP had entered politics to bring an effective change in the corruption-ridden system by ensuring the significant contribution of the common man for this social cause.

Seeking support from the Bahadurgarh residents for the Delhi Assembly poll, the party chief appealed to them to spare at least 15 days from their busy schedule for canvassing in favour of the AAP candidates in the poll. He said such sort of moral support would strengthen the poll campaign of the party candidates.

Slamming the Delhi state government for allegedly not working for the common man, Kejriwal said since the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) was not capable of defeating Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dixit hence he had decided to contest the poll against Dixit from where she would file her nomination.

Accusing the BJP of being hand in glove with Dixit, he said the BJP had put its weight behind Dixit to get him defeated in the poll but he would not reverse his decision and would achieve success against Dixit in the elections. He alleged that the BJP had been fielding a weak candidate against Dixit in the Assembly poll for past 15 years so as to ensure her easy victory.

Charging the Delhi and the Haryana governments with ignoring the interest of the common man at gross level, Kejriwal said both the governments had successfully constructed numerous over-bridges in their states but did not take any interest to enhance the standard of government schools.

“The reason is clear that people at the helm of affairs do not want to provide better education to the children of lower and lower middle classes as they know it that that they will not be able to loot the country if children of common people get higher and quality education,” he added.

Later, Kejriwal while responding to a question raised by mediapersons about a criminal case registered against Asaram Bapu said justice should be ensured to the victim girl.

KU Economics Department hosts first alumni meet
Our Correspondent

The alumni of the KU Economics Department attend the first alumni meet, held at the RK Sadan Auditorium on the university campus. Photos: DR Vij

Kurukshetra, September 2
The Economics Department of Kurukshetra University hosted its first alumni meet at RK Sadan auditorium on university campus here recently.

While inaugurating the event, Registrar Dr KC Ralhan wished for the success of the event and conveyed the message of KU Vice-Chancellor Lt Gen (retd) Dr DDS Sandhu, that emphasised to meet the new challenges. He also stressed on the new set of competitive skills which call for close cooperation among industry, academia, government and social organisation for making meaningful space for ourselves.

Dr Neera Verma, Department Chairperson, welcomed the guests and briefed them about the developments of department since its inception in l961 and remembered the founder Chairman of the department, Dr Vikas Mishra, with great reverence.

On the occasion, a memento was presented to every alumni with a message to be socially responsible and wished success for their future.

Former Vice-Chancellor of KU Dr Maha Singh, IAS, Teerthankar Mahavir University Vice-Chancellor Prof RK Mittal, Kurukshetra SP Rakesh Arya and many other proud alumni from different sphere like VCs, IAS, IPS, IRS, RBI, NABARD officers, academicians and corporate executives were also present on the occasion.

Dr MM Goel, Dean Social Sciences, proposed a vote of thanks and wished for the continuation of the event in the years to come.

It is also a matter of pride that most of the staff of the department, Prof MM Goel, Prof Neera Verma, Prof Kuldeep Singh, Dr Ashok Chauhan, Dr Dara Singh, Dr Hemlata and Archana Chaudhry are also alumni.

Prof Shyam Kumar, Prof Dinesh Aggarwal, Prof CR Darolia, Prof VN Attri, Prof TR Kundu, Dr MP Mathur, Dr Virender Poonia, Prof RK Rana, Dr RK Sudan, Dr Manjusha, Dr Vinti Dawar, students and scholars of the department were also present on the occasion.

The alumni directory was also released on the occasion.

Night camps of Deputy Commissioners
Chaudhary Devi Lal varsity prof to read paper in international conference
Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service

Sirsa, September 2
The night camps of Deputy Commissioners recently being introduced by the Haryana Government will soon be discussed in an international conference on public administration (ICPA) in South Korea.

The American Society of Public Administration, the organiser of the ICPA 2013 conference on “Advancing Public Management, Excellence and Innovations Worldwide” to be held in Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape town, South Africa, has accepted Raj Kumar Siwach’s paper on the issue. Siwach, an associate professor in the Public Administration Department of the Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa, will read his paper “Sunset Governance” in the three-day conference to be held from October 31.

Siwach said the concept of “Sunset Governance” was new and, perhaps no one as such had used it in the administrative parlance. The “Sunset Governance” can be defined as a peculiar working style of territorial unit of the Indian administration at the grassroot level to transact governance business, from sunset to sunrise by organising a nocturnal visit to a selected remote village-the lowest hierarchical level of the administration.

Siwach describes the concept of night camps of the deputy commissioners introduced by the Haryana Government and gives credit for its introduction to Chander Shekhar, a former Deputy Commissioner of Kaithal and presently Director of the secondary education, Haryana.

“To bridge the gap between people and the administration, this innovative practice pioneered by Chander Shekhar, is the perhaps first of its kind in India. This novel initiative is the result of well-thought strategy visualised by Chander Shekhar in 2010, while pursuing MPA from Maxwell School, Syracus University, New York (USA),” Siwach says in his paper. He says this pioneering practice, if replicated in 671 districts of India and elsewhere, may act as an harbinger of citizen centric governance in a real sense.

The initiative of “Sunset Governance” has revealed the deep-rooted evil thoughts-misogyny and groupism in local politics-which are preposterous to social justice and economic development. The down-to-earth approach adopted in this trail-blazing practice has also signalled a message to public administrators. For executing the motto of public services, they should be highly mobile, innovative, adaptable, reformative and curious to learn new theories, ideologies and models of the public administration.

HAU organises workshop on e-resources
Tribune News Service

Hisar, September 2
Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (CCSHAU) organised a one-day workshop recently. During the workshop the faculty was enlightened on the use of e-resources available as well as accessible to the university. The workshop was organised under the National Agriculture Innovation Project (NAIP) - "e-Granth" by Nehru Library of the university. As many as 30 teachers, scientists and extension experts participated in the workshop.

Dr KS Khokhar, Vice-Chancellor, CCSHAU, inaugurated the workshop and emphasised on the excessive use of e-resources in the higher education institutions.

Describing the resources as a big contribution of the information technology, he said the teachers and the scientists particularly in the higher education institution should harness their benefits in teaching and research pursuits.

He said the thriving growth of the electronic publications was reshaping the nature of collections and the mode of delivering and accessing information in the libraries. Now, the staff and students could retrieve endless volumes of information from all over the globe in a short span of time.

The Vice-Chancellor lauded the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for launching projects like e-Granth and Krishi Prabha in the agricultural universities to make them available with different e-resources.

Dr AK Jain, Consortium Principal Investigator, e-Granth, said including CCSHAU, there were 11 state agricultural universities and deemed agricultural universities in the country as consortia partners in the e-Granth project that was launched in May 2009.

Dr Raj Bala Grewal, Dean, post-graduate studies and librarian, CCSHAU, said the participants were given practical knowledge of different e-resources including Agricat, Krishikosh, CeRA, Krishi Prabha (e-thesis) and e-Granth.

Usha Khemchandani and Rajive Pateria, assistant librarian were also present during the workshop.

Two-day annual exhibition concludes at Sanjay Gandhi Memorial School
Our Correspondent

Kurukshetra, September 2
A two day annual exhibition was organised by Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Public School (SGMPS) in Dhanaura was concluded recently. The event was earlier inaugurated by Sardar Ujagar Singh, senior member governing body of the school. While, Dharmvir, former Haryana Election Commissioner was the chief guest on the concluding day.

Class XII science students displayed their projects on IT, bio-technology. While, class XII commerce stream students expressed their concern about the Indian market through their models, charts and projects. However, class XII arts students expressed their anguish about female foeticide through their projects.

The students from class I to class X displayed miscellaneous projects including charts, working and non-working models according to their subjects.

Dharmvir took a keen interest and asked various questions related to the displayed items. He appreciated and encouraged the students to devote their life to science with sincerity like a soldier in the field.

Nirmal Khurana, Principal of Hindu High School, Ladwa and Minakshi Chhabra, Principal of Sugni Devi Girls Senior Secondary School, Ladwa, were the judges for the junior section. While, Assistant Professor Ravish Chauhan and Assistant Professor Vandana from IGN College, Ladwa, were judges for the senior section. Parents of the students visited the exhibition with a great enthusiasm. A number of teachers, parents and students enjoyed the Amul products displayed by Class XI commerce stream students. Pawan Garg, school president, congratulated the principal, teachers and students for their dedicated contribution to the exhibition. Principal PC Dhir thanked all the guests and parents.

NIT Dept of Humanities, Social Sciences celebrates golden jubilee
Our Correspondent

Kurukshetra, September 2
"The government should look at both short-term and long-term solutions to the ongoing economic crisis, but short-term solutions were the need of the hour," said Prof V Upadhyay, Professor of Economics, IIT Delhi, while addressing the faculty and students of National Institute of Technology (NIT), Kurukshetra, at NIT premises here recently.

Prof Upadhyay delivered an expert lecture on "Current Economic Scenario in the Country" organised as a part of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations by the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, NIT Kurukshetra.

He identified the causes of the crisis and provided suggestions on steps the government should take to rescue the Indian economy from the current state.

He started his lecture by explaining some of the basic terms of economics that are currently in used like currency depreciation, current account, capital account, FII, FDI, value of rupee etc.

Prof Upadhyay opined that looking at the current crisis, one had the impression that the government was a by-stander rather than an active player and was reactive rather than proactive.

Falling value of the rupee was a result of sentiments as much as economic factors.

"Outsiders have lost faith in India. India is no more an attractive investment destination. Current Account Deficit is an issue, but perhaps what is more important is that the country's economic growth has declined. Restricting imports is one way of limiting the current account deficit, which the government has already initiated. We can't expect to increase exports as the manufacturing sector is down," he added.

The lecture was well received as it dealt with a current issue. The faculty and the students raised a number of questions at the end of the lecture which generated interesting discussions.

Prof Rajender Kumar welcomed the guest speaker and the audience and Prof PJ Philip proposed a vote of thanks. Prof Vikas Choudhary, Prof Kiran Mor, Dr Kranti Walia as well as other faculty members were present on the occasion.

GJU organises workshop on quality education
Deepender Deswal
Tribune News Service

Hisar, September 2
Emphasising the need for quality in higher education, the former Ambassador of India to Turkmenistan and member of the Executive Committee of National Assessment Accreditation Council (NAAC), Prof RP Kaushik said quality is the backbone of any education system.

Inaugurating the national workshop in the Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology (GJUST) in Hisar, Prof Kaushik said the quality of citizens depend on the education system of the nation which in turn was determined by the quality of teachers.

He was the chief guest at the inaugural function of the workshop on "Emerging Trends in Quality Education: The Road Ahead" at the university campus, recently.

Prof Kaushik said the country has been moving toward becoming an educational hub and the universities need to adopt modern learning tools to ensure that each institution has a safe, healthy, energising, intellectually challenging and joyful learning environment.

Vice-Chancellor Dr ML Ranga said regular introspection of teaching, research methodology and curriculum could go a long way in making the learning process more relevant and dynamic in the wake of changing times.

The workshop was organised by the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) of the university in collaboration with National Assessment Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bengaluru.

Director IQAC of the university Prof Karam Pal Narwal was the workshop director and Sanjay Singh was the organising secretary of the workshop.

About 250 delegates from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, New Delhi, UP attended the workshop. A text book titled Elements of Mechanical Engineering, written by Dr Mahesh Kumar of the Department of Mechanical Engineering was also released on the occasion.

Registrar Prof RS Jaglan said academicians need to understand the fundamental nature of the evolutionary character of higher education in academic curriculum. They should also empower students and scholars to create an updated learning process that was pragmatic, effective and methodical.

417 flats for EWS in Kaithal
Haryana Housing Board to construct flats at a cost of Rs 16 crore
Our Correspondent

Kaithal, September 2
The Haryana Housing Board will construct as many as 417 flats at a cost of Rs 16 crore for economically weaker sections (EWS) in HUDA, Sector 29, in Kaithal.

This was stated by Randeep Singh Surjewala, Industries and PWD minister, after laying the foundation stone of this project here recently.

Renu S Nagar Poswal, chairperson, housing board, was also present on the occasion.

Surjewala said the construction would start in the current financial year and the beneficiaries would be given ownership of these flats by 2015.

About 1,000 houses would be constructed in this area in the next phase. The housing board has set up a target to complete the construction of 50,000 in this year out of which 30,000 would be constructed by the Housing Board and 10,000 each by HUDA and the Panchyat and Rural Development Department.

According to the new government policy, private colonisers would provide 20 per cent plots to the housing board for the construction of three-storey flats for EWS, he added.

Secretary DR Kairo, chief engineers Phool Singh and NK Mahajan and other officials were present on the occasion.

Bhukkal for regular check-ups of anganwari workers

Chandigarh, September 2
Haryana Women and Child Development Minister Geeta Bhukkal recently directed officials to ensure proper functioning of CCTV cameras installed in all Child-Care Institutions (CCIs) and Nari Niketans in the state.

Bhukkal directed them to provide a monthly record of CCTV footages of these institutions and to ensure their regular monitoring. The CCTV footage should be randomly submitted so as to ensure proper monitoring, she directed.

The minister also directed the officials to ensure regular health check-up of anganwari workers and helpers and to prepare their health cards. — TNS

Students visit judicial complex in Kaithal
Satish Seth

Kaithal, September 2
Students of Ch Ishwar Singh Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Fatehpur Pundri, visited the judicial complex in Kaithal and interacted with the Judicial officers recently.

The visit was organised by the legal cell of the college for providing basic knowledge to the students about how the legal proceedings take place in the courts.

Panel advocate Balbir Dhiman of District Legal Services Authority, explained the procedure for getting free legal aid, legal aid help line, Alternative Disputes Resolution Mechanism etc to the students.

Ritu Tagore, District and Sessions Judge cum Chairperson District Legal Services Authority in Kaithal and RS Chaudhary, Additional Sessions Judge, addressed the students and interacted with the students.

Dr Vinay Khurania, associate professor and legal cell in-charge of the college explained the activities of the legal cell carried out in the college. Dr Minu Singal, associate professor also accompanied the students.

Legal notice to Sugar Mill
Our Correspondent

Kurukshetra, September 2
Bhartiya Janta Party district president Dhuman Singh, in a legal notice sent to the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) Panchkula, has alleged that a Sugar Mill and its Distillery unit situated within the populated area of Badson village near here has been emitting poisonous and toxic gasses, which can be a serious health hazard for Kurukshetra district and the nearby areas.

Stating this at a press conference held at his office recently, Dhuman Singh said the aforesaid Sugar Mill and Distillery unit is situated within the village. The mill in violation of the environmental requirement and policies is running the unit without installing any APCM or any other device to control the air pollution, which is creating an immense respiratory problems to the inhabitants of the area.

He alleged that on various occasions, it has been brought in the notice of the regional officer of the HSPCB and some institutions of Kurukshetra had also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, but no action has been taken in this direction so far.

CCTV cameras to check crime in Kaithal
Our Correspondent

Kaithal, September 2
The district police will soon install CCTV cameras at strategic points in the district to check crimes. This was disclosed by Kaithal SP Kuldeep Singh Yadav at a press conference here recently.

He said he had a meeting with Deputy Commissioner NK Solanki in this regard and they jointly would finalise the points where these cameras should be installed.

When asked about the presence of any kale kachhe wala gang, he said the police had failed to find any evidence about the presence of any such gang in the district.

"We generally receive information about the presence of such gangs in one or the other locality, but the reports are found to be baseless," he added.

The SP appealed to the people not to spread false rumours as these created panic among masses.

He said the administration had also asked the district development panchayat officers and block development officers to call meetings of villagers and spread this message.

'Kidney transplant possible with multiple diseases'
Our Correspondent

Kurukshetra, September 2
"The treatment of kidney patients, even with multiple diseases, is now a reality," said Dr Priyadarshi Ranjan, Director, Kidney Transplant Surgery and Urology Department at Fortis Hospital in Mohali, while addressing a press conference at a private hotel here recently.

Dr Ranjan was accompanied by a heart patient Sanjeev Kumar (31), who successfully underwent kidney transplant about one and a half month ago.

With a power point presentation, Dr Ranjan explained that kidney transplant surgery has become one of the safest and good outcome procedures, even in patients suffering from complex heart diseases such as ventricular septal defects, double valve replacements or severe heart defects like tetrology of fallot.

"There are thousands of patients who are suffering from complicated heart diseases and die as their heart condition doesn't allow them to receive a kidney transplant. With the rise in heart diseases now, there are so many patients of kidney failure who have undergone complex cardiac surgeries, which render them unfit for a transplant," Dr Ranjan added.

Conducting kidney transplant in a patient who is suffering from a heart defect is a challenge as these patients have very high risk of complications arising due to kidney transplant surgery and graft dysfunction.

"Since their hearts work poorly, so their cardiac output and ejection fraction is very low, thus there is a very high risk of blood not permeating the transplanted kidney properly after the transplant," said Dr Ranjan, who had performed the kidney transplants on three patients recently.

Successful kidney transplants are especially useful in young heart patients who live young and productive life. Citing example of 31-year-old Sanjeev Kumar, Dr Ranjan said the patient had been suffering from defects of both his heart valves and both of valves were replaced. He had a very weak heart, but successfully underwent kidney transplant.

"Another patient Ranjit Singh (18) a resident of Jalandhar, was suffering from kidney failure and had a hole in the heart. His hole was repaired and subsequently received a kidney transplant donated by his mother. Another patient, Pargat Singh (17), resident of Samana in Punjab had severe multiple cardiac defects which were repaired," said Dr Ranjan.

GIMT organises singing talent hunt
Our Correspondent

Kurukshetra, September 2
A mega audition of Surtarang, a national singing talent hunt was organised by the Geeta Institute of Management and Technology (GIMT), Kanipla. The event was inaugurated by Rakesh Goel, Chairman, GIMT and DK Gupta, Managing Director, GIMT, on its premises here recently.

The event was promoted by the Sangam Kala Group, an international organisation which aims at promoting and nurturing the unseen and unheard talent in the country and abroad. The group is working from last 40 years in this direction and has 60 chapters across the globe.

GIMT media in-charge Ashwani Goel, said 200 participants from all over Haryana came for audition.

“It was a star-stubbed evening. The six finalists of the contest performed brilliantly,” he added.

Deepali Gupta, President of the Sangam Kala Group, Kurukshetra chapter, announced that all the six finalists would compete in the national mega final to be held in Delhi on September 25 and 26, 2013.

Prof NK Batra, Dr Naveen Chawla and Vibhas Arora, who are well known names in the field of music, were the judges of the event.

GIMT director-principal Raman Gupta and dean academics Deepali Gupta were also present on the occasion.

Results

Sub-Juniors (5 to 12 years) Film Category: Pranav Singhal

Sub-Juniors (5 to 12 years) Non-Film Category: Pranav Singhal

Juniors (12 to 18 years) Film Category: Safia Parvej

Juniors (12 to 18 years) Non-Film Category: Shubham

Seniors (18 to 28 years) Film Category: Komal

Seniors (18 to 28 years) Non-Film Category: Akash Bawa.

Three win medals in boxing championship
Tribune News Service

Sonepat, September 2
Three students of Bhagat Phool Singh Women University had given excellent performance by winning one gold and two silver medals in three-day Eighth Haryana State Junior Women Boxing Championship that concluded in Rewari recently.

After their arrival in the university, the young boxers were given warm welcome by the students and teachers.

According to the university’s sports in-charge, Dr Sanjit Malik, Annu bagged the gold medal in 54 kg weight category. Whereas, Sangeeta won silver medal in 57 kg weight category and Sweety won silver medal in 48 kg weight category.

“On the basis of their position, they will represent Haryana in the National Junior Women Boxing Championship,” Malik added.

Dr Pankaj Mittal, Vice-Chancellor, congratulated the students on their success. He said it would inspire other students to excel in their respective fields. She said patience, hard-work, discipline and commitment were necessary for achieving success in life.

Registrar Prof Asha Kadian said it was a matter of pride for the young university which was excelling in every field including academic, social welfare, community development and sports under the stewardship of VC Dr Pankaj Mittal.

KITM organises Talent Hunt-2013
Our Correspondent

Kurukshetra, September 2
Kurukshetra Institute of Technology and Management (KITM) organised Talent Hunt-2013 for the fresher students of Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech), Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) at its premises here recently.

Inaugurating the event, the KITM Director-Principal, Prof PJ George, informed the students that KITM was one of the institutes, where students from different sections of the society and different corners of the country gather for their academic pursuit.

A number of competitions were organised during the event such as speech, painting, dancing, poetical, symposium, singing and playing instruments. Students participated with great enthusiasm.

Gaurav Sharma of Computer Science Engineering Department scored first position in dance, Gourav of BBA won first prize in speech, Deepak of Mechanical Department grabbed first position in painting and Lincon won first prize in playing instrument.

Managing-Director Sudarshan Aggarwal and Director-Principal Prof PJ George congratulated the participants for their achievements and gave certificates and trophies to the winning students.

Workshop on infant safety
Tribune News Service

Sonepat, September 2
The Pediatrics Department of the BPS Government Women Medical College and the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) jointly organised a one-day workshop on “Newborn Infant Safety” for the nursing staff of the college on the college premises recently.

Inaugurating the work shop, Director of the college Dr RC Siwach said the IAP had been organising such workshops all over the country to bring down the infant mortality ratio. “The expert doctors and trained nursing staff can play a decisive role in saving the lives of the newborn," he said.

He also exhorted the staff to equip themselves with the latest information through different training programmes.

Women constables to curb eve-teasing
Our Correspondent

Ambala, September 2
A special women constable's squad has been formed to curb eve-teasing menace in Ambala and Panchkula. Initially, a squad of 50 woman constables have been trained for the special job and would be deployed around the educational institutions and public places. They would also be equipped for checking crime against women.

Rajbir Deswal, Commissioner of Police, Ambala-Panchkula, initiated the new venture. He said the women constables would get an impressive new uniform in order to give the squad a status of special women personnel on special duty. Deswal said the squad would also be on patrolling in civil dress to keep an eye on eve-teasers.

Model Creche in Bal Bhawan, Sirsa, set up

Sirsa, September 2
The authorities in Sirsa have set up a Model Creche in the Bal Bhawan, Sirsa, where as many as 25 children have started getting state-of-the-art facilities. Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar inaugurated the Model Creche recently.

Sirsa Deputy Commissioner J Ganesan said that in the air-conditioned crèche which had been set up in two rooms of Bal Bhawan, arrangement of separate beds had been made for the children. All latest facilities related to playing and studying had been made available in the crèche.

He said arrangement for a toy train and artificial rain had also been made under the Backward Region Grant Fund with an investment of Rs 9.30 lakh. — TNS