Chandigarh, November 4
The provision to pass all students up to Class VIII irrespective of their performance under the Right To Education (RTE) Act has been overwhelmingly rejected by stakeholders across the states.

Back from a tour of Assam, Tripura and West Bengal, Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal, who also heads the sub-committee of the Central Advisory Board of Education, is ready with her report.

“The idea to promote all students up to Class VIII has not gone down well with teachers, school management committees, parents and even the state government. The move was openly rejected at the meetings I attended with state officers at various government schools. Hardly anybody supported the provision. Their complaint was that it had made the students carefree because they knew they would not be detained,” said Bhukkal.

Stating that the report would be submitted to the CABE chairperson, the Union Human Resource Development Minister, she said everybody staunchly supported the idea of holding regular examinations while asserting that the students should feel some kind of pressure. “Without the pressure of passing and performing, students are taking studies lightly which is adversely affecting the standard of education. The common complaint of the states I visited was that the ministry had kept its Central schools, including Navodya Vidyalayas and Kendriya Vidyalayas, out of the ambit of this provision and had imposed it only on the state-run schools,” she said.

“Various stakeholders also suggested that instead of retaining students in the same class for the entire year, the schools could conduct a reexamination after three months,” she said.

Bhukkal said teachers at many schools stated that the lack of interest in studies owing to absence of the fear of failure was reflecting in the performance of students. “Teachers in the North East rued that students hardly came to schools. With nobody to teach, the staff could not be judged on performance,” she explained.

Though a few state governments were already following the provision of promoting students to Class IX without actually evaluating their performance, states like Tripura have expressed their displeasure by writing to the Centre.

“The parliamentary committee on the HRD has also recommended that non-performers should not be promoted as a rule. I will submit my report by mid-November after which the ministry will take a call. The RTE was a very forward-looking idea of the Centre. However, there is always a scope for amendments based on the ground realities and practical problems. I will attach video recordings of all the visits and feedback and make a strong case for proper conduct of examinations,” added Bhukkal.

Sirsa, November 4
When people across the country worshipped Goddess Lakshmi in a hope of riches and prosperity on Diwali yesterday, those who must be filling their coffers for sure were some manufacturers sitting in China.

A fire cracker weaves a captivating pattern on Diwali in Gurgaon on Sunday. A Tribune photograph

Chinese products ruled the markets on Diwali this year.

Earthen ‘diyas’ made of clay have almost been completely replaced by Chinese lights this year.

Markets in Sirsa, Fatehabad and other parts of the state were flooded with Lord Ganesha idols manufactured in China. Reports said the trend transcended state barriers and Chinese products were a hit throughout the country this year.

“Though we purchased a few earthen ‘diyas’, we mostly illuminated our house with Chinese lights,” said Swati from Fatehabad.

“I know that this trend it hitting our potters hard, but the Chinese lights are now in fad,” she said.

“Chinese items, whether lights, Ganesha idols or other decoration pieces, remained in great demand on Diwali. These products are cheaper, lighter to carry and unbreakable,” said a shopkeeper in Sadar Bazaar in Sirsa.

While shopkeepers selling Chinese products made a fortune, potters who came with clay ‘diyas’ failed to attract customers. “Time has undergone a tremendous change in the past decade. There was a time when our ‘diyas’ were in great demand. But now, very few customers visit us,” said Sonia, a potter.

“It is unfortunate that we are blindly running after Chinese products without thinking how hard it was hitting our own artisans,” said Monica Gupta, a blogger from Sirsa.

Heart patients bear the brunt

Hisar: The Diwali night witnessed an unprecedented noise and air pollution due to bursting of firecrackers.

Wholesale dealers in Hisar town said the sale of crackers had gone up substantially this year. They said they had sold firecrackers to the tune of Rs 3-4 crore in the last three days. A wholesaler said there were around 100 stalls in the town to sell the firecrackers besides many unauthorised shops.

“The entire business of firecrackers crossed Rs 3 crore. This is around 20 per cent higher than the previous year’s sale. Chinese items were also available in the market and attracted a lot of customers,” said Sunny Kumar, a wholesale dealer in the town.

Dr Narsi Ram Bishnoi, professor, the department of environmental science and engineering, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, said sound pollution was recorded at around 121 decibel which was much more than the sound of jet aircraft zooming at around 300m away.

Dr Kamal Kishore of Gitanjali Hospital said the noise and air pollution were a big health hazard to the asthma and heart patients who had to bear the brunt of the pollution caused due to crackers.

Sirsa, November 4
Twentyfive trainee officers of the Indian Administrative Services, Indian Police Services, Indian Foreign Services and Indian Forest Services are on a visit to rural areas in Sirsa district to acquaint themselves with various welfare schemes launched by the Haryana Government.

Officer trainees from the the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, with Deputy Commissioner J Ganesan in Sirsa on Monday. A Tribune photograph

The probationers are in Haryana under the 88th foundation course of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie.

Sirsa Deputy Commissioner J Ganesan said the officers had been divided into groups of five. He said each group had been assigned a village.

These villages include Mathdadu, Panniwala Ruldu, Hebuana, Pohadka and Amritsar Kalan.

They would stay at these villages till November 9 and gather information about the schemes and programmes of the state government, especially those related to the field of health, education, Panchayati Raj, agriculture, land reforms and poverty alleviation.

The officer trainees will learn rural life, culture, problems encountered by them in day-to-day life, various rural development programmes with the help of participatory learning action (PLA) techniques, focus group discussion and interview techniques.

“The Centre for Rural Studies in the Lal Bahadur Shashtri National Academy of Administration has selected three districts of Haryana-- Bhiwani, Yamunanagar and Sirsa,” said Ganesan.

He said similar programmes were being organised in other states also.

After the completion of their visit to the villages, the officer trainees will prepare individual reports on various themes, including education, health, Panchayati Raj institutions, poverty and agriculture land reforms.

The trainee officers included Shering Bhutia, Sucheta Chatterjee, Vinit Nandnawar, Gopal Krishnan, Yuvraj, Satish Kumar, Adnan Nayim Aasmi, Aman Gupta, Vikram, Vishal Sharma, Madhushmita Sahu, Ananya Aggrawal, Nilentheng Telin, Aalok Ranjan, Avinash Kumar, Chetna Maylabathula, Priyanka Niranjan, Parth Gupta, Surender Chaudhary, Gaurav Kumar Singh, Saied Sehrish Asgar, Sheilaja Sharma, Anuj Singh, Sanjay Meena and Ashish Shrivastav.

Chandigarh, November 4
Chairperson of NGO Gramin Bharat and HPCC delegate Ved Prakash Vidrohi today batted for a strong state Congress president capable of taking independent decisions. He should not be a ‘yes man’ of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Vidrohi added.

In a written statement issued here today, Vidrohi alleged that acting Congress chief Phool Chand Mullana had not been able to take effective organisational decisions for the past three years, with the result that the party’s organisational set-up was in doldrums.

With the Opposition stepping up attacks on the Congress, the party needed a state Congress chief who could inspire the party rank and file. He said the next Lok Sabha elections would be fought between the Congress’ liberal ideology and the communal forces’ divisive agenda.

Chandigarh, November 4
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that the purpose of ordering a judicial officer's premature retirement is to weed out the dead wood.

The assertion by a Division Bench comprising Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Fateh Deep Singh came on the petition filed by AK Raghava against the Punjab and Haryana High Court and another respondent over orders for his premature retirement.

He had challenged the communication dated December 21, 2009, sent by the High Court to the Haryana Government, recommending his premature retirement. Also under challenge was the subsequent decision of the state government retiring the petitioner prematurely.

Raghava had joined judicial services as a sub judge-cum-judicial magistrate in May,1984, before being promoted to the Haryana Superior Judicial Services in July, 1997. In the annual confidential report for 2006-07, the petitioner was graded 'integrity doubtful'.

One of the arguments raised by counsel for the petitioner was that the officer completed 55 years of age and he could not be retired till 58, the age when the performance was to be reviewed again.

Taking up the matter, the Bench observed: "It is not necessary that the decision of premature retirement has to be taken on or before the officer attains the age of 50, 55 and 58 years, as the case may be."

"The adverse remarks recorded were for the year 2006-07, but the same were confirmed by the Full Court in 2009. The representation against the adverse remarks was considered by a committee and later by the Full Court. In the collective wisdom of the committee and later of the Full Court, the entire service record of the petitioner was considered appropriate to retire him prematurely.Such consideration cannot be said to be vitiated in any manner, warranting interference by this court in exercise of writ jurisdiction. Consequently, the present writ petition is dismissed".

Rewari, November 4
Yoga guru Swami Ramdev has asserted that a new alliance was on the anvil as an alternative to the Congress in Haryana

Addressing a press conference at Gurukul Ashram at Ghaseda village, near here, today, Swami Ramdev said while the opposition parties as well as people in Haryana were determined to get rid of Congress misrule, he himself was playing the role of a counsellor in the matter.

Recalling that in the pre-Emergency as well as post-Emergency period in the 1970s when various political parties had joined the movement launched by Jayaprakash Narayan had successfully dislodged the Congress, the much-cherished objective of radical transformation of the system of governance had remained unaccomplished.

The yoga guru asserted that independent functioning of the CBI, CVC, CAG, Election Commission and an effective Lokpal Bill were necessary for bringing back black money stashed away in foreign banks. As Narendra Modi alone could achieve these things, he was supporting him, Ramdev added.

Gurgaon, November 4
Resentment prevails among residents of Panchrukhi and its surrounding villages in the Kangra area of Himachal Pradesh for discontinuing the Haryana Roadways’ bus service from Gurgaon to Panchrukhi.

Satish Kumar Sharma, a resident of Ladoh village, said the Haryana Roadways authorities had withdrawn the service due to a shortage of drivers. Sharma said the bus had been plying on the said route for past about 16 years and providing good service to the commuters belonging to the area.

Local Himachal Pradesh residents have urged the Haryana Transport Minister to intervene and get the bus service restored.

They maintained that if the Gurgaon bus depot was unable to restart the bus for the time being, the service to Panchrukhi could be provided from some other nearby station like Delhi, Faridabad, Rewari or Palwal. As thousands of Himachalis stay in and around Gurgaon in connection with their jobs, restarting the said bus service would be a big relief for them.

Rohtak, November 4
The PGIMS has launched a special ambulance service for the senior citizens in the district. The services of this facility will be free for all citizens above the age of 60 years. This is the first-of-its-kind service launched by any government hospital in the state. The ambulance has been acquired with the donation made by Rajya Sabha member Shadi Lal Batra.

While its formal launch took place yesterday, the service is likely to be made fully functional after the release of a helpline number. The beneficiaries can call on this number to avail the facility. “The department of geriatrics of the PGIMS will be looking after the service and will be catering to the needs of the senior citizens during emergency,” said Dr Ashok Chauhan, Medical Superintendent of the institute. He said the service known as ‘Advance life support ambulance’ will provide ventilators, defibrillator, stretchers and medicines required during emergencies. Saying a helpline number was yet to be released, he said the ambulance had been procured with the aid provided by Batra from the MP's development fund.

While the expansion of such a facility will be on the priority list of the PGIMS, the service will be made fully operational as and when the helpline number is released. Till then, the officials claimed the service will be handled primarily by the department of geriatric medicine that had started a special OPD a few months ago.

Speaking at the launch of the facility, Vice-Chancellor of the Pt BD Sharma University of Health Sciences said such a service could prove helpful to senior citizens who normally became a victim of lack of care. He said the authorities would ensure that the service fulfilled expectations of both state government and the masses. Batra, who was the chief guest on the occasion, appealed to the people to avail the facility. The state government was trying its best to improve the healthcare services, he added.

Jhajjar, November 4
A local court has sentenced a woman and her son to life imprisonment for thrashing a man to death and injuring his son at Beri town in 2012. The court has also slapped a penalty of Rs 20,000 each on the convicts.

The Beri police had registered a case of murder against Santosh and her son, Monu, alias Molad, on September 7, 2012, on a complaint from Anil in this regard. Anil told the police that he and his father, Jagbir Singh, had gone to Santosh’s house to complain against Monu who had eve-teased his (Anil) wife but the latter started thrashing them.

Later, Anil and Jagbir were rushed to the PGIMS in Rohtak where Jagbir succumbed to his injuries after some time. — OC

Kaithal, November 4
The CIA busted a gang of motorcycle thieves and arrested five persons yesterday. The accused have been identified as Babloo, Vikas, Sonu, Ravi and Rahul of Ardana village. They were produced in a local court today and sent to a three-day police custody.

On a tip-off, the CIA team intercepted two persons on a motorcycle at a nakka near the Hansi-Butana canal bridge. The duo was coming from Mundri village. When questioned, it came to light that they had stolen the bike on November 1 from the Kaithal court complex.

In another incident, a police party intercepted three persons on a motorcycle on the Jind road here on Sunday. All the accused belong to the same village.

The police said the accused had confessed to the crime.

Rewa, November 4
The Dharuhera police has arrested Tarun Gupta, a resident of Delhi, for allegedly purchasing barium powder worth Rs 53 lakh fraudulently from Rajesh Kumar, who runs a factory at Maheshwari village, near Dharuhera.

He was produced in a local court which remanded him in police custody.

Sources said Gupta purchased the material in the name of a prominent company of Delhi.

When Rajesh scrutinised the phone calls made to him by the buyer, he was stunned to learn that his purchaser was Gupta who had nothing to do with the company.

When Rajesh failed to get payment for the supplied material from Gupta, he lodged a complaint with the police. 

Kaithal, November 4
The CIA branch of the district police has arrested two UP-based human traffickers who had duped a local resident of Rs 20 lakh on the promise to settle him in the USA.

After registering a case, the police arrested Nijamudim and Mustkim from Alampura village in UP. They were produced in a local court which sent them in police remand till November 2.

Sushil Kumar, a local resident, lodged a complaint with the police on October 9 that he came in contact with Nijamudin of Alampura village in Saharanpur district who told him that he was into rice exports business in Doha and his friend Mustkim was a travel agent. He promised the victim to settle him in the USA and the deal was settled for Rs 20 lakh. A sum of Rs 5 lakh was paid as advance by Sushil and he was sent to Qatar in Doha and he was told that from there he would get a US visa. In Qatar, Sushil paid the balance Rs 15 lakh but he was never sent to the USA. When Sushil demanded his money back, he was threatened with dire consequences.

However, Sushil managed to reach India. Superintendent of Police Kuldeep Singh Yadav had entrusted the case to the CIA branch.

Chandigarh, November 4
The Haryana State Vigilance Bureau has recommended the registration of criminal cases against four gazetted officers, three non-gazetted officers and another person whereas departmental action has been recommended against 12 gazetted officers, five non-gazetted officers and four other persons. They have been found guilty in the investigations conducted by the Vigilance Bureau.

A spokesman of the bureau said here today that 25 officials were caught accepting illegal gratification ranging from Rs 1,500 to Rs. 65,000. Criminal cases had been registered against them under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

He said among those caught red handed while accepting illegal gratification included Satyawan, Inspector, Audit, Cooperative Societies, Ladwa, Kurukshetra; Som Nath Chawla, Budget Planning Officer, PGIIMS, Rohtak; Vinod Kumar, Junior Engineer, DHBVNL, Badrola Power House, Faridabad; Jai Pal, a clerk in the office of the District Registrar Firm and Society, Yamunanagar; Head Constable Chander Bhan, Mukesh Kumar of ward 7, Purani Sarai Mohalla, Narnaul, an agent of RTA, Rewari, Jhajjar and Narnaul; Rajinder Singh, member, Block Samiti, Uchana, Jind district; Labh Singh, Accountant, HAFED (Headquarters), Panchkula; and Raj Singh, patwari, Dattuar, Rohtak district.

Others who were also caught accepting illegal gratifications included ASI Dayanand, Paramjit Singh, UHBVN meter reader, Food and Supply Inspector Pawan Kumar, constables Subhash Chander and Hemant Kumar, Sub-Inspector Kailash Chander, patwari Satyawan, Senior Medical Officer Om Parkash Dehmiwal and patwari Bhagtu Ram.

Gurgaon, November 4
Jitendra, a resident of Kanhai village, who was shot at by his uncle at Bikanerwala Restaurant, succumbed to injuries today. His uncle, Durgesh, who is also hospitalised with bullet injuries, has been booked for murder.

It was last week that panic gripped Sector 29 when several rounds of firing was reported from Bikanerwala Restaurant.

Durgesh, a resident of Kanhai village, had come to buy sweets with his wife. He had allegedly shot dead his elder brother, Satish, over a property dispute with the help of his wife in 2011. He was released in July. When Durgesh came out of the sweet shop, his two nephews-- Punit and Jitendra-- fired at him and his wife, and he reciprocated.

The cross firing left both grievously injured and Jitendra died while 
being treated.

An investigating official said Durgesh had been booked for murder.

Hisar, November 4
An inter-caste marriage went awry here as a Dalit woman, Pinki, alleged that she had to face casteist taunts after marriage from the husband and other family members.

The complainant had a love marriage with Praveen Saini in June last year. After some time, the family members started taunting Pinki by referring to her caste. The family started treating her like a housemaid and demanded dowry. Her father even gave Rs 60,000 as per their demand, but they did not stop harassing her.

The police has booked husband and in-laws in a case of dowry and under relevant sections of the SC/ST Act . 

Sonepat, November 4
Newly married Pooja (21) today committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance at her in-laws’ house in a village in this district. Her husband Raj Kumar, his mother Kailasho and elder brother Sonu have been booked for dowry death on the complaint of her father Prem, a resident of Rajpur village.

Prem stated that Pooja, who was married to Raj Kumar in December, 2012, used to harass and torturing her for bringing more dowry.

The victim’s body was handed over to her family members after a postmortem examination in the local Civil Hospital. — OC

Kurukshetra, November 4
Two brothers, Pradeep Kumar and Dharampal, residents of Kalera in Ambala district,were killed on the spot when a tractor-trailer hit their motorcycle near Chamukalan village in this district last evening. 

Gurjeet of Jalbehra, who was injured in this accident, is under treatment in the PGI, Chandigarh. tThe police has registered a case in this connection.