Sonepat, December 21
Union Human Resource Development Minister MM Pallam Raju said today that keeping in view the recognition of the Indian education at the international levels, the Centre would focus on quality education during the 12th five-year plan.

He was addressing a public meeting after laying the foundation stone of the extension campus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)- Delhi, along with Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, at Rajiv Gandhi Education City, Rai. During the 11th five-year plan, the government concentrated on the expansion of higher education and the budget allocation was increased by 11 times during the plan in comparison to the budget allocation in the 10th five-year plan, he said.

Raju praised the Haryana CM for his concept on Rajiv Gandhi Education City to providing international standard skills and bright future for the younger and future generations of the state and the country. He also stressed the need for vocational skill training.

Hooda said the opening of these centres would be a milestone in promoting research and technical education. The IIT-Delhi campus would have a faculty development centre where teachers of technical institutes and engineering colleges would be provided world-class standard training free of cost, he announced and said the campus would also have a science and technology park and high performance computing facility.

He said Haryana had emerged as an educational hub during the last nine years as the state government had increased the number of technical institutes. “The 21st century is of knowledge and the demographic dividend today is in India’s favour,” he said, while stating that India was a leading country in the world for its youth power. Their proper education and training would take the nation to greater heights in various fields. He announced that the foundation stones of a national law university and national tourism university would be laid soon on the Rajiv Gandhi Education City premises.

Haryana Technical Education Minister Mahender Pratap Singh, Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda, Sonepat MP Jitender Singh Malik, MLA Jai Tirth Dahiya, Political Adviser to CM Virender and the Director of IIT-Delhi RK Shivgaonkar also addressed the meeting.

Later, the Union Minister and the CM laid the foundation stone of the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Kilorad village in the district.

Karnal, December 21
Upbeat after election results in four states, the BJP is going all out to garner 10 per cent additional votes to accomplish ‘Mission 2014’ and form the government at the Centre under the leadership of Narendra Modi.

“Increase the BJP vote share by 10 per cent to accomplish ‘Mission 2014’ and install the NDA government at the Centre,” former BJP national president Nitin Gadkari said here today.

He was addressing the BJP Mahila Morcha national convention. He exhorted party workers to concentrate on Schedule Castes, Schedule Tribes, Other Backward Classes, the minorities and weaker sections.

He sought to underplay the success of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi and said the AAP was not a threat to the BJP in the Lok Sabha or Haryana Assembly elections. Fissures between Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal would further dent the AAP vote bank, he added.

Lashing out at the UPA government over price rise and corruption, Gadkari pointed out that the rate of inflation was the highest in the world at 18 per cent. Recalling that a dollar was equivalent to Re 1 at the time of Independence, he said it had risen to Rs 66.

He said the GDP growth rate, which touched 8.5 per cent during the NDA regime headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had come down to 4.5 per cent. He pointed out that 23 km of highways were constructed every day during Vajpayee’s tenure compared to three km per day now.

He said the agricultural growth rate was 2.5 per cent nationwide and 4 per cent in Haryana while it was 11.5 per cent in Gujarat and 18.9 per cent in Madhya Pradesh. He said the GDP growth rate was 11.5 per cent in Gujarat and 11.2 per cent in Madhya Pradesh compared to the national average of 4.5 per cent.

He said elections could be announced by the first week of March and he would contest the elections from Nagpur. Replying to a question, he termed reservation for Jats as a political stunt to woo Jats, but claimed that it would not work. 

Chandigarh, December 21
Close on the heels of India’s first defence university, the millennium city is set to have another state-run university — a development which will give a boost to higher education in southern Haryana.

The state government has fast-tracked the university project by initiating the acquisition process for 215 hectares in Sector 68 of Gurgaon.

The District Town Planner has forwarded the proposal to acquire land to the state government.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had announced the setting up of the university in Gurgaon apparently to checkmate his bete noire and estranged Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh, who had alleged bias in development and jobs by the Chief Minister against his constituency.

Karnal, December 21
The second tender for the construction of various blocks of Kalpana Chawla Medical College and Hospital has been allotted to JMC Projects Limited.

College Director Dr Surinder Kashyap said under the second tender, Rs 266.80 crore would be spent on the construction of OPD, administrative and emergency blocks and parking of the 500-bed hospital. — TNS

Faridabad, December 21
The police have arrested a middle-aged man on the charge of raping his daughter. This is the second such incident in the district in the past 48 hours.

The complainant, aged about 12 years, reported that her father, with whom she had been residing for a year, had been exploiting her. She told the police that she was made to reside with her father, who consumed liquor regularly, after her mother and sister left the house about a year ago.

The accused was arrested after the registration of a case. A police spokesperson this was the second such case in two days and the culprits had been arrested in both cases. — TNS