India-born woman tanker in US army

Chandigarh: Srishti Jakhar, a girl born and brought up in Fatehabad, has become the first woman of Indian origin to have become a tanker (soldier posted in tanks) in the US army. Srishti studied up to class VII at DAV Senior Secondary School in Fatehabad before her family shifted to the US. She graduated from the US army before getting her present posting. She will pursue her doctorate in the US army. Sunita Madan, principal, DAV Senior Secondary School, Fatehabad, said it was a proud moment for her school.

Dhankar behind ‘chintan shivir’

Chandigarh: The idea of a ‘chintan shivir’ that has caught the fancy of the state government was made popular by Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar. He has already organised six ‘chintan shivirs’ of departments under him. ‘Sinchan chintan’ (deliberation on irrigation) was the first in the series of such events organised on August 13 and 14, 2015, when Dhankar held the portfolio of Irrigation, besides Agriculture and Rural Development. “The deliberations at ‘sinchan chintan’ focused government’s attention on micro-irrigation options such as drip irrigation, sprinkler sets, small fountain and large fountain,” the minister said. In the in the past three years, Dhankar also organised horticulture ‘chintan’ in Delhi, agriculture chintan in Gurugram, climate smart agriculture in Chandigarh, rural development ‘chintan’ at Thapli (HP) and per-urban agriculture ‘chintan’.

Mobile app to track pension 

Rewari: The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched an android mobile application through which pensioners can get easy access to information. “The app will help beneficiaries find out whether their pension has been transferred to their bank account or not. They will also get to know the reason for delay. Pensioners can also get passbook details of past one year,” said an official, adding that the app had been developed by the National Information Centre to redress all pension-related grievances. He maintained the app can be downloaded either from Google play store, from SJE, Haryana, or pension portal www.socialjusticehry.gov.in. The beneficiary will have to connect his/her pension ID number with the app to operate it. 

Leading the car-free drive

Kurukshetra: It is for more than a year that two top functionaries of Kurukshetra University have been sincerely following the mission ‘car-free Tuesdays’. On September 6 last year, Deputy Commissioner Sumedha Kataria gave a call for not using cars once a week. Since then, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof KC Sharma, and the Registrar, Dr Parveen Kumar Saini, have set an example by observing car-free days. Sharma walks to his office from his official bungalow on the campus on Tuesdays while the Registrar uses an auto-rickshaw to reach office from his Sector 7 residence. “I appreciated the move and made it a point to avoid the use of car on Tuesdays. I use the car on Tuesdays only if it rains heavily or I have to go out of town. Moreover, I enjoy walking down the campus,” said Sharma. KU staffers, who admittedly failed to follow the car-free initiative on most occasions, said the sincere commitment of their bosses to a social call often embarrassed them and administrative employees.

Expanding green cover

Kurukshetra: The Haryana Environmental Society (HES) has tied up with the National Institute of Technology (NIT) to expand green cover in the holy city of Kurukshetra. NIT Director Dr Satish Sharma signed an MoU with the NGO to support the green cover drive. State convener of the HES Rahul Bharti said the initiative was under the model of public contribution and participation. The HES was founded in Yamunanagar in 1991. It claims to have planted more than two lakh saplings in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar and Panchkula districts.

PhD scholar gets ‘Travel Award’

Hisar: Rakshita Singh, a PhD scholar at the department of molecular biology, biotechnology and bioinformatics, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, has been honoured with ‘Travel Award’ for working in Washington State University, Pullman, USA, under the United States Agency for International Development. The department of biotechnology, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, India, sponsored the project ‘Development of heat-tolerant, high-yielding and climate resilient wheat cultivars utlising genomics, molecular and physiological information and resources’. The award was presented at the valedictory function of the international seminar on climate-resilient crops for feeding the future at Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded, Maharashtra, recently.

Contributed by Sushil Manav, Ravinder Saini, Vishal Joshi and Deepender Deswal