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Monday,
December 10, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Cong rally
vows to oust Chautala govt Haryana
BJP sets up 3 more cells ‘Need to
empower disabled women’ Mahasangh
to oppose privatisation Targets
achieved at all plantations: panel |
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Mixed
reaction to house tax relief
Governor inaugurates IMA workshop College
celebrates founder’s day Gita
Jayanti Mahotsav begins on Dec 22
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Cong rally vows to oust Chautala govt Ballah (Karnal), December 9 The assurance was given by Mrs Sonia Gandhi, President of the Congress in a message to a state-level rally of the Haryana Pradesh Kisan Khet Mazdoor Congress held in this sleepy village about 35 km from Karnal. The rally, under the leadership of Mr Tejinderpal Mann — a former Haryana Minister — was organised to celebrate the birthday of Mrs Sonia Gandhi as “a sangharash divas”. Mr Balram Jakhar, a former speaker of the Lok Sabha presided over the rally gathering at the rally indicated that farmers and farm labour have started feeling the heat of the anti-farmer policies of the Haryana Government. No crowds were drafted for the rally. Farmers had come using all means of transport available to them. Farmers at the rally repeatedly raised hands to take a vow to launch struggle against the government in Haryana. The rally pledged that the Congress would hold a CBI inquiry into the “illegally acquired wealth and properties of the Om Parkash Chautala family” in Gurgaon, Himachal and Australia. It also pledged to expose the move of grabbing hundreds of acres of Panchayat lands all over Haryana under the garb of building Devi Lal memorials. Farmers pledged that all such lands would be returned to farmers after the Congress came to power. It also assured that “comprehensive farm policy” would be worked for the revival of the farm sector. It further assured that loans to the rural sector at much reduced rates of interest, cheap housing and jobs for rural people. Speakers alleged that the NDA government and the present government in Haryana had virtually abandoned the MSP policy due to which farming had become unviable and loss incurring. Cost of farm inputs had increased and yields were decreasing. The rally said that the government had provided no assistance to farmers while a major portion of Haryana remained under drought during the past two years. Also farmers had not been paid dues by the sugar mills for over one year. In her message Mrs Gandhi assured the farmers that the Congress was committed to give priority to the agriculture sector. She further said that a comprehensive farm policy would be formulated for the welfare of both farmers and farm labour. She regretted that while foodgrain stocks were rotting, people continued to starve. Growers of sugarcane, cotton, paddy, wheat, tea and oil seeds were suffering in all states. Mr Balram Jakhar who was given rousing welcome regretted that the farm sector and the farmers were being neglected by the NDA government and plight of farmers and the farm labour under the present government was miserable. The NDA government had failed to check ever rising prices of diesel and power and future of the farmers under the present setup was bleak. Mr Mann alleged that “Goonda Raj” was prevailing in the state. Farmers were forced to sell produce below the minimum support price. He further alleged that the Chief Minister was acting in tandem with the big traders in the state. Mr Mann described the rally as a first step of the sustained struggle to oust the Chautala Government. Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, president of the All-India Youth Congress, maintained that the economic condition of the farmers had been shattered by the policies of the NDA government. The Vajpayee government was bent upon weakening the farmers. He gave a call to oust this government both at the Centre and in the state. He called upon the farmers and farm labour to stand against the “excesses of the INLD government in Haryana”. He alleged that diesel prices had been raised three times during the last two years while the international price of the commodity had come down. Mr Nirmal Singh, a former president of the Haryana Youth Congress, maintained that the farmers had lost confidence in the Chautala Government. Mr Chattarpal Singh, a former minister, alleged that the people of Haryana were being misled by the false promises of the INLD Government. He asked them to start a decisive struggle against the present regime. Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala, a former Minister of Haryana, disclosed that the NDA government at the Centre had decided not to enter the market from the next Rabi crop to buy the produce of the farmers. It had further decided to totally discard the MSP policy from next year. Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, president of the HPCC who accompanied Mr Jakhar, also addressed the rally. |
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Haryana BJP
sets up 3 more cells Rohtak, December 9 According to state BJP president Rattan Lal Kataria Shashi Pal Mehtra and Bishambar Dayal Sharma have been appointed president and general secretary, respectively, of the state industry cell. Mr Niti Sen Bhatia and Mr Krishan Bajaj would be the president and the general secretary respectively of the local bodies cell, while Mr Kartar Singh Saini and Mr Satender Parmar would be the president and general secretary respectively of the Panchayati Raj Cell, Mr Kataria said.
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‘Need to empower disabled women’
Kurukshetra, December 9 This was the consensus at a seminar-cum-workshop organised by the society for education and empowerment of persons with Disabilities (SEEP) in collaboration with the All-India Council for the Blind, New Delhi at Jairam Vidyapeeth here today. Dr Sushma Sharma, in charge of SEEP and Reader in Kurukshetra University, stressed the need for bringing awareness among women about their rights enlisted in the Persons with Disabilities Act of 1995. Dr Sushil Kumar from Kurukshetra University highlighted the background of the passage of the Act. Dr Vikram Dutt, former Director of New Delhi’s Spinal Rehabilitation Centre, talked about efforts of the Union Government and NGOs working in the country for the amelioration of disabled persons. Dr Chattar Singh lamented the apathetic attitude of the bureaucracy, specially in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, towards the woes of disabled persons. Ms Heather Mohay of Queensland University of Technology in Australia, who is working with the Prathama organisation of Mumbai for the education of slum children, said in India children needed to be diagnosed for any impairment, mental or physical, so that proper medicare and healthcare could be imparted to them since childhood. Ms Ester Winkelhuis from Holland expressed her desire to work in India for this category of children. Dr S.L. Paul, former Professor of English in Kurukshetra University, Dr Usha Aggarwal, former Principal of the university’s College of Education, Dr Suman Gupta of the Law Department of the university and Dr Swatantar Jain of the university’s Psychology Department also spoke on various themes of education and empowerment of
physically and mentally challenged persons.
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Mahasangh to
oppose privatisation Jind, December 9 Mr M.L. Sehgal, the General Secretary, said that the employees were forced to intensify the agitation due to indifferent attitude of the government towards the employees. Mr Sehgal said that main demands of the employees were: payment of bonus on union government’s pattern; regularisation of the services of all daily wage workers; payment of revised house-rent allowance and medical allowance; withdrawal of the decision to bring primary schools and sixteen other departments under the Panchayats; payment of revised pay scales to the employees of corporations and boards filling of vacancies by promotions. Chairman of the Mahasangh, Jal Karan Balhara and Vice-president Mr Anand Swarup Dawla said that there was resentment among the employees because of anti-employees policies of the government. Addressing the employees, state President of the Roadways Karamchari Union, Mr Baldev Singh and Secretary Nihal Singh Matana, State President of Electricity Board Workers Union, Mr Inder Dutt Sharma, State President of Haryana Rajkeeya Adhyapak Sangh Mr Phool Kumar Petwar and officer bearers of several other employees organisations, criticised the policies of the government. |
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Targets
achieved at all plantations: panel Chandigarh, December 9 The committee
constituted by the state government to evaluate the plantations comprised Mr Radhey Shyam Sharma, former Editor of Dainik Tribune, Mr Prem Kumar, former Resident Editor of Indian Express, Chandigarh, and Mr R.N. Kaul, a retired IFS officer. In its report submitted recently to the government, the committee said high quality seedlings were planted and the targets had been achieved at all 69 sites selected randomly by it. The terms of reference of the committee included verification of the targets, assessing species-site compatibility, checking the status of maintenance of plantations and percentage of plant survival. The committee randomly selected 10 districts for evaluating plantations raised by the Forest Department and other agencies. It again randomly selected 69 sites in these districts. The committee observed that generally high quality seedlings had been planted and the maintenance of the plantations was good. In almost all plantations, the choice of the species matched well with the conditions of the site. But where the plantations were raised on panchayat land, a few species raised at the insistence of panchayats did not go well with the characteristics of the site. It found that on an average the survival rate of seedlings was over 90 per cent. Even the 10 per cent of the casualty replacement had been carried out. The committee suggested that since the climatic and soil conditions of the western and southern districts were not so favourable for plantations as compared to northern districts, the cost norms for the western and southern districts should be revised upward. This would enable the agencies to undertake special interventions like intensive earthwork, cultural operations and increased frequency of irrigations for obtaining better results. While taking note of the fact that the Forest Department had been distributing seedlings free of cost to other agencies, the committee observed that plantations succeeded in the case of those agencies which had the resources to protect and maintain planted seedlings. Therefore, it suggested, the Deputy Commissioners should be more selective while distributing seedlings among agencies. It also noted that farm forestry had become very popular in the northern districts of the state, but it had still to take roots in the southern and western districts. It also felt that the CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, should play a pro-active role while offering field-tested package of practices for farm forestry or agro-forestry. The committee observed that the panchayats had earned over Rs 9 crore between 1995-96 and 2000-2001 from free plantations raised on their land by the Forest Department. It recommended that it should be mandatory for the panchayats to invest at least 30 per cent of the sale proceeds or at least the actual cost incurred by the Forest Department on raising such plantations on felled areas. |
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Mixed reaction to house tax relief
Sirsa, December 9 Former organizing secretary of the Congress Hoshiari Lal Sharma and HVP district General Secretary Suresh Mehta giving their reactions to this said that the concessions in the house tax policy were only nominal. Concessions announced by the Chautala government are result of the campaign of the Congress undertaken with the cooperation of the people. The government admitted that house tax policy was faulty. Mr Sharma said that if the Chautala government intended to give true concessions, the old policy should be reintroduced. He also demanded that the taxes imposed on traders and sweetshop owners be withdrawn. On the other hand, the Chairman of the Sirsa Municipal Council and the traders justified the new house tax policy and welcomed the decision of the Chief Minister. He said that this decision would benefit financial institutions and common people and nearly 1.7 lakh financial institutes will benefit from it. Secretary of the Sirsa Beopar Mandal Chander Kumar Chautala and President Arthiya Association Gurdayal Mehta welcomed this decision of the Chief Minister and said that this showed that he was working in keeping with democratic values. He said that this decision would save the traders from unnecessary inconvenience. The Municipal Councillors of Sirsa expressed gratitude to the Chief Minister saying that it was for the first time in the history of Haryana that suggestions from the Municipal councillor were sought before the formulation of a policy. In the recently announced house tax policy the Haryana government exempted all religious institutions, dharamshalas, homes for the destitute etc. from the house tax. The government also announced the 10 per cent rebate for those who deposit the house tax within a month. |
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Governor inaugurates IMA workshop Ambala, December 9 Speaking on the occasion, Babu Parmanand, called for a nationwide debate on the issue so as to find reasons behind the declining number of females. He said social organisations, doctors, elected representatives, police and administration must work together to check female foeticide in society. He said such workshops should be regularly held in urban and rural areas. He observed while on the one hand ultrasound was useful for detecting diseases, but the technique was also being misused for conducting sex determination tests. He stated the Health Department had taken steps in this regard. He said female foeticide was casting an adverse effect on the Indian culture. He said there were many legal provisions to check female foeticide which included fine and even jail term for the violators. He said there was a need to strongly implement these legal provisions and to spread awareness regarding equality of male and female child. Mr Anil Vij MLA, Ambala Cantonment, said it would not be proper to blame just men or women for female infanticide. “Our social and political system is also to blame,” he said. Women must be made aware about their rights, he said. The Director-General, Health Services, Haryana, Dr J.L. Chaudhary, said there had been a constant decline in the sex ratio in the state and the 2001 census had shown that there were only 861 women for every 1,000 men. In the age group up to six years, there were only 820 girls for every 1,000 boys. He said female infanticide was one of the major reasons for the declining sex ratio. The state IMA president, Dr D.S. Jaspal, gave information regarding the activities of the IMA against female foeticide. Among others, Mr Jasbir Mallour MLA, Mr Maha Singh, Commissioner, Ambala division, Mr Hari Singh Ahlawat, Inspector-General of Police, Ambala Range, Mr D.D. Gautam, Deputy Commissioner, Mr Sandeep Khirwar Superintendent of Police, and Mr Mahinder Kumar, Additional DC, were also present. |
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College celebrates
founder’s day Yamunanagar, December 9 |
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Gita Jayanti Mahotsav begins on Dec 22 Kurukshetra, December 9 Devendra Swaroop Brahamchari of Shri Jairam Vidyapeetha at a press conference here said today that other cultural and spiritual programmes would begin on December 18. Noted ‘kathavachak’ (preacher) Shrikrishan Shastri will begin his sermons at the northern banks of the sarovar on December 18. He said that the Jai Ram Ashram would organise a mass marriage programme on December 24 and a procession on December 26 as part of the much-awaited festival.
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