Chandigarh :

Parents who only have daughters have sought 1 per cent special quota in state government jobs for the girl child and full fee waiver in medical, engineering and other professional courses.

In a representation to the state government, the parents have demanded institution of special scholarships for the girl child, especially for courses in higher education.
They have demanded that the retirement age of parents who only have daughters should be raised to 65 years so that they can continue to provide better opportunities of higher education to their daughters.

To empower the girl child, they want the maximum age limit for applying for government jobs for girls to be raised to 45 years as it will not put any extra burden on the state exchequer.

Parents associated with the WhatsApp group “Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao” created by those having only daughters, have apprised Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki about the issues through a memorandum. They will soon meet Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar with a memorandum of demands.

Expressing satisfaction over the increase in sex ratio from 871 in 2014 to 931 in 2017, the parents have asserted that certain incentives given to the girl child in Haryana will go a long way in empowerment of the girl child.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the “Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao” programme nationwide from Panipat on January 22, 2015.

Since then, the Haryana Government had consistently been supporting the campaign, which was reflected in improvement in sex ratio across the state.
Close on the heels of government efforts, a number of parents like Satish Mehra and BL Dhiman had taken the initiative on social media, which was catching up each passing day.

Hisar :
With the state government stopping its procurement of mustard on Thursday, the All-India Kisan Sabha demanded that purchase should continue till May 30.
It said only 10 to 20 per cent of the produce had been procured. “Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar should keep his word that every grain of mustard will be purchased on the MSP of Rs 4,000 per quintal,” sabha pradhan Master Sher Singh said.

He said huge quantities of yield was lying unsold in grain markets of Bhiwani town, Tosham, Siwani, Bahal, Jui, Dighawa, Loharu, Badhra and Charkhi Dadri. “The procurement was slow. The farmers waited for days for their turn to sell mustard.”
“As per Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar, about 10 lakh MT of mustard was produced in the state this year. The Centre had a target of purchasing only two lakh MT, while the state government’s target was 50,000 MT. So, the government procurement was not more than 25 per cent,” he said.

The farmers’ leader said terms and conditions imposed by the state government was responsible for the non-procurement of a majority of the produce.

“The district authorities had fixed days for every village. About 30 per cent of villages in the district did not get an opportunity to sell their produce,” he said, adding the strict conditions had forced several farmers to sell their produce to arhtiyas below the MSP.
CLP Leader threatens stir

Congress leader Kiran Choudhry threatened to launch an agitation if the district authorities failed to start lifting of wheat from grain markets. After visiting the grain market in Bhiwani on Thursday, she said laxity of authorities coupled with rain and hailstorm had caused losses to farmers. 

Farmers block road in Rewari

Rewari : Farmers blocked the Rewari-Bawal road in the district for more than two hours in protest against non-procurement of mustard. They lifted the blockade after the district authorities assured them of immediate resumption of procurement. “The farmers got infuriated when Hafed refused to purchase their crop,” the sources said. The farmers said Hafed stopped the procurement as soon as they reached the purchase centre. 

Kaithal : 
The police have arrested three persons, including a woman, on charge of blackmailing and extorting Rs 5 lakh from a 65-year-old man.

Superintendent of Police Astha Modi said the victim in his police complaint alleged that Shamsher of Harigarh Kingan village had asked him to accompany him to Haridwar on April 30. The victim, along with Shamsher and two women went to Haridwar and stayed at Satsang Bhawan.

The SP said the victim claimed that he fell unconscious after drinking milk given by Shamsher following which he was disrobed and photos of him were taken with a woman.

The SP said that next day the victim was allegedly thrashed by two youths, Kuldeep and Sonu, at the bus stand in Haridwar on the pretext of sexually exploiting the woman. The accused demanded Rs 20 lakh from the victim after reaching Pehowa from Haridwar and also threatened to implicate him in a rape case. The victim gave Rs 5 Lakh and promised to give the remaining amount by May 8. He complained to the police after the accused started threatening him.

The police arrested Shamsher and Kuldeep on May 8 and recovered Rs 40,000 cash from them. The woman was held from Arjan Nagar locality and a sum of Rs 1 lakh was recovered from her.

All three were produced in a local court on Wednesday, which sent Shamsher and Kuldeep in 2-day judicial remand. The woman was sent in judicial custody.

Chandigarh : 
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Congress leaders of his camp hit out at the Haryana Government over a controversial question in the HSSC examination held in April.

“The functioning of the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC), which is already under the scanner following a leak of an audio clip that exposed chairman Bharat Bhushan Bharti’s corrupt activities, has now insulted Brahmins,” he told the media here.

In the written examination for the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) held on April 10, the HSSC had posed a question, “What is not considered a bad omen in Haryana?” Of the four options, two were “sight of a Brahmin girl” and “meeting with a black Brahmin”.

Hooda termed the HSSC as the “Haryana Service Sales Centre”. He demanded registration of an FIR against Bharti and the chief examiner.

Ganaur MLA Kuldeep Sharma, who was also present in the press meet, said if the government failed to take action within a week, he would file a complaint with the Panchkula Police, accusing Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar of his “tacit approval” to the state of affairs in the HSSC.

He hit out at BJP’s newly elected Brahmin Rajya Sabha member Lt General DP Vats (retd) for terming the saffron party a benefactor of Brahmins after the question row.

“Vats must not forget that Hooda appointed him chairman of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC).”

Hooda took on the Chief Minister for his statement that “namaz” should be offered in mosques and idgahs only, and not in public places. “His statement is aimed at encouraging right-wing elements who are disrupting prayers meetings,” he said.
Former Nuh MLA Aftab Ahmed said Muslims in Gurugram had been observing Friday prayers in parks as influential persons had encroached upon mosques and idgahs.
He questioned the logic behind allowing the RSS to hold “shakhas” in public parks and even in schools. Hooda said he would start the second phase of his rath yatra from Samalkha on June 3.

Jalandhar :
Coming as yet another embarrassment for the Congress — which is already embroiled in illegal mining controversies — ahead of the Shahkot bypoll, SHO Mehatpur Parminder S Bajwa has alleged that Balwinder Singh, reportedly a front man of Faridkot MLA Kushaldeep Dhillon, was booked at the Shahkot police station under these charges about three months back.

The case comes to light less than three weeks ahead of the bypoll when party candidate Hardev S Laddi Sherowalia already has an FIR against him for mining and its former minister Rana Gurjit Singh too had faced similar allegations and had resigned on moral grounds.

Bajwa, who was then posted as SHO Shahkot, had said that FIR number 24 had been registered against KBM Contractor, Model Town, Ludhiana, and Balwinder Singh of Puri Colony, Faridkot.

The FIR had been registered in Shahkot under Section 21 of the Mines and Minerals Act and Sections 379 and 427 of the IPC.

The FIR dated February 12 mentions that though the company and Balwinder Singh had taken a mining contract for Chak Tarewal village in Moga and had not been allotted any quarry in Jalandhar, he had been indulging in illegal mining at Taharpur and Baupur villages of Shahkot.

The matter was brought to the notice of Deputy Commissioner Jalandhar by numberdar Gurbhej Singh, Jaskaran Singh and Gurmel Singh, all of Chak Tarewal village, on February 7.

The next day, DC Jalandhar issued directions to kanungo Manjit Singh and patwari Gurdeep Singh. Demarcation proved that the contractors had indulged in illegal sand mining on the 33 kanal land falling in Shahkot villages.

The SDM prepared the report and sent it across to the DC after which the FIR was registered on the complaint of mining block officer Narinderpal Singh.
Balwinder Singh, when contacted on his phone, sought the identity of this caller first and then said that it was a wrong number.

MLA Dhillon, who reportedly is abroad these days, took the call. Though there are reports that Balwinder has been his manager for the past 10 years, he countered this by saying, “Balwinder is actually a freelance insurance broker at Faridkot. He is only my supporter and worker. So I know him. But I have nothing to do directly with this FIR, which in any case is false.”

Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, Varinder Kumar Sharma said, “I do not remember anything off hand in this case as it is an old one. I keep getting complaints on a daily basis and try to get them disposed of quickly.”