Chandigarh : State Congress chief Ashok Tanwar on Thursday said the second phase of the Haryana Bachao Parivartan Cycle Rally will begin from Sirsa on May 17 and culminate on May 21. Speaking to mediapersons at Congress Bhawan here, Tanwar said during the yatra, party workers would highlight the failures of the BJP government at the Centre and the state.

Before launching the second phase of the yatra, the Congress would hold a Samman Samaroh at Jind on May 13 where party workers, who worked to mobilise support for the Jan Akrosh Rally addressed by party president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi on April 30.
Claiming that lakhs of people attended the Jan Akrosh Rally, Tanwar said people of the state were fed up with the BJP government at the Centre and in the state and were looking for an opportunity to dislodge them from power.

He alleged the anti-people policies of the BJP government had harmed the interests of all sections of society and the government had failed to fulfill promises made before coming to power.

Tanwar said atrocities against Dalits had increased during the BJP rule and hundreds of people had been booked by the government for holding protest against dilution of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
He alleged that Dalit officials were deliberately being denied posting on key position by discriminating against them.

The Congress, he said, would organise a rally under Samvidhan Bachao Abhiyaan at Karnal on May 27.

The party, he said, would also organise Garib Kisan Mazdoor Sammellan in the state in the last week of the month.

The date and venue of the sammellan is yet to be decided, he said.

Bengaluru : With an eye on returning to power in Karnataka, the BJP on Friday released its manifesto for the Assembly elections by promising free smartphones to poor women, free laptop to students entering college and visits to China and Israel by farmers.

"Our manifesto aims to cater to the aspirations of the people of Karnataka. We have focused on the welfare of farmers, women, youth and backward sections," said the Bharatiya Janata Party's state unit head and Chief Ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa.

"All women from below poverty line (BPL) families will be given free smartphones under a 'Mukhya Mantri Smartphone Yojane'," Yeddyurappa told the media. And every student enrolling in a college will get a free laptop.

One thousand farmers will be allowed each year to travel to countries like Israel and China to study the best practices in agriculture under the "Chief Minister's Fellowship for Agriculture", the manifesto said.

The document proposes to waive off all farmers' loans upto Rs 1 lakh from nationalised banks and cooperative banks in the very first state Cabinet meeting. Assembly elections are due on May 12.

The party said it will support about 20 lakh small and marginal dry land farmers through a direct income support of Rs 10,000.

"We will ensure that farmers receive 1.5 times the cost of production as Minimum Support Price (MSP)," read the 60-page manifesto.

The party will set aside Rs 5,000-crore "Raitha Bandhu Market Intervention Fund" to support farmers during price fluctuations.

"An amount of Rs 100-crore will be allocated for 'Raitha Bandhu Scholarship' to be given to farmers' children to pursue agriculture and allied sector courses in the state," the manifesto added.

The BJP leader said the party will earmark Rs 10,000-crore for a "Stree Unnati" Fund to set up women-run cooperatives across the state and establish stores to market the products made by the women at district and sub-district headquarters.

The party said it would ensure more work opportunities in the state but did not specify the number of jobs it aimed to create.

The BJP also said it will reintroduce the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Preservation Bill, 2012.

Chandigarh : The recession-hit reality sector seems to have taken a fancy for affordable housing with the state government issuing 86 licences in 14 cities in Haryana. The realtors plan to build subsidised houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

Gurugram tops the list with 46 projects spread over 254.48 acres followed by Faridabad with 12 projects (63.43 acres) and Sohna with 10 projects (74.01 acres), sources said.

Sonepat has got two projects (10 acres), Panipat two projects (12.82 acres), Karnal four projects (34.43 acres), Palwal one project (10 acres), Bahadurgarh one project (5.26 acres), Panchkula two projects (8.23 acres), Bawal one project (5.44 acres), Nilokheri one project (7 acres), Dharuhera one project (7.21 acres), Yamunanagar one project (5.12 acres) and Rewari two projects (11.01 acres).

The Department of Town and Country Planning has issued the licences.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has said the state government is committed to providing housing to all under the PMAY. In all, 67,885 housing units will be provided under the public-private partnership mode as part of the PMAY, for which 86 licences have been issued.

Recently, the government had shortlisted 2.25 lakh beneficiaries under the PMAY on the basis of a statewide survey. The proposal was sent to the Centre for approval and budgetary provision.

Under the scheme, houses will be provided in five categories. It will include construction on plot, renovation and extension of existing houses, bank loan for 30-sq-m plots and plot benefits for those living in rented accommodations, and slum dwellers living in colonies on government land for long.

Kurukshetra : Even as the district administration ordered a probe into fake income certificates submitted by parents to secure seat under EWS quota, the Federation of Private Schools’ Welfare Association (FPSWA) decided to approach the High Court to remove the shortcomings in the admission process.

Kulbhshan Sharma, president, FPSWA, said the Kurukshetra-based private school had successfully exposed the anomalies in Rule 134-A of the Haryana Right to Education Act, to which, the state government had turned a blind eye for years. He alleged seats under the EWS quota were being sold in connivance with officials of the revenue and education departments.

A news story was reported in these columns on Tuesday on identification of seven cases in which the income tax returns did not match the attested income certificates furnished by the parents at Wisdom World School.

Deputy Commissioner SS Phulia said he had directed the district education officer and district elementary education officer to investigate the matter.

Prateek Kumar, SHO City, said a complaint had been received from Wisdom World School and further action would be initiated on the basis of the investigation.
Meanwhile, Sharma said schools across the state claimed up to 80 per cent ineligible students were being enrolled under EWS quota.

Guwahati : The in-charge of a police outpost in Kamrup district of Assam was arrested on Wednesday night on charges of molesting a minor girl inside the outpost. 

The in-charge of Ramdia police outpost, Binod Das, was arrested based on an FIR lodged by the father of the victim. 

As per allegation, Das had molested the victim while she was held overnight in the outpost on April 12.

The girl had eloped with a boy and was rescued by the police that day and was held overnight in the police outpost.  

A special police team had investigated the case which led to the arrest of the policeman.