Chandigarh :
Haryana may be one of the smallest states in the country, yet the administration and police are getting top heavy with the each passing day.

Close on the heels of promotion of four IAS officers to the rank of Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), the Haryana Government on Wednesday promoted three officers of the 1988 batch of the Indian Police Service (IPS) to the rank of the Director General of Police (DGP).

With this, Haryana boasts of 27 officers, including the Chief Secretary, in the rank of the Chief Secretary. Those who joined the ACS club, included the 1988-batch IAS officers Tarun Bajaj, Rajesh Khullar, TVSN Prasad and Anil Kumar.

Sources said the four officers would draw pay and perks admissible to the Chief Secretary, putting more burden on the state exchequer.

The promotion of three IPS officers to the rank of the DGP — Manoj Yadav, PK Aggarwal and Sudhir Chaudhary — will increase the strength of the DGP-level officers to 12. They will be entitled to pay and perks admissible to the state DGP.

The sources say the promotion of the IAS and IPS officers was due as they had completed 30 years of service. Interestingly, these officers would continue to work on their present posts and continue to discharge duties they performed as Principal Secretaries/ADGPs.

The sources termed the promotions as a “routine administrative” exercise, claiming they were time-scale promotions.

However, a look at the administrative and police structure in Punjab shows that the neighbouring state has fewer officers in the ACS or DGP rank. There are 15 officers in the ACS rank, while 10 IPS officers are at the DGP level.

Ambala :
About 1,500 paddy farmers of the district have sought compensation under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) so far, claiming losses due to the recent incessant rainfall. The rain had flattened the crop in several parts of the district, resulting in a delay in its harvest. Around 82,000-hectare land is under paddy crop this year.

Farmers from Danipur, Janaitpur, Jandheri, Shahazadpur, Naraingarh, Saha, and Barara village have filled claim forms.

The delay in harvesting will also impact the sowing of potato crop, which is sown in around 2,700-hectare area.

Brijmohan, a farmer of Sambhalkha village, said “I had sown paddy in five acres and a major portion of the crop has flattened. Now, it will have to be harvested manually. I had planned to sow potato after harvesting paddy, but it seems difficult now.”

Meanwhile, the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Charuni) submitted a memorandum for Deputy Commissioner on Wednesday and demanded a compensation of Rs 40,000 per acre for the losses suffered by farmers.

BKU spokesman Rajiv Sharma said “The government should complete the survey within three days in the presence of Agriculture Department officials. Also, relaxation must be given in the moisture level during procurement of paddy and it must be procured at MSP. All farmers must be compensated, whether their crop is insured or not.”

Guru Prem, Subject Matter Specialist, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, said “Matured crop has flattened at several places. If the water is drained out, there will not be much damage to the crop but if that is not done, there will be germination, which will affect the early variety. There are no reports of damage to aromatic varieties.”

District Horticulture Officer Hawa Singh said, “Due to the delay in harvesting of paddy, the area of potato crop may get reduced this year.”

Deputy Director, Agriculture, Girish Nagpal said, “Farmers have filled claim forms and a survey will be carried out soon.”

ADC Captain Shakti Singh said “As per the preliminary report, around 25-40 per cent crop is affected. A survey will be carried out to find out the exact loss.”

Karnal :
Fearing a huge loss due to the incessant rain in the past few days, around 6,000 farmers of the district have approached the Agriculture Department to seek compensation under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).

Around 32,000 farmers have opted for the government’s crop insurance scheme PMFBY. Of them, around 6,000 have approached the department for compensation, said Aditya Dabas, Deputy Director, Agriculture (DDA).

Farmers cultivate paddy crop on around 1.65 lakh hectare in the district, out of which around 50,000 hectare is covered under the PMFBY, he added.

The bulk of the farmers claiming the loss are from Assandh block as around 40 per cent of the total farmers applied for claim, followed by Nilokheri, Indri, Gharaunda and Karnal blocks.

Due to heavy rainfall and releasing of water from Hathnikund Barrage in Yamunanagar, farmers living along the banks of Yamuna River have faced major losses. Sources in the department claimed several affected farmers did not have insurance cover but were demanding compensation. However, the government had ordered for special girdawari for the losses due to rainfall.

“I have applied for the claim and the department will assess the loss. I have also requested the authorities not to delay the reimbursement as that can lead to additional woes for us,” a farmer from the district said.

One of the officials said the revenue officials had been asked to assess the loss due to rainfall.

Ambala :
The Education Department has decided to introduce English as a medium of instruction for science and mathematics subjects in Class IX in nine government schools of the district from this academic session. Of these, eight schools are senior secondary schools and one is a government high school.

District Education Officer Uma Sharma told The Tribune, “For the promotion of science, the department has decided to introduce maths and science in English medium in Class IX from this session. The department has selected 310 government schools under this programme across the state of which nine are from Ambala. A request in this regard was forwarded from Ambala a few months ago. Some students had requested us to provide the facility of learning science and mathematics in English from Class IX so that the students who want to pursue medical and non-medical streams can easily cope up with the subjects.”

“As English poses a big challenge to students in government schools, the department has focused on improving their language skills. The study of these subjects in English medium during classes IX and X will help them in understanding the subjects better when they opt for science streams in Class XI. The selected schools will be given a budget of Rs 15,000 each to purchase books. Currently, half-yearly exams are on and soon after the exam, the budget will be provided,” she added.

The DEO said “In these schools, there are parallel sections for Class IX. While in one section the students will continue to study in Hindi medium, in the second section they will study both these subjects in English medium. We have good PGT teachers in these schools and the students will cope up soon.”

The schools selected under this programme are Government Senior Secondary School, Ugala; Government Senior Secondary School, BC Bazaar (Ambala Cantonment); Government Senior Secondary School, Bakra Market (Ambala Cantonment); Government Senior Secondary School, Naraingarh; Government Senior Secondary School, Ghel Kalan; Government Senior Secondary School, Prem Nagar (Ambala City); and Government Senior Secondary School, Samlehri, Government Senior Secondary School, Rampur Sarsheri; and Government High School, Sonda.

9 schools chosen in Ambala district

The schools selected under this programme are Government Senior Secondary School, Ugala; Government Senior Secondary School, BC Bazaar (Ambala Cantonment); Government Senior Secondary School, Bakra Market (Ambala Cantonment); Government Senior Secondary School, Naraingarh; Government Senior Secondary School, Ghel Kalan; Government Senior Secondary School, Prem Nagar (Ambala City); and Government Senior Secondary School, Samlehri, Government Senior Secondary School, Rampur Sarsheri; and Government High School, Sonda.

Chandigarh :

With the initiative of Haryana Finance and Excise and Taxation Minister Captain Abhimanyu for economic strengthening of North and implementing “One nation, one tax” regime, a meeting of Finance Ministers and senior officers of northern states was organised here today.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal represented their respective states at the meeting. Senior officials of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Uttar Pradesh also participated in the meeting.

It was agreed at the meeting to bring uniformity on petrol and diesel rates and all the participating states decided to constitute a sub-committee for the same. The panel will convene a meeting in 15 days and the states will submit their recommendations. Captain Abhimanyu said on the advice of Delhi, a same excise policy would be implemented in northern states. Punjab proposed a uniform policy for state transport so that there should be no loss of revenue from registration and permit fee as many vehicles of Punjab and Haryana have registration outside their states.

A committee of officials has been set up for excise and transport and it would send its report to their respective governments on the uniformity of rates, he added.