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Govt lowers eligibility for Engineering Courses: Dillu Ram
Chandigarh, June 28, 2007 (Tribune News Service): The Haryana government has changed the eligibility criteria for admission to the B.E. and B.Tech programmes for engineering diploma holders and B.Sc. degree holders. Parliamentary secretary, technical education, Dillu Ram said henceforth admissions would be made through lateral entry scheme. Now, the applicant must have 50 per cent marks in degree or diploma to take admission in these course for the session 2007-08. Earlier, the requirement was minimum 60 per cent marks.
Diploma holders of engineering and B.Sc. degree holders are straightaway given admission in the third semester of BE and B.Tech programmes because of their advanced knowledge of engineering.
Ram said during the past two years, the intake capacity per annum in the technical institutes of the state had increased up to 25 per cent. At present, there were 183 technical institutions functioning in the state. (With Thanks from The Tribune, Chandigarh)
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Intra-community marriage creates row in Bazigars
Fatehabad, April 2, 2007: The marriage of a Bazigar girl to a boy her gotra (sub-caste) has created a furore among the community at Kulan in this district. A mahapanchayat of the community has directed parents of the girl to revoke the marriage and bring their daughter from her in-laws’ house or face excommunication.
Members of the community have also approached the district administration for the cancellation the marriage alleging the girl was not of major. Poli, daughter of Mohinder Singh, of Kulan in this district married Jalalpur (Punjab) resident Darshan Singh’s son on February 8.
The boy and the girl, according to elders of the Bazigar community, belonged to the same gotra and parents of the girl concealed this fact from the panchayat at the time of marriage.
The fact came to light when Piara Singh of Choharkheri village in Punjab visited Kulan last week and revealed this fact to elders.
The self-styled members of the gotra Mahapanchayat organised a meeting of the community members at Kulan last week. Member of the community from Akanwali, Jakhal, Maghera, Kallar Dhani and Tohana of Haryana and Hingakheri, Satrana, Choharkheri and Paghalbarh of Punjab participated in the mahapanchayat.
The mahapanchayat expressed displeasure at the marriage in the same gotra and threatened to excommunicate the girl’s family if it did not cancel the marriage.
The mahapanchayat sent some community elders to Jalalpur residence of Darshan Singh to bring the girl back.
But the boy’s family did not send the girl maintaining they would send the girl only if her parents came to fetch her.
The community members came back to Kulan yesterday, finding the girl’s parents missing from their house. The community panchayat now has approached the district administration demanding the marriage be declared null and void on the plea the girl was a minor. The SDM Tohana RK Garg said he had received a complaint and was examining the matter. (With Thanks from Tribune, Chandigarh))
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Bazigars visiting every year at 'Mata Ka Mandir' in Kaithal
KAITHAL (Haryana): Devotees from Panjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pardesh visited Mata Ka Mandir at Mata Gate here. The three-day mela concluded on Monday. Bazigars from all over India visit this temple every year on the eve of Navratras. Newborns and married couples seek blessings of the deity.
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Rajputs, Banjaras fight over piece of land
Geetanjali Gayatri
Raipur Rani (Panchkula), October 25, 2006--It's Rajputs versus the Banjaras over a piece of land at Shahpur village where might seems to be right. One Rajput family headed by 60-year-old Chaman Lal is holding the entire Shahpur to ransom. While women live in morbid fear of Chaman Lal and his sons, the village panchyat, too, has failed to make him fall in line.
He's a law unto himself as he sits on a wooden bed amidst a lot of hay gathered and piled up for his cattle at the disputed "abadi" land. He hurls the choicest of abuses at the women from the Banjara families settled in Shahpur and at anybody who dares to ask him about the ownership of the land. Occupied by the Banjaras till a couple of months back, it was forcibly taken away from them by Chaman Lal.
"We used to tie our cattle on this piece of land and had stocked hay for them. This land belongs to the village and there is no individual ownership but it has been with the Banjaras ever since we can recall. One fine day, Chaman Lal just decided that he wanted the land from us. At night, he got a trolley and razed all our haystacks and dung cakes to the ground and set it on fire. Is there no law and order to check such bullies," asks a disturbed Jaswinder Kaur.
However, the dispute has its roots in votes cast for the panchyat poll. "Chaman Lal stood for the election of sarpanch over a year ago. However, Pavitar Singh, a Banjara, was elected sarpanch while Chaman Lal lost by one vote. He has put the entire onus of his defeat on us and has been devising schemes to trouble us since then. While we have withstood everything else, we cannot tolerate a drunk man making passes at us and using filthy language," adds Naseeb Kaur.
Supported by a few other Rajput families of the village, Chaman Lal refuses to budge from the disputed land. "I own this land and it has come down to me and the other Rajput families from their forefathers. These women should not dare to step on my land," he blurts out.
Justifying that razing of haystacks and setting these on fire, he says that's the only way to get his land vacated. "I have donated land to the government for setting up a tubewell. I have given land to so many others but I want this piece of land for myself. I can't compromise on this and I don't want to see these encroachers either on this land or in the village," he shouts.
Waving a compromise at those around him, Chaman Lal adds,"These women and their men have signed a compromise with me in front of the police. They cannot back out. Now, I am the owner of this land along with three other villagers." The villages insist that the compromise had been thrust upon them.
His tyranny has reached a point where his sons beat up a widow last week for setting foot on that land. The village panchayat and the sarpanch, Jogindro Devi, have decided in favour of the Banjaras but Chaman Lal listens to no directions.
"We conveyed to him that this is abadi land and belongs to the village. The Banjaras have claim on this land since they have been there for years. However, he refuses to move out. We can't do anything beyond that because he gets nasty," says panch Sher Singh.
The local Patwari, Mr Makhan Singh, says that according to tehsil records the land is a village property and belongs to nobody. He has forwarded the report to the Tehsildar. The police, on its part, has taken preventive action to ensure there is no breach of peace in the area. Beyond that, the officials maintain, the administration has to settle the dispute since there is no ownership.
The matter has been raised by the Banjaras at all possible fora, including the police, but everywhere they have been met by empty assurances and no results. Chaman Lal's tyranny continues unabated and everyday is a nightmare for them.
Chaman Lal and one of his sons also acted rough with the lensman of The Tribune, threatening to take away his camera for taking pictures of "his land" at the behest of the Banjaras.
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Condition of nomadic tribes poor in Haryana state
Fatehabad, Haryana, October 9, 2006--Mr Laxman Bhai Patni, member of the National Commission for Denotified Nomadic Tribes and Semi-Nomadic Tribes, today said the social and economic condition of these tribes was very poor in Haryana and they needed government support for their upliftment. Talking to mediapersons here yesterday, Mr Patni said there were 25 denotified nomadic tribes and semi- nomadic tribes in Haryana and their total population was over 15 lakh. He said the members of these tribes had been living without basic amenities.
They did not have any permanent dwellings. Their children did not go to school, as there was none in the surroundings of their hutments. The youths of these tribes did not get any employment.
The commission member said members of these tribes were hard working and eked out their livelihood by making household items. But the police and the authorities rarely adopted a sympathetic attitude towards them. They youths complained that the authorities did not allow display of their items for sale on footpaths. The police beat them up very time there was any incident of theft in the area. It did not even care to verify whether they were actually involved in the crime.
Mr Patni said that the present commission was set up by the Union Government in February 2006 with Mr Bal Bishan as its Chairman. It was given a year to submit a report on the condition of these tribe. He said he had so far toured the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh , Meghalaya and Punjab and had now come to Haryana .
He said there were 400 nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes in the country and there total population was 15 crore. He said the commission would submit a partial report to the government by November this year.
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Dillu Ram Bazigar: Developing Guhla his poll plank
Tribune News Service
Cheeka (Guhla), January 23, 2005: Development seems to be a common promise being made by the candidates in the fray in the Guhla (reserved) constituency.
Congress candidate Dillu Ram Bazigar, who has been an MLA in 1982 and 1996, says that issues like power, water and roads are being highlighted by him during his campaign. “During my previous tenures, I had carried out considerable work and there was improvement in the constituency, but now the area has fallen on bad days,” he says.
Mr Dillu Ram Bazigar, who is the national general secretary of the Bazigar Banjara Congress cell, says that four substations, including a 220 KV substation at Cheeka, had been established during his tenure. “There is a requirement for granting further subsidy on water supply. It will help in irrigation and will bring prosperity to farmers,” he says.
He says that making available tractor loans on easier instalments is a priority. “We are taking up issues concerning the farmers. We are with the underprivileged sections of society.” “In education, I will ensure that there is marked improvement in the school infrastructure. More high schools are needed here,” he says.
They will also be paying attention to the health sector, Dillu Ram Bazigar adds. (with thanks from Tribune, Chandigarh)
