Kaushal said an exhibition will be organised to provide the delegates with a deeper understanding of Haryana’s vibrant history and its path towards progress and development…reports Asian Lite News
Haryana is set to host a two-day G-20 conference on crime and security from July 13 in Gurugram amid the presence of over 600 delegates.
Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal on Thursday reviewed the preparations for the summit in collaboration with officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the state government.
During the meeting, he highlighted various initiatives to enhance the delegates’ experience, including an exhibition showcasing Haryana’s journey of progress and cultural heritage, as well as a captivating cultural programmes.
#Haryana is set to host a 2-day #G20 conference on crime & security from July 13 in #Gurugram amid the presence of over 600 delegates.
Chief Secretary #SanjeevKaushal reviewed the preparations for the summit in collaboration with officials from Ministry of Home Affairs & theā¦ pic.twitter.com/liOPgQwCks
Kaushal said an exhibition will be organised to provide the delegates with a deeper understanding of Haryana’s vibrant history and its path towards progress and development.
In addition, the Higher Education Department has planned a series of seminars, essay writing competitions, and other engaging events in colleges and universities across the state.
These activities will encourage scholarly discussions and critical thinking among students, fostering intellectual growth and knowledge exchange.
The G20 conference is being organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS).
Beginning today! The 1st G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group Meeting in Gurugram, Haryana.@GoI_MeitY participating in a Session on "Automation of service delivery to beneficiaries that led to increasing transparency and decreasing corruption" #G20India@g20org@DoPTGoIpic.twitter.com/HqGZ0VaBRJ
The international partners will be Interpol, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), while national partners will include the Data Security Council of India, Rashtriya Raksha University, National Forensic Science University, the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.
The G-20 Conference aims to address the pressing issues and challenges posed by emerging technologies such as non-fungible tokens, artificial intelligence and the Metaverse, and their impact on crime and security.
The conference will provide a platform for experts, policymakers, and stakeholders from around the world to engage in meaningful discussions, share insights, and develop strategies to combat the evolving landscape of criminal activities in the digital realm, appraised by the officers of the MHA.
In recent times, it has been renamed as Yadavindra Garden in memory of Maharaja Yadavindra Singh of the former princely state of Patiala…reports Asian Lite News
Delegates of the G20 second Agriculture Working Group will visit Haryana to interact with state officers on March 31, Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal said on Wednesday.
He said the delegates would be apprised of milestones achieved by the state, especially in the field of agriculture.
He also reviewed preparations for the visit of the delegation with state functionalities.
According to Kaushal, 100 delegates of the G20 Agriculture Working Group will visit the historical Yadavindra Gardens, which was created in the 17th century by architect Nawab Fidai Khan.
Discussions on Day 2ļøā£ of the 2nd #SFWG Meeting in #Udaipur focused on the need for collaboration among #G20 nations to effectively finance SDGs.
The day ended with traditional folk music & dance performances that left the #G20India delegates in awe!
Encouraged by the success of Sharjah Safari, , Khattar had suggested the idea of jungle safaris and tourist-oriented trekking in Haryana….reports Asian Lite News
Hoping to learn from the UAEās experience in jungle and desert safaris, Manohar Lal Khattar, Chief Minister of the Indian state of Haryana, is in the northern emirates on a two-day visit.
He will visit Dubai Safari Park and Sharjah Safari with a team of high-level officials from Haryana’s Tourism and Wildlife Department, officials in the state capital, Chandigarh, said.
Haryana is near the national capital of New Delhi and is home to 180 species of birds, 29 species of aquatic animals, 57 species of butterflies, 15 species of mammals and many reptiles. It has no safari parks on a scale that could harness the stateās wildlife resources into tourist attractions.
The Aravalli Range of hills, rich in flora, fauna and wildlife, also runs partly through Haryana. It has a 1,600 km-long and 5 km-wide green ecological corridor.
Encouraged by the success of Sharjah Safari, which opened in February this year and the older and well-known attraction of Dubai Safari Park, Khattar had suggested the idea of jungle safaris and tourist-oriented trekking in Haryana recently to Indiaās Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav. There are no national parks in the Aravallis part of Haryana.
Yadav is also now in Dubai to attend the World Green Economy Summit, which began yesterday and an associated Ministerial Roundtable for Green Economy.
Khattar is using the opportunity offered by his visit to meet potential UAE investors in his state, officials accompanying him said.
Yogesh Danda was the fifth Haryana boxer to make his way into the last-8 stage after beating Pondicherry’s Prithvi by RSC verdict in the 52kg category…reports Asian Lite News
Five boys from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh progressed to the quarter-finals as boxers from these states continued their impressive run at the 2022 Sub-junior Girls’ and Boys’ National Boxing Championships here.
Vinit Kumar began the day brilliantly for Haryana when he outclassed Rajasthan’s Chandra Shekhar by a unanimous decision in the 40kg pre-quarterfinal bout at the Inspire Institute of Sports here on Tuesday.
Hunny (43kg), Mahesh (46kg), and Lokesh (64kg) further extended Haryana’s dominance with victories by similar margins. While Hunny and Mahesh thrashed Telangana’s Sana Ulla and Nikhil Goud respectively, Lokesh defeated Uttar Pradesh’s Pritam Gupta, the Boxing Federation of India informed in a release on Tuesday.
Yogesh Danda was the fifth Haryana boxer to make his way into the last-8 stage after beating Pondicherry’s Prithvi by RSC verdict in the 52kg category.
Producing equally dominant performances, four other Uttar Pradesh pugilists — MD Faiz (61kg), Lakshya Singh Parihar (40kg), Vishal Yadav (67kg), and Vishu Rajtun (70kg) — clinched RSC wins in their respective pre-quarter-finals while Ravi Gond had to work hard during his 55kg match against Assam’s Shahiman Newar but managed to win by a split 4-1 decision.
While Faiz and Lakshya defeated Andhra Pradesh’s Teja Krishna Yadav and Uttarakhand’s Karan Adhikari respectively, Vishal and Vishnu outpunched Maharashtra’s Shivam Ijagaj and Orissa’s Akash Kumar Panigrahi.
Delhi’s Shivam and Lovjeet, an’ Chandigarh’s Loven and Nittin were among the other pugilists who entered the quarter-finals with strong performances. Shivam (49kg) and Lovjeet (58kg) registered identical 5-0 wins against their respective opponents from Maharashtra, Atharva Naik, and Atharva Bhatt.
While Nittin made light work of Telangana’s Pranav Shiva to win by a 5-0 margin in the 37kg category, in the 70kg last-16 bout, Loven notched up a commanding RSC win against Madhya Pradesh’s Suryabhan Singh.
The ongoing championship has been witnessing the participation of 621 boxers, including 348 in the boys’ section, from 31 teams across the country. Each bout consists of three rounds of two minutes each with a minute’s break between each round.
Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala and Minister of State for Labour and Employment Anoop Dhanak were present, among others…reports Asian Lite News
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday launched a five-year programme named Programme to Accelerate Development for MSME Advancement (PADMA) that is expected to bring in investment of over Rs 25,000 crore.
PADMA is a multi-departmental and multi-agency programme which would not only promote the local products but would also give ample employment opportunity to the local youth, especially to the targeted Antyodaya families.
“Based on the principles of local yet global, PADMA aims to create a dynamic, self-sustainable and thriving industrial infrastructure at the cluster level for each block of Haryana,” said the Chief Minister while formally launching PADMA at a function here.
Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala and Minister of State for Labour and Employment Anoop Dhanak were present, among others.
“PADMA, a five-year programme, will not only revolutionise the industrial landscape in Haryana through the development of PADMA industrial parks across all the blocks but is also expected to bring in investment of over Rs 25,000 crore in the form of infrastructure, common facility centres, business development service centres and set-up new industrial units in each blocks,” said Khattar.
He said around 10,000-15,000 new units are expected to be opened by next year in these clusters.
The Chief Minister said in line with Atmanirbhar Bharat and to support state Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), a tremendous focus has been on development of its MSME ecosystem. “With this in mind the Haryana government has set up a separate directorate for the MSMEs.”
“The MSMEs play a significant role in the economic landscape of Haryana, contributing over 22 per centA to the Gross State Value Added (GSVA),” said the Chief Minister.
He said under PADMA, one product in each block of 22 districts, has been identified based on the locally available resources, existing micro enterprise ecosystem, demographic profile, key opportunities, sunrise sectors and growth potential.
“If required necessary training and skilling would also be given so as to promote this sector,” he added.
Deputy Chief Minister Chautala said with the launch of PADMA a new benchmark has been set for taking the industries forward.
“One year ago, the blueprint of this One Block One Product was prepared and a survey and study were conducted before the implementation of this programme. The findings highlighted that there are various local products at block levels that have huge market potential. In a bid to give a boost to each block and their special product on a larger level, PADMA programme has been launched,” Chautala, who also holds the portfolio of Industries and Commerce Departments, said.
Chautala had then also won from Uchana seat, due to which he resigned from the Ellenabad seat and in the 2010 by-election it was won by Abhay…reports Ā AMARPAL SINGH VERMA
All eyes are on Saturday’s by-elections in Haryana’s Ellenabad constituency, which has emerged as a prestige issue for the three main political parties in the fray – the ruling BJP, the Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).
The biggest and most emotive issue in the election is the farmers’ agitation sparked by the passage of three contentious farm laws in late 2020. Haryana’s farmers are among those taking an active part in the movement and resentment against the BJP has been brewing ever since.
Whether the saffron party wins or loses Ellenabad will not affect Haryana’s Manohar Lal Khattar government, but the election has become a prestige issue for the BJP, and the state machinery is employing its full force to win the seat. For the Congress and INLD, the by-election has become a question of survival with dignity.
A total of 19 candidates are in the fray, of which 11 are Independents, but the main contest is believed to be between the INLD, Congress and BJP.
Candidates in slugfest
The political atmosphere in the state is already charged.
Among the heavyweights is INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala, who resigned from the state Assembly early this year in protest against the agricultural laws. Taking on him from the Congress is Pawan Beniwal, while the BJP has fielded Govind Kanda after inducting him into the party.
Traditionally, the Ellenabad seat in Sirsa has been the stronghold of former Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal. Abhay, his grandson and son of the former chief minister and INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala, was victorious here in the 2019 elections when he defeated Beniwal, then in the BJP.
Abhay’s resignation from the seat is what led to the by-election here. While he is standing again from the INLD, his rival Beniwal switched to the Congress a few days before the announcement of the election date.
All parties campaigned diligently for their candidates from village to village, though flags and banners are not visible due to the fear of the Election Commission. In his rallies, Abhay campaigned against the agricultural laws and alleged scams during the rule of the Khattar government in Haryana, while Beniwal spoke about the lack of development in the state. BJP’s Kanda assured the electorate of all-around progress.
Former CM Chautala is not leaving any stone unturned for the victory of son Abhay. He is visiting dozens of villages every day seeking support. On the other hand, the entire Haryana government is working to take BJP candidate Kanda to the finish line. State BJP president Om Prakash Dhankar, all ministers, MLAs, and chairmen of Khattar government corporations and boards are scouring the villages of Ellenabad in their bid for victory.
In the Congress, leaders including state president Kumari Selja and former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, are making efforts to ensure a win.
Odds of victory
All three candidates have their pros and cons.
The Ellenabad seat has long been dominated by the Chautala family, and in 11 of 15 previous elections, a member of the family or a candidate of their choice has won.
In the 1970 by-election here, Om Prakash Chautala became the MLA. From 1977 to 2005, the seat was reserved for the Scheduled Castes. In this time, Bhagiram, who was close to the Devi Lal family, won from here five times. After delimitation in 2009, the seat was declared for the general category, after which Chautala senior became the MLA.
Chautala had then also won from Uchana seat, due to which he resigned from the Ellenabad seat and in the 2010 by-election it was won by Abhay.
In 2014 and 2019, Abhay won again by defeating Beniwal. Now Abhay is in the fray here for the fourth time and is confident of the support of the farmers and Jats who are agitating against the BJP government.
Yet, the challenges before him are no less.
By winning from Ellenabad in 2019, Abhay was able to register his presence as the lone MLA of INLD in the 90-member Haryana Assembly, all thanks to infighting in the Chautala family.
One of Abhay’s rivals has turned out to be his own nephew, Dushyant Chautala, son of Omprakash Chautala’s elder son Ajay. Dushyant is currently the deputy chief minister of Haryana – a post he got by forming a joint government with the BJP on the strength of ten MLAs from his Jannayak Janata Party.
Abhay has to thus face not only the Congress-BJP candidates but also the supporters of his nephew, a participant in the rival Khattar government. If Abhay wins, then it will give new strength to INLD in Haryana, but in case of defeat, the future of the party will be in question.
There are also strengths and weaknesses associated with Congress’s Pawan Beniwal.
In Ellenabad, Beniwal’s uncle, former MLA Bharat Beniwal, had been contesting elections on a Congress ticket. But this time the party gave his ticket to the nephew – which did not go down well with Bharat. The Congress high command has so far persuaded Bharat to remain in the party fold, but fears of rebellion remain.
On the pro side, Pawan Beniwal’s biggest advantage is that he is a Jat and the Congress is banking on him to get votes from the farmers as well as the Jats. The majority of Ellenabad’s nearly 2 lakh voters stay in villages and according to estimates, 37 per cent of voters are from the Jat community, with Jat Sikhs making up 7 per cent of the voters.
BJP on backfoot
The BJP in Ellenabad is facing the displeasure of farmers, who threw out party candidate Kanda and other leaders from the local gurdwara. Even in villages, farmers are raising slogans against the party. The United Kisan Morcha has taken out a Kalash Yatra with the ashes of the farmers killed in Lakhimpur Kheri to different villages in Ellenabad. So the farmers are leaving no stone unturned to make BJP’s path to victory here difficult.
The majority of Jat votes are likely to be divided between Abhay and Beniwal. In such a situation, the BJP is trying hard to get its candidate to win by mobilising non-Jat voters. Govind’s elder brother Gopal Kanda, former Minister of State for Home in Haryana, has also jumped on the campaign ground with full strength.
Palaram Jat, a farmer from Dholpaliya village, admitted to the impact of the farmer agitation on the Ellenabad election. In this case, Abhay has an upper hand as he resigned from the Assembly in protest against the agricultural laws.
Under the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ scheme, the Ministry of Jal Shakti has set a target of providing 55 litres of clean drinking water per person per day to all households….reports Asian Lite News
All rural households from two more districts of Haryana – Jind and Palwal – are now connected with tap water supply under ‘Har Ghar Jal’ scheme, taking the number to 21 out of 22, the Jal Shakti Ministry said on Wednesday.
Under the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ scheme, the Ministry of Jal Shakti has set a target of providing 55 litres of clean drinking water per person per day to all households.
Once the remaining district, Mewat, which has 82 per cent households currently connected with piped water supply, gets 100 per cent tap water, Haryana will join the states of Goa, Telangana, Andaman & Nicobar, Puducherry, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli that have already achieved the 100 per cent tap connections under the Jal Jeevan mission, the Jal Shakti Ministry said in a statement.
Bihar 85.18 per cent, Gujrat 84.32 per cent, Himachal Pradesh 79.67 per cent, and Punjab 81.57 per cent are the other high-ranking states that are aiming at 100 per cent connections as soon as possible.
Ministry officials said, all households of Mewat district will have tap water connections latest by early September. According to officials, there are close to 31 lakh rural households in Haryana.
In August 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ scheme in view of the problem of drinking water in rural India, only 17.6 lakh rural households (57.04 per cent) in Haryana were getting drinking water from the tap. In less than two years, 30.68 lakh rural households of the state have started getting clean drinking water from their taps, the officials claimed.
The ministry officials added that 6,045 village panchayats and 6,638 villages have secured the distinction of becoming ‘Har Ghar Jal Gaon’ in Haryana. Similarly, all 12,988 schools and 21,789 Anganwadis are now connected with piped water supply in the state.
Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has reassured that Haryana would not face any problem of funds in providing water connection to every household under the mission.
“In the current financial year, about Rs 1,120 crore have been allocated for this scheme, he said. The amount is more than seven times against the allocation of Rs 149.95 crore in the financial year 2019-2020 and about four times against the allocation of Rs 289.52 crore in 2020-2021. In the current financial year, about Rs 257 crore have been released by the Central government to the state,” the minister said.
People from Budhimedhi village weren’t allowed to attend public gatherings or travel to mourn a relative’s death…writes Manoj Thakur.
When the second wave of Covid-19 was washing over many parts of the country, seven villages in Haryana’s Sirsa district remained untouched. Makha, Musli, Budhimedhi, Dhani Satnam Singh, Dogra Wali, Modi, and Joriya ā which do not have more than 5,000 people each ā followed basic practices and cooperated in their small way to keep the virus at bay.
For instance, not a single person from Makha village ventures out without a mask, whereas cops have been rampantly penalising people for violations elsewhere in the Sirsa district. Makha sarpanch Veerpala Kaur proudly says that innate discipline has completely stalled Covid-19 in their village. “There isn’t a single case in our village. It was possible because of adherence to three things – wearing a mask, attention towards sanitisation and social distancing. And the results are right in front of you,” she said
Kaur added that the panchayat held many dialogues with the villagers over prevention. “The panchayat meetings were conducted by following social distancing norms. We decided to stall weddings and other public gatherings,” she said.
The villagers’ sense of social responsibility made the implementation easier.
Rules and cooperation
Sarpanch Kaur’s brother, Harchej Singh (38), made brief clips on Covid-19 awareness and circulated them on social media. The villagers cooperated with the initiatives. They asked their relatives not to visit their village. “Moreover, the villagers refrained from travelling out. If a person had to leave for important work, he/she would quarantine himself/herself upon returning. The measures were not followed due to pressure from an individual, but out of respect for the decision taken for the public good,” he said.
He added that the villagers believe in keeping a social promise. They have high regard for the decisions taken by the panchayat, and thus, they follow them ardently ā they feel it is their social responsibility. “Villagers come to know when a person violates the rule. Such a person is then socially boycotted and loses trust,” Singh said.
People from Budhimedhi village weren’t allowed to attend public gatherings or travel to mourn a relative’s death. In case they had to travel, they would have to quarantine upon returning. The doctors would test them. Such a person could only return home once he/she tested negative. Budhimedhi’s residents cooperated with every such regulation. “As a result, there has not been a single case,” said village sarpanch Sukhbaj Singh.
Musli village resident Singh Chima said that people were not visiting the mandi during the lockdown. Since many vegetables are grown in the village, the residents decided to distribute them among themselves. “There were two advantages to this situation — people did not have to step out for vegetables, and the home-grown produce was not spoiled. A few people from outside who come to sell vegetables did not arrive once they realised that we were self-sufficient,” he said.
Small hurdles to deal with
Making everybody follow the safety principles came with their difficulties. Sarpanch Kaur of Makha village said that the villagers are staunch followers of traditions and follow a strict schedule, which they do not like to disrupt. “Covid-19 had started altering people’s routines,” she said.
The sudden change has been unimaginable for Makha’ senior citizens like Ramnivas Sharma. Before Covid-19 confined him to his home, he would spend his day with his friends in baithaks. “People of my age would gather in the morning and engage in banter all day. Tea, snacks, and lunch would be served in our baithaks. We wouldn’t return home until late. With Covid-19, things changed drastically. We felt imprisoned in our homes. It was bizarre at first. But, we got slowly used to it,” he said.
Sharma added that staying at home had its benefits. “We, senior citizens, grew close to our kids as we spent lots of time with them for the first time. Now, time flies. It feels as if I have wasted a lot of time in the past in the company of hookah, when a better part of life is at home,” he said.
Sirach Sukhabaj Singh of Budhimedi Village from Sirsa deemed funerals the most difficult to regulate. In his village, when a person dies, people gather in support and solidarity. “Covid-19 did not allow any such gatherings. We reinforced the decision by allowing only the family to attend the final rights. When a person passed away, we wondered if the virus was responsible. The samples were sent to local government hospitals. The results always returned negative,” he said.
The good word
Sirsa Deputy Civil Surgeon Buddh Ram lauded the seven villages for their approach and discipline. “They stayed free of the virus when the pandemic was gathering momentum in rural areas. Their techniques can be seen as a model for preventing Covid-19,” he said.
Social organisation network Youth 4 Change’s director, Rakesh Dhul, said that such discipline is exemplary as it comes from the sector of Sirsa, which is protesting against the farm laws.
“These seven villages have shown much restraint and discipline and prevented Covid-19 altogether. If other villages adopt Sirsa’s methods, Covid-19 can be evicted from rural areas. Sirsa’s residents have not only prevented themselves from harm but have imparted a lesson,” he said.
(The author is Chandigarh-based freelance journalist and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)
