News Analysis India

Tag: Haryana

  • Over 100 farmers protesting near Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij’s residence detained

    By PTI

    AMBALA: The police on Thursday detained over 100 farmers who were protesting near the residence of Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij against the rounding up of a local farmer leader in connection with showing black flags to the convoy of the minister.

    However, the farmers were later released.

    According to police, the minister was coming back to his residence after attending a meeting in Chandrapuri Colony at Ambala Cantonment on Wednesday evening.

    When he was crossing the place, some of the protesting farmers showed black flags to his convoy.

    Stones were also thrown on one of the vehicles of the convoy, police said.

    Police later rounded up farmer leader Navdeep Singh in connection with the incident following which a large number of farmers gathered near Vij’s Ambala residence on Thursday.

    Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) senior leader Wajinder Kamboj said they were protesting in a peaceful way, but the police detained them at police line premises.

    More farmers later gathered at the police line area at Ambala City and demanded release of all those who had been detained, including one of their leaders.

    Although the district administration officials and police tried to persuade the protesters to disperse, they did not relent.

    A large number of police force was also deployed in the police line area to deal with any untoward situation.

    In the meantime, a meeting was organised by the district administration officials and farmer leaders to defuse the situation.

    The administration later assured the farmers’ delegation that all the detained farmers will be released.

    Later all the protesters, including Navdeep, were released.

  • Two rape victims die in Haryana after four men force them to drink insecticide

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Two minor sisters were allegedly raped and killed by four men who forced them to consume an insecticide at a village in Haryana’s Sonipat, police said on Tuesday.

    A case has been registered under relevant provisions of the law and all the four accused have been arrested, SHO of Kundli police station Ravi Kumar said over the phone.

    The accused, aged between 22 and 25 years, are migrant workers and lived in a rented room next to the girls.

    The girls aged 14 and 16 used to live with their mother, who works as a labourer.

    On the intervening night of August 5 and 6, the accused forcibly entered their home and threatened their mother.

    The four men raped the two sisters and they later made them consume an insecticide, the SHO said.

    As the condition of the girls started deteriorating, the accused asked their mother to tell the police that her daughters had been bitten by a snake.

    Kumar said the girls were rushed to a hospital in Delhi, where one of the two girls was declared dead by doctors and her sister died during treatment.

    “Fearing for her life, initially the mother of the girls had told hospital authorities too that the two sisters had been bitten by a snake,” the SHO said.

    “However, as we had suspicions, we questioned the woman intensely and she broke down telling the real story,” he said, adding that the postmortem report confirmed sexual assault and poisoning.

    He said the police swung into action immediately and the four accused were nabbed on Tuesday.

    In a separate incident, a 17-year-old girl from Gurgaon committed suicide, with her family alleging that a youth used to harass and stalk her.

    SHO of Pataudi police station Deepak Sandhu said the girl had committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling at her home on August 6.

    He said her family had lodged a complaint with the police later alleging that a youth used to harass her.

    A case has been registered and further investigations are on, Sandhu added.

  • Haryana paper leak: Seven more arrested, Congress demands HC-monitored CBI probe

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Seven more people were arrested in connection with the paper leak during the Haryana Police constable recruitment examination held on August 7, while the Congress reiterated its demand for a high-court monitored CBI probe into the case.

    The total number of people apprehended in the case has gone up to 14, they said.

    Amid reports of a paper leak, the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) on Saturday had cancelled the written examination for the recruitment of police constables.

    Saturday was the first day of the examination and candidates appeared in the paper across 35 centres in the state in two shifts.

    Papers were scheduled for Sunday also, but later these too were cancelled.

    Seven more people were arrested in connection with the paper leak case, a Haryana police statement said.

    The police arrested Sandeep (23), Gautam (25), both residents of Khapar in Jind and Naveen (27) of Pyoda, from Mata Gate Kaithal.

    The answer key of Haryana Police constable’s written examination was also recovered from their possession, according to the police.

    During the course of investigation, the police also arrested Ramesh (42), a resident of village Thua from Kaithal, and Rajesh (26) from Ambala, an official statement said.

    “It has also come to light that accused Ramesh runs a coaching centre in Kaithal,” the statement said.

    After interrogation, the sixth member of their gang, Narendra (31), a resident of Hisar, was also arrested from Sirsa.

    “The investigation revealed that the answer key was provided to Ramesh by Narendra on the night of August 6. It also came to light that the answer key was obtained by Narendra by making a deal of Rs 1 crore. Ramesh and his other associates had decided to give it to others for Rs 12-18 lakh,” the statement said.

    During the investigation, it was revealed that the gang members had provided the answer key to a few people through WhatsApp and they took advance cheques from some of them.

    The police said they are constantly raiding the locations to arrest other members.

    Attacking the BJP government in the state, senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala demanded a high-court monitored CBI probe into the paper leak case.

    Talking to reporters here, Surjewala said the Khattar government and the Staff Selection Commission spend Rs 25 crore every year on “secrecy of exam”.

    “So, where does this money go? The contract to conduct the paper has allegedly been given to a Hyderabad-based company. It is natural that a contract for conducting all the future examinations would also have been given to this company. Since, the said company as also the entire Staff Selection Commission is under the direct needle of suspicion, how can a fair investigation be conducted and who, if any, will be punished?” he asked.

    He alleged that “absurd, idiotic and baseless questions” were asked in Haryana Police recruitment exam, which have no relation with the duties and functions of job of a police constable.

    “In fact, by asking such questions, the Khattar government is executing a conspiracy to select a favoured few perhaps with advance knowledge of the nature of wholly irrelevant questions that would be asked. The way in which the question paper was set and then got leaked and sold is a cruel joke with the future of Haryana’s youth,” the Congress leader said.

  • Samyukta Kisan Morcha says BJP’s ‘Tiranga Yatra’ in Haryana plan to instigate, defame farmers

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Sunday appealed to Haryana farmers not to oppose the ‘Tiranga Yatra’ of the state’s BJP unit claiming that it was a “devious plan” to instigate and defame farmers.

    The umbrella body of 40 farmer unions said in a statement that the other programmes of boycott and flag protests against the BJP and the JJP will continue.

    “The proposed ‘Tiranga Yatra’ of the BJP’s Haryana unit is mainly to instigate farmers and defame them.

    SKM urged farmers to see through this devious plan of BJP, and to not let this dirty tactic, under the guise of the national flag, succeed,” it said in the statement.

    The Haryana BJP’s two-week-long ‘Tiranga Yatra’ ahead of the 75th Independence Day began from Bhiwani on Sunday, with party’s state chief O P Dhankar claiming that thousands of farmers also joined the event.

    Dhankar, along with state Agriculture Minister J P Dalal, rode a tractor with tricolour fixed on its both sides during the ‘yatra’, which was taken out on a 30-km-long route from Bahal to Loharu.

    The SKM also said the ‘Kisan Sansad’ will continue at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Monday.

    “The Kisan Sansad, despite the site of the Sansad in Jantar Mantar being flooded with water, is functioning in a disciplined manner, with detailed deliberations.

    In Chhattisgarh, a parallel Kisan Sansad was run by the state Kisan Sabha on Friday, in solidarity with the Kisan Sansad near the Parliament,” it said.

    The Kisan Sansad is part of the latest strategy of the farmers who have been protesting against the Centre’s three contentious farm laws at multiple Delhi borders since November last year.

    The farmers have expressed fear that the new laws will eliminate the Minimum Support Price system and leave them at the mercy of the big corporations.

    Over 10 rounds of talks with the government that has been projecting the laws as major agricultural reforms have failed to break the deadlock between the two parties.

    As part of these Kisan Sansad sessions, 200 farmers from the protest sites participate in a mock Parliament session at Jantar Mantar during which issues concerning the farming community are discussed.

  • Haryana extends lockdown till August 9

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government Saturday extended the COVID-19 lockdown in the state by another week till August 9, according to an official communication.

    However, the current lockdown relaxations with respect to the reopening of shops, malls, restaurants, religious places and corporate offices will continue.

    “The Mahamari Alert-Surakshit Haryana (coronavirus lockdown) is extended for another week, that is from August 2 (5 am onwards) to August 9 (till 5 am) in the state of Haryana,” according to an order issued by Chief Secretary Vijai Vardhan.

    The order was issued under provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005. According to the order, Anganwadi centres and crèches run by women and child development department shall remain closed till August 15 in the state.

    It further said that vice chancellors of universities are advised to plan reopening of universities from the next academic session and share the programme of the same with the departments concerned of the state government.

    Immediate action may be initiated by the university administration to fully vaccinate all the hostel students, day scholars, faculty and staff including the outsourced ones, it said.

    The state government has termed the lockdown “Mahamari Alert-Surakshit Haryana (Epidemic Alert-Safe Haryana)”.

  • Haryana government’s policies directly responsible for rising unemployment in state, alleges Bhupinder Hooda

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: Senior Congress leader, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, has expressed concern over “high” unemployment in Haryana, claiming that people with bachelor and higher degrees like BA, MSc and PhD are applying for government peon jobs.

    He also alleged that the policies of the Haryana government are directly responsible for the rising unemployment in the state. There is no attention of the government towards private investment as big industries are “migrating from Haryana, one after another”, Hooda said, adding that Haryana, “which once gave employment to youths of other states, is today itself plagued with the highest unemployment in the country”.

    “The situation of unemployment in the state is such that this month 8.39 lakh youths applied for the recruitment of only 5,500 constable posts,” he said in a statement.

    The leader of opposition in the Haryana assembly also said that according to this year’s economic survey, “about nine lakh youths had registered in the employment exchange but only 2,800 youths got jobs”.

    “Even before this, when the government had taken out recruitment for 18,000 peon posts and other fourth-class positions, lakhs of educated youth had applied,” Hooda said. Not only this, about 25 lakh youths had applied for 6,000 posts for clerks, he claimed.

    The former chief minister said in the past, about 7,000 youths had applied for just 10 posts of peons at the Jagadhri court and about 15,000 youths had applied for recruitment of 13 posts of peons in a court in Panipat.

    “Candidates holding BA, MA, M.Sc, M.Com, M.Phil and Ph.D degrees had also applied for the recruitment of peons where the minimum qualification of is class 8 pass,” he said in the statement.

    Hooda said that according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), “the unemployment rate in the country is 9.17 per cent while in Haryana this rate is 27.9 per cent”.

    He said that organisations like CMIE are showing the mirror to the state government through their surveys and reports but the BJP-JJP government in Haryana wants to live in a denial by putting a question mark on these institutions.

    The Congress leader claimed that except Haryana, no other state has raised objections to the CMIE report. If it does not find it credible, the Haryana government should challenge this report, he said.

    Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has in the recent past said that Hooda and other Congress leaders were quoting unemployment data from reports of an institution that “didn’t have any credibility” and is a private body. Hooda said the government cannot run away from its responsibility by questioning the institutions.

    “Due to unemployment, the youth of the state is moving towards drugs and crime. Instead of paying attention to this problem and finding a solution, the government, which specialises in event management, wants to hide its failures with the help of lies, making political statements,” he alleged.

  • Farmers hold protests in Haryana targeting events of BJP leaders

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: Farmers held protests at various places in Haryana on Sunday targeting events of BJP leaders, raising slogans against the Centre and demanding the three contentious farm laws be rolled back.

    At one such protest in Fatehabad, the protesters removed metal barricades put up by the police as they marched towards a venue where Haryana Cooperation Minister Banwari Lal and Sirsa MP Sunita Duggal were attending a party function.

    When they were stopped from entering the venue, the police said, some of the protesters removed the barricades and raised slogans.

    Those protesters who were carrying black flags and raising slogans against the BJP-led government were not allowed to reach the venue in the first place.

    Another protest was held in Jhajjar, where farmers assembled when they learnt that state BJP chief O P Dhankar was to attend a party event there later in the day.

    With black flags in their hands, the protesters said they would not allow the BJP or its ally JJP to hold functions unless the farm laws are repealed.

    In Sirsa too, farmers carrying black flags assembled and raised slogans against the government.

    They claimed that they had gathered there to oppose a function being organised by the BJP.

    In Ambala, a large number of protesters gathered on the Ambala-Saha road when they learnt that the district unit of the BJP was holding a function.

    Protesting farmers have been opposing public functions of the BJP and the JJP in the state.

    On Saturday, farmers clashed with police when they tried to force their way through barricades towards a venue at Jagadhari in Yamunanagar district where Haryana minister Mool Chand Sharma was to address a meeting.

    Protests were also held in Hisar against Haryana BJP chief Dhankar and in Jind against state minister Kamlesh Dhanda.

    Speaking to reporters in Punjab’s Gurdaspur on Sunday, Haryana Bharatiya Kisan Union (Chaduni) chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni said it has been more than seven months since farmers started their protest at Delhi’s borders, but the government was not listening to them.

    Chaduni led a march of farmers on various vehicles from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur to the Singhu border protest site.

    “This agitation has been going on for several months now, but the Centre is not listening to the farmers.

    But the BJP-led government is mistaken if it thinks this agitation will die down.

    In fact, it is gaining more and more strength, and farmers will rest only when these laws are scrapped,” he said.

    Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhi’s borders for over seven months in protest against three agri laws.

    The three laws – The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020 – were passed by Parliament in September last year.

    Farmer groups have alleged that these laws will end the ‘mandi’ and the MSP procurement systems, and leave the farmers at the mercy of big corporates, even though the government has rejected these apprehensions as misplaced.

  • Haryana farmers clash with police in Yamunanagar

    By PTI
    YAMUNANAGAR: A group of farmers on Saturday clashed with police when they tried to force their way through barricades to head towards a venue where Haryana minister Mool Chand Sharma was to come.

    Some farmers and police personnel received minor injuries in the incident.

    Later, protesting farmers were detained by police.

    Transport Minister Mool Chand Sharma was to address a party meeting at Jagadhari in Yamunanagar.

    When farmers protesting against the Centre’s three farm laws came to know about the arrival of the minister, they started heading towards the venue of the meeting.

    Police personnel were deployed and barricades were also put to prevent farmers from going towards the meeting hall.

    However, farmers tried to remove barricades with the help of tractors.

    Some farmers carrying black flags even climbed the barricades while being adamant on holding a protest against the minister.

    A protester said they had warned the state authorities beforehand not to allow the BJP’s programme but despite that they decided to hold the same.

    Meanwhile, farmers held protests in Hisar against Haryana BJP chief O P Dhankar and state minister Kamlesh Dhanda in Jind.

    Farmers are protesting against leaders of the BJP-JJP alliance in Haryana over the Centre’ three farm laws.

  • Haryana farmers to get two hours more power supply due to dry spell

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government on Thursday said it will provide two hours of additional power supply to farmers for sowing paddy due to delay in monsoon.

    The decision was taken on the instructions of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here.

    State power minister Ranjit Singh said farmers would now get 10 hours of power supply instead of eight hours.

    This will help the farmers to overcome the shortage of water in the crop, he said in a statement here.

    He said this facility of providing additional power for two hours would be given to them till the onset of monsoon.

    The minister said a sufficient amount of power is available in the state and farmers will not be allowed to face any kind of problem.

    Meanwhile, Additional Chief Secretary (Power) P K Das informed that state-owned Haryana power utilities have met the highest-ever peak demand of 12,120 MW on July 7 by supplying 2,638 lakh units without imposing any power cut to any of the categories of consumers, including industrial and agricultural consumers.

    Das said this peak demand is 11.25 per cent higher than the maximum peak demand last year which was 10,894 MW.

  • Medium-intensity earthquake hits Jhajjar in Haryana, tremors felt in Delhi, nearby areas

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A medium-intensity earthquake hit Jhajjar in Haryana on Monday night, tremors of which were felt in Delhi and nearby areas, the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) said.

    According to the NCS, the earthquake of magnitude 3.7 occurred at a depth of 5 kilometres at 10.36 pm.

    On June 20, a low-intensity quake of magnitude 2.1 hit the Punjabi Bagh area in the national capital.

    Since last year, the Delhi-NCR has reported a few quakes, most of them of lower intensity.

    The NCS has deployed additional earthquake recording instruments for close monitoring of seismic activity in and around Delhi after the NCR region witnessed a series of tremors from April to August last year.

    Based on the analysis of satellite imageries, signatures of active faults have been observed at various locations like Wazirabad, Timarpur and Kamla-Nehru-Ridge in Delhi; Jhunjhunu and Alwar district of Rajasthan; Sonipat, Sohna, Gurugram, Rohtak, Rewari and Nuh districts in Haryana; and Baghpat district in Uttar Pradesh.

    The National Capital Region of Delhi and its surroundings had experienced minor and small magnitude earthquakes from April to August 2020.

    The epicentres of these earthquakes were located in areas of northeast Delhi, Rohtak, Sonipat, Baghpat, Faridabad and Alwar.