Kurukshetra :
A Class IX student of a boarding school near here was found hanging from a ventilator in his hostel room on Tuesday night, the police have said. The deceased has been identified as Jatin (14).

He was a resident of Jhajjar’s Majri village. He had joined the boys’ boarding school Gurukul last year.

The police suspected it to be a case of suicide. Jatin’s father Shashi Kumar, however, disputed the police version. He alleged foul play, demanding an investigation.
“The school authorities informed me about Jaitn’s death at 9.10 pm on Tuesday. As per the school warden, Jatin allegedly hanged himself at 6.55 pm, but the school authorities swung into action at 7.55 pm. I was informed quite late,” Kumar said.
He said his son had rejoined the school on July 9 after the summer vacations.
“Last Sunday, I had a telephonic conservation with Jatin and he sounded normal. I have watched the CCTV footage captured from the cameras installed in the hostel corridor. Jatin was seen munching on snacks and entering his room around 6.30 pm. The school authorities claim he died a few minutes later, but Jatin was seen moving around and eating,” Kumar said at the post-mortem department of Lok Naik Jai Prakash Civil Hospital here.

Kulwant Saini, the president of the school management committee, said Jatin appeared to be under family pressure to stay in the hostel. “Jatin did not join other students for dinner. His body was found hanging later.”
“Jatin was considered an introvert. In his Class VIII exams, he scored about 80 per cent,” Saini said.

The SP, Abhishek Garg, said the post-mortem examination report would throw light on the cause of death. “The CCTV footage did not capture the movement of anyone entering Jatin’s room after he entered his room till the time the body was found,” he said.

“There was no injury mark on his body. The circumstances do not hint at murder. The police are investigating the case,” the SP said.

Himachal Governor Acharya Devvart is the patron the institute.

Chandigarh :
The new rice shoot policy 2018 for the upcoming kharif season has restricted the use of canal water for paddy transplantation.

In fact, getting the rice shoots — temporary openings on water channels for paddy crop — will be difficult with the Haryana Government putting in place stricter norms under the new policy.

Under the new policy, no rice shoots will be allowed on any main line, branch line or feeder channel as the state government has decided that no outlets would be provided on these channels.

The policy prescribed that only 10 per cent of authorised discharge would be made available for rice shoots in the Bhakra Command System, while a maximum of 25 per cent additional discharge would be allowed for the Western Yaumna Canal System.
“There will be no shortage of water at the tail when temporary rice shoots are sanctioned. Similarly, rice shoots will not be given on those channels where tails did not get proper and authorised irrigation during the past two years,” the policy said.
Similarly, no rice shoots will be allowed to persons found guilty of unauthorised irrigation in the past five years. Besides, the minimum area for a rice shoot will be 20 acres, out of which 25 per cent of the area has to be grown with a crop other than rice.
“The department concerned will not recommend rice shoot where ‘sathi’ paddy (60-day crop) is sown in the canal irrigation area. The rice shoots already in operation will be cancelled as the state government has already banned sowing of ‘sathi’ paddy,” the policy added.

Only two MLAs have given option in phase three of programme

Chandigarh :
The ambitious Vidhayak Adarsh Gram Yojana of the Haryana Government seems to have lost all its steam three years after it was launched on the pattern of the Centre.
Only two MLAs have given their option for adopting a village in phase three of the programme against 73 such “adoptions” in phase one when it was announced with much fanfare in 2015.

Sources maintain that the poor response to the scheme is the consequence of the non-release of payments for phase two of the programme where 26 legislators had given their village option for adoption.

Despite the fact that the government decided that Rs 50 lakh would be provided to villages having a population less than 5,000, Rs 1 crore to those having a population between 5,000 and 10,000 and Rs 2 crore to villages with more than 10,000 population, the funds were not released.

Under the scheme, it was proposed that by 2019 when the term of this Vidhan Sabha ends, each MLA would develop three villages. They were expected to select the first one in 2015 and the other two in the successive years. However, disappointed in the first year itself, some of the MLAs did not adopt a second village and practically nobody has come forward for the third.

According to the Panchayat and Development Department data, of Rs 58.05 crore released, only Rs 16.8 crore has been spent so far and 537 development works have been carried out. Most of these funds have been primarily spent on the construction of village lanes, drains and cahupals.

Critical of the exercise, Leader of Opposition Abhay Chautala said the question of adopting a second village did not arise because no funds were released even for the first village he adopted. “Adopting a village by an MLA should have automatically meant better basic facilities in the village. It seems the BJP government only wanted to announce a scheme and forget about it. I have written to the government to release funds,” he said.

While BJP MLAs seem to have been getting funds, these have been slow to come by for Opposition MLAs.

BJP MLA and state unit president Subhash Barala, however, maintained that he had received government funds for his adopted village on time and even carried out development works. “I adopted only one village and am trying to meet its demands with the funds released. I have had no problem as far as fund flow is concerned,” he said.

AICC media incharge and Kaithal MLA Randeep Singh Surjewala said though no funds had been sanctioned for the adopted village, he had identified the development works to be done in the village and sent his requirement to the government.
Sources in the department, however, maintained that funds were being released from time to time for the development of adopted villages. Minister OP Dhankar was not available for comment.

"I adopted Jamal village in Ellenabad and I couldn’t do anything for them because no funds were given. It seems the BJP govt only wanted to announce a scheme and forget about it"     — Abhay Chautala, Leader of Opposition 

"I adopted a second village in phase two and no money has been sanctioned so far. I have sent several reminders to them but not a penny has come." — Kiran Choudhry, CLP leader 

Chandigarh :
The BJP is fully geared for simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said here.

“It is for the Election Commission to take a call on the holding of simultaneous parliamentary and Assembly elections in the state early next year. However, the BJP as a party is geared up for the polls—whether held separately or at the same time,” Khattar told.

While the elections to the Lok Sabha are due early next year, the Haryana Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in October next year.

Sourced said the BJP might go in for simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and Assembly in Haryana to avoid the anti-incumbancy factor.

In the last Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, the BJP rode on the “Modi wave” to secure seven out of the 10 Lok Sabha seats and formed government on its own in Haryana by winning 47 of the 90 seats.

Sources added that the party was already in election mode, with Khattar undertaking an intensive tour of the state and going on an inauguration spree in a bid to woo the voters.

Khattar conceded that the BJP government was “battle ready” for the elections “as and when held”.

Basking under the substantial hike in the MSP recently, Khattar is scheduled to address four statewide rallies across from July 21 to August 5.

The BJP is banking on the development plank in the state in the past 45 months and factionalism in the Opposition Congress to seek a second term in the office.

Bhiwani :
Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala said they would obstruct functioning of the Assembly session if the government did not give a satisfactory assurance on construction of the SYL canal.

He announced a statewide bandh on the issue on August 18. Addressing the last ‘jail bharo’ rally, he said he was willing to join the delegation if the BJP went to meet the Centre to discuss the issue.

“We will organise a peaceful statewide bandh on August 18 to press for construction of the canal. The business community has assured its participation in the bandh in support of farmers,” he said.

He asked the people to give the INLD-BSP alliance the kind of mandate given in 1987. “Bansi Lal is one of the chief culprits in stalling this project and betraying the people of Bhiwani,” he said.

State BSP chief Prakash Bharati said the alliance was rock solid and there was no possibility of any seat-sharing controversy as they stood for welfare of people.