bonding with history @ rakhigarhiharyanasamvad.gov.in/store/document/hr review june...

Catching them young to ensure cleanliness

P 22

June 2015, Vol 29, Issue 6, Rs 15www.haryanasamvad.gov.in Pages 1-60

Bonding with history @ Rakhigarhi

JUNE 5

OurEnvironment

is inOur Hands.

Lend a hand to protect trees

SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015 1EDITORIAL

CHIEF EDITOR Dr Abhilaksh Likhi

MANAGING EDITOR Samwartak Singh

CONSULTING EDITOR Parveen K Modi

NEWS BUREAU Preetinder Kaur Sodhi

COPY DESK Shweta Vashishta

LAYOUT & DESIGN Monika Modak

PHOTOGRAPHER Vinay Malik

PHOTO SUPPORT Gopal Singh Karam Singh Neeraj Chopra Gauri Shankar Jasmer Singh

DIGITAL & IT SUPPORT Vikas Dangi

VOL 29, ISSUE 6, June 2015Edited and published for the Haryana Government by Dr Abhilaksh Likhi, IAS, Director General, Information, Public Relations & Languages Department, and issued from Samvad, Room No 314, 2nd Floor, Mini Secretariat, Sector-1, Panchkula (Haryana). (Mailing address: SCO 23 (FF), Sector 7, Madhya Marg, Chandigarh. Phone 0172-5055971, 5055977). All rights reserved. Any reproduction of this publication’s contents, in whole or in part, without written permission, is prohibited. Haryana Review does not necessarily agree with the views of the writers/contributors.Website: www.haryanasamvad.gov.inEmail: [email protected] at: M/s M P Printers B-220, Phase-II, Noida (UP)

The rare findings from the nondescript and tiny hamlet of Rakhigarhi in Hisar district of Haryana, the biggest site of

Harappan era in south-east Asia, has put Haryana on the global archeological map and bond a bond with the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation. Besides opening a broad window on how people lived in those days, and the values they cherished, the excavations of vital import establish the fact that Hisar was then the fourth biggest township in the world.

The rich archeological treasure trove will now be housed and showcased in two museums, a Rs 30-crore global standard museum in Panchkula, and a Rs 5-crore state-level museum at Rakhigarhi. The items excavated would be so displayed as to enable the man in the street to easily understand their significance and establish cultural linkage. The Cover Report in this issue of Haryana Review brings our readers a granular view of the findings and their import laced with a rich array of visuals.

The month we left behind marked six months in office of the first BJP Government in Haryana. The people-centricity of the policies and programmes pursued by the Manohar Lal Government has made the first 180 days a memorable period. Converting challenges into opportunities, it took several historic decisions; made things easy for the man in the street; and, more importantly, gave the people enough hint of the good governance they are in for. In Focus, we make an attempt to weigh what difference this period has made to the state as well as its people.

Haryana which played host to the Niti Aayog sub-group of chief ministers on Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, launched by the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, has adopted a two-pronged strategy to carry forward the message. The strategy was unfolded by the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, while addressing the second meeting of the sub-group. Read the Special Report to see how the state is gearing up to achieve the desired objective.

On the occasion of the World Environment Day, we bring you a special Environment Package. The Photo Feature which captures the environmental beauty of the Kalesar National Park in Yamunanagar gels well with the occasion. And so does the Art and Culture segment which gives you a glimpse of some of the artistic works on nature made by the artists of Haryana.

This time, we have for you two Features with two important messages; one, cancer can be fought and defeated with grit and determination; and two, heed the implicit wake-up call given by the earthquake in Nepal. Go to the Sports section to learn about Haryana’s new women hockey powerhouse. And don’t forget to read the Potpourri page to know your value. g

Rare finds give Haryana global push

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 20152 CONTENTS conten

ts

COVER STORY

Rare finds put Haryana on global canvas p 4The recent excavations at Rakhigarhi in Hisar District have underscored the historicity of Hisar, and its links with the Indus Valley Civilisation. The rare items of archeological import dug up will be housed in two museums, one at Panchkula and another at Rakhigarhi

Every finding tells a tale p 10 The excavations at Rakhigarhi include utensils, human skeletons, figurines and seals of ox, cow and buffalos, ornaments made of stones, statues and weapons made of bones

Museums to house the finds p 14

FOCUS

Six months point to the years ahead p 16 The BJP Government, led by the Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, has made the first six months memorable by blazing a new trail, giving governance a new meaning; and making use of this period to point to the road ahead

163 citizen services made time bound p 21

SPECIAL REPORT

Catching them young to ensure cleanliness p 22

Haryana looks Punjab in the eye p 24

[4]

[16]

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015 3CONTENTS

Those readers who have changed their addresses should intimate it to the Deputy Director Magazines, SCO 29, First Floor, Sector 7-C,

Madhya Marg, Chandigarh - 160019. Ph. 0172-5055971

CORRIGENDUMIn the report “Tax well dries” which appeared in April issue of Haryana Review, the table on the district-wise per capita income of Haryana showed Haryana among the districts of the state. It should have been at the bottom of the table to offer a comparison between the average per capita income of the state with the per capita income of the districts. The error is regretted.

[36]

[50]

REPORT

On the e-way to digital Haryana p 28 Farmers, EWS spared power tariff hike p 30

ENVIRONMENT PACKAGE

Inching closer to the greens p 32 Ridding the air of impurities p 33 Pure water is govt’s priority p 34

PHOTO FEATURE

Welcome to Kalesar National Park p 36

FEATURE

Fought cancer and won p 44 Quake gives a wake-up call p 46

NEWS IN CAPSULE

The month that was p 48

SPORTS

Sonipat, new women's hockey powerhouse p 50

ART AND CULTURE

Artists paint to save the planet p 52

POTPOURRI

Know your value p 54

[52]

[46]

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015COVER STORY4

Parveen K Modi

Rakhigarhi, a tiny nondescript hamlet in Hisar District of

Haryana, has more than underscored what historians have written about Hisar. The recent excavations bear ample testimony to the historicity of Hisar; an actuality recorded by historians that it was one of the four biggest cities belonging to the Indus Valley Civilisation. Small wonder,

Hisar figures prominently in the his-tory books in the context of this an-cient civilisation. That Hisar bonds a bond with history is no myth, legend or fiction. It is a fact.

Having hit global headlines, Rakh-igarhi, comprising the villages of Rakhi-Khas and Rakhi-Shahpur, the biggest site of Harappan civilisation in south-east Asia, keeps hogging the limelight. Digging there has thrown up rare items and significant archeo-

logical findings of historical import. The site at Rakhigarhi is spread over an area of about 325 hectares and has a height of 22 meters from the surface level. Now it is under protec-tion of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI).

The excavations range from uten-sils, human skeletons and images of ox, cow and buffalos to ornaments made of stones, stone statues and weapons made of bones. The clay

View of the excavation at Rakhigarhi

Rare finds put Harya na on global canvasThe recent excavations at Rakhigarhi in Hisar District have under-scored the historicity of Hisar, and its links with the Indus Valley Civi-lisation. The rare items of archeological import dug up will be housed in two museums, one at Panchkula, and another at Rakhigarhi

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015 COVER STORY 5

toys of cattle found make one believe that during those days people used to worship them. An important seal of Rakhigarhi depicts a composite fig-ure of a man, bull, unicorn, elephant and tiger. A seal of a tiger excavated could be the logo of the museum to be set up at Rakhigarhi.

A Rs 30-crore museum of glob-al standards at Panchkula, and a Rs 5-crore state-level museum at Rakhigarhi over five acres of land, donated by the village panchayat, are being set up to house and preserve the findings. “What has been found during the excavations at Rakhigarhi

will be so displayed in the museums as to enable the common man to easily comprehend their significance and cultural heritage. These muse-ums would surely become centres of attraction for the tourists,” Mr Ram Bilas Sharma, Minister for Archeolo-gy, told Haryana Review.

The excavations made at Rakhi-garhi (Hisar) point to the fact that it must have been the fourth biggest township in the world; the other three being Mohenjo-Daro; Harappa in Pakistan; and Dholavira in Kutch, Gujarat, in India. Most archeologists are of the view that Rakhigarhi was

the biggest township of India during the Indus Civilisation.

Mr Vijay Vardhan, Additional Chief Secretary, Archeology, told Haryana Review that the excava-tions point to good drainage system Rakhigarhi had developed during the Indus Civilisation. It reveals that at that time in Haryana, there used to be drains along the streets and roads in addition to houses.

Rakhigarhi bears evidence to drainage system of two types, includ-ing public and private. Terracotta pipes used for drainage have also been found. Private drains possibly

Rare finds put Harya na on global canvas


connected to platforms, have been ob-served at the uppermost levels of the mature Harappan phase of Rakhigar-hi. What’s more, the findings show that there used to be a wall around the city.

While some graves had mud plastered walls, instances of bodies buried in coffins too have been found. The belief in the concept of life after death is established by the dead be-ing buried wearing ornaments – with a number of undecorated pots.

While referring to the future plans, Mr Vijai Vardhan said that the earlier excavated structures would be uncovered, preserved and protected for the benefit of the public. Dome structures would be raised on them

so that they are safe and viewed all the year around.

Besides, excavations will be un-dertaken at the habitation as well as burial stretch of the site to establish proper cultural sequence, under-stand settlement pattern, health, diet and composition of Harappan popu-lation. Apart from setting up onsite conservation labs, training would be imparted to staff in conservation and excavation would be imparted.

THE ANCIENT SITE The archaeological site Rakhigarhi spans two villages, Rakhi-Khas and Rakhi-Shapur in Narnod tehsil of Hisar district in Haryana. Located on the bank of Chautang, the ancient

Drishadvati river, it is located about 30 km from Jind town. This site was explored for the first time by Prof Suraj Bhan of Kurukshetra Univer-sity, and Swami Omanand Saraswati of Gurukul, Jhajhar in 1960. Spread over an area of about 325 hectares, it has a height of 22 metres from the surface level.

The excavations at Rakhighari were carried out under the direction of Dr Amarandra Nath, Superintend-ing Archeologist, ASI, between 1997 and 2000. In 2014-15, the excavations at Rakhigarhi were conducted by the Department of Archaeology & Muse-ums, Haryana, and Deccan College, Pune (MH). These have surfaced two phases of Indus-Saraswati Civilisa-

A view of a mound

Mud brick structure (Mound No.4)


Village Rakhi Khas

Area 10.76 acres

Ownership Panchayat

Status Protected

Mound No 1

Site Museum and Interpretation Centre

Mound No 2

Mound No 3 Mound No 4

Mound No 5

Mound No 7 What protected monument means

Mound No 6

Village Rakhi Shahpur

Area 25 acres

Ownership 16 Acres belongs to Panchayat and 9 acres vest in Private ownership

Status Protected


Area 12.5 acres

Ownership 10 Acres belongs to Panchayat and 2.5 acres vest in Private ownership

Status Protected

Village Rakhi Khas and Rakhi Shahpur

Ownership Abadi Deh

Status Unprotected

Village Rakhi Khas

Area 33.14 acres

Ownership Entire land belongs to Shamlat Deh

Status Protected


Area 48 acres

Ownership Vest in Private ownership and agricultural land

Status Unprotected

Village Rakhi Khas

Area 99 acres

Ownership Agricultural Land.

Status Unprotected

Village Rakhi Khas

Area 6.0 acres

Ownership Panchayat. Resolution passed by the Panchayat to handover the land to ASI

Budget Allocated Rs 1.75 crore by the state government

Some mounds are protected under Section 4 and Section 19 of The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958. Section 4 gives powers to the Central Government to declare an ancient monument, site etc to be of national importance. Where the Central Government is of the opinion that any ancient monument or archaeological site is of national importance, it may, by notifi-cation in the Official Gazette, declare such ancient monument or archaeological site and remains to be of national importance.

Section 19 of The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 places some restrictions on the enjoyment of property rights in protected areas. No person, including the owner or occupier of a protected area, shall construct any building within the protected area or carry on any mining, quar-rying, excavating, blasting or any operation of like nature in such area, or utilise such area or any part thereof in any other manner without the permission of the Central Government.

tion at the site: early Harappan Phase 3000 to 2000 BC; and Mature Harap-pan Phase--2500 to 1900 BC

SEVEN MOUNDSThe site has as many as seven huge mounds which have been distin-guished as RGR-1; RGR-2; RGR-3; RGR-4; RGR-5; RGR-6; and RGR-7.

Protected under the Ancient Monu-ments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, Mound 1 spans 10.76 acres in the village of Rakhi Khas. The area is owned by the vil-lage panchayat.

Rakhigarhi has six-meter high cultural deposits of early and mature Harappan level. Tiny red ware shreds

have been found scattered with mushtikas having terracotta cakes. The overall surface features give the impression of a burial mound.

Interestingly, Rakhigarhi has been found to be entirely free from any encroachment and is enclosed by a boundary wall constructed by the ASI. A lapidary workshop has


been identified here–roughly 300 unfinished beads in various stages of manufacturing, together with finished ones, mostly in carnelian, agate and jasper along with bead polishers for grounding. A hearth for heating stones at different stages of chipping too has been discovered in this complex.

The protected Mound 2, situated on the periphery of Rakhi Shahpur, encompasses 25 acres; 16 acres owned by the panchayat, and nine by private hands. It has 14-meter deposit of early and mature Harappan period. This mound presumably served as the citadel. It is surrounded by mud-brick fortification walls; the core of fortification wall being of mud brick while its external and internal veen-ering is in burnt bricks.

MUD-BRICK PODIUMSInside the citadel, mud-brick podi-ums with inbuilt oblong pit cham-bers, possibly for ritualistic purposes have been found. These chambers re-veal deposits of charcoal bits and cat-tle bones. A series of four fire altars in north south alignment brick-lined with mud plaster, have been found. A unique fire altar of Yonipith-type with a stump– like projection in the centre, too has been found

This mound has revealed impor-

tant structure like a pillared corridor with flanking cells; granary; places of performing rituals; and a shop-ping arcade. Occurrence of the seals here indicates that it was a citadel mound, the seat of authority.

Mound 3, found in the village of Rakhi Shahpur, spans an area of 12.5 acres. While 10 acres belong to the panchayat, control of 2.5 acres vests in private hands.

FORTIFICATION WALLOne of the central cuttings with the eastern fringe of this mound has revealed more than 20 courses of burnt–bricks and equal number of courses in mud-bricks raised side by side indicating that these could have been two phases of construction of the fortification wall.

The evidence of fortification wall in mounds 2, 3 and 4 corroborates typical Harappan phenomenon of en-compassing of individual habitation zones within an integrated network of town planning

Unprotected, Mound 4 is located in the villages of Rakhi Khas and Rakhi Shahpur. It was inhabited by the villagers of Rakhi Khas and Rakhi Shahpur. It has pucca houses with water and electricity connections – pucca brick-paved constructed vil-lage lanes and bylanes. The village is

Pottery yard at Mound No 6

Why Rakhigarhi ?n It is the largest Harappan

site in the country with rich potential.

n The major part is under modern habitation and is slowly and surely being encroached upon.The destruction and encroachment need to be stopped immediately to save the greatest Harappan site in the country.

n Close and well connected to Delhi, convenient for a day’s trip. Many other sites in the vicinity include Fharmana and Bhirrana.

n Ideal site to study cultural process from early to late phases of the Harappan culture.


believed to have been inhabited more than 300 years ago

It has 17 meters of cultural deposits but no substantial excava-tion could be carried out by the ASI as it is inhabited by the residents of villages Rakhi Khas and Rakhi Shahpur. Evidence suggests that the streets here ran from north to south.

In the 2014-15, the excavation carried out by Prof Sindhe of Deccan College, and the Department of Archaeology and Museum, Haryana, 22 meters of cultural deposit came to light. The following structures and objects were also unearthed: mud-brick structure and pottery; terra-cotta figurines, TC-cake and Mustika (heat producer); beads, bangles and chert blade; copper objects; seal and sealing etc.

Mound No 5 which falls in the vil-lage of Rakhi Khas encompasses an area of 33.14 acres. The entire land in the protected mound belongs to Shamlat Deh. It has mature Harap-pan deposits

Interestingly, Mounds 4 and 5 are contiguously interlocked and are heavily encroached upon by the peo-

ple of Rakhi Khas and Rakhi Shah-pur. They have massive mud-brick fortification walls reminiscent of what was noticed in the cuttings of a street Kalibangan, Rajasthan. Burnt-bricks drains have also been found here.

HOUSES ON EITHER SIDEThe unprotected Mound 6 is located in the village of Rakhi Shahpur and is spread over 48 acres. Mainly ag-ricultural land, its ownership vests in private hands. It has evidence of houses built on either side of 1.92 meter-wide running street has been found.

Inside the structure built with sun-dried bricks, two oblong pits filled with ash and charcoal showing ritualistic activity, have been found. The circular hearth, locally known as “Harha”, still in vogue for boiling milk, has been found. Besides, a square room (3.20 meter x 3.20 meter) with an entrance (1 meter) towards

south has been found. Mound 6 was also exca-

vated by Prof. Shinde of Deccan College Of Pune and the Department of Archae-

ology and Museum, Haryana, in 2014-2015. Various artifacts

and structural remains of early Harappan era, have been found in this mound.

The unprotected Mound seven, comprising mainly agricultural land and located in the village of Rakhi Khas, spans an area of 99 acres. It has been identified as the cemetery area of the mature Hara-ppan phase. Extended burials have been found individually in oblong pits with head pointing towards the north, slightly raised.

Engraved goods, including pots and pans, kept behind the heads of three female skeletons, were ex-posed showing the evidence of shell bangles in their left wrists. Surely, the people then believed in life after death. Not that the digging has come to a halt. More excavations are bound to throw light on many other aspects of life in those days. g

Remains at Mound No 4


Shweta Vashishta

Rakhigarhi village has so much to reveal. It has a rich past which

is being unearthed. Besides the seven mounds, many more things have been excavated at Rakhigar-hi. Numerous artefacts, some over 5,000 years old, have been recovered. The excavations include utensils, human skeletons, figurines and seals of ox, cow and buffalos, ornaments made of stones, stone statues and weapons made of bones. Jewellery, including bangles made from terra-cotta, conch shells, gold and semi-pre-cious stones, have also been found.

Evidence of paved roads, drainage system, large rainwater collection, storage system, burial chambers, ter-racotta bricks, pottery, statue production, and skilled working of bronze and precious metals have

been uncovered. The finding of clay toys of cattle, makes one believe that during those days people used to worship them.

Burial chambers have been excavated where the body was laid and covered by brick work from the basal platform by laying header and stretcher courses of mud bricks. The dry mud brick masonry used in the vault-like burial chamber pro-vided an opportunity of re-opening the tomb.

FUNERAL RITESWhile some graves had mud-plastered walls, instances of bodies buried in coffins too have been found. The belief in the concept of ‘afterlife’ is established by the dead being buried wearing ornaments and with a num-ber of undecorated pots.

Evidence of burial in a pit, laid in

a wooden coffin too has been found during the excavations. Although all the graves of Rakhigarhi are bereft of grave goods, the skeletal remains are fairly well preserved.

Although arriving at any definite conclusion about the funerary rites of the inhabitants of Rakhigarhi would be speculatory, the placements of head towards north with a tilt on west, could suggest a ritual practice adopted by a particular community. The coffin (at Burial No 4) appears to be specially devised for an important person. Similarly, construction of brick-laid-vaulted burial chambers suggests the practice of tomb rituals – either the belief in life after death or denoting the status of the dead.

The excavations also reflect signs of drainage at Rakhigarhi during Indus Civilisation. It reveals that at that time in Haryana there used to

Every finding tells a taleThe excavations at Rakhigarhi include utensils, human skeletons, figurines and seals of ox, cow and buffalos, ornaments made of stones, statues and weapons made of bones

Skeleton of a female with shell bangle in the left elbow and pottery near the head

11COVER STORYHARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015

be drains along streets and roads in addition to houses. Also, during those days there used to be a wall around the city. It has been noticed that in Rakhigarhi there used to be developed drainage system of two types including public and private. Terracotta pipes used for drainage have also been found. Private drains possibly connected to platforms have been observed at the uppermost levels of the mature Harappan phase of Rakhigarhi.

POTTERYThe pottery of Rakhigarhi mainly falls in two groups: Red ware and grey ware. The ceramic industry shows the influence of all the six of Kalibangan fabrics including the technique of surface treatment, shapes and decorative elements.

The design elements are geometric including horizontal bands, latticed triangles, row of dots, fish scales etc. Among the motifs used are four-pet-alled flowers, peepal leaf, animals, circle with radiating arches and other

geometric designs. Among the terracotta figurines

found at Rakhigarhi, animals out-number others. The terracotta bull with a prominent hump, elongated body and block or joined legs are found in good number. The terracotta figurines of water-buffalo can be dis-tinguished with the help of grooved horns. Other terracotta animals found are dog, lion, leopard, rabbit and horse.

Among the toy cart wheels, both spoked and solid varieties have been found. The solid ones have hub in centre and a few of them are also painted. Weights and measures have also been found. The scale runs in the ratio of 1, 2, 4, 10, 20, 40, 100, 200, 400, 500, 800 while the fractions are 1/16, 1/8, 1/4 and 1/2. The heaviest known weight was about 10.9 kilograms and the lightest 85.1 centigrams.

At Rakhigarhi, cattle bones out-number other animal bones, indicat-ing a rich pastoral lifestyle. Among the cattle, domesticated buffaloes were preferred for milk and meat.

Presence of rodent bones corrobo-rates the existence of sedentary life-style at Rakhigarhi, besides storage of food grains. Small percentage of wild animal bones suggests limited hunting activity and greater depend-ence on plant food.

Besides steatite seals, terracotta seals and clay tablets have been found at Rakhigarhi. A cylindrical seal made of faience, incised with five Harappan signs of Mature phase on one side and an alligator on other, deserves special mention.

SEALS AND INSCRIPTIONSThe corpus of Indus seals and inscriptions found at Rakhigarhi including three seals is a significant find of the Indus Script. An inscribed lead plano-convex shaped ingot is an important discovery of Rakhigarhi illustrative of the signature Indus script.

Excavations at Rakhigarhi have also yielded two circular terracotta amulets of identical nature depict-ing an elephant to right and Hara-

Burial pottery


ppan characters in the upper part in relief. Another important seal of Rakhigarhi depicts a composite fig-ure of a man, bull, unicorn, elephant and tiger.

DRAINAGE SYSTEMThe standard universal size of the Indus-fired brick is about 7x15x31 centimetres – roughly the ratio of 1:2:4. The method followed for laying the bricks is now popularly known as “English-Bond” where headers follow stretchers in alternate courses. This method while ensuring solidity gives an extremely contemporary and mod-

ern feel to the Indus brickwork.An unpaved drain of burnt brick

has been noticed in the Mature Harappan phase of Rakhigarhi. It runs in the north-south direction. At the upper level, there is evidence of individual household drains, some discharging into the streets, while a few in the soakage jars and middle of the street. A household drain con-necting to the main drain--typical of the developed drainage system-- has also been discovered.

Next to pottery, textile engaged the largest number of people. Spindle whorls of terracotta and frit found

reveal that hand spinning was pop-ular and widespread – probably as a women’s chore in households, rich and poor. A potter’s kiln discovered in Rakhigarhi (RGR-1-trench no.N-5) is a unique discovery.

At Rakhigarhi (RGR-2) many fire altars of distinct shapes have been ex-cavated. In the central portion of one of the fire alters is a stump of brick over a mud plastered base. Around it deposits of ash and charcoal have been found. A portion of the fire alter was found to have caved in the middle, suggesting the practice of destroying the altar after performing the rituals. Offerings of triangu-lar-shaped terracotta cakes have been noticed. Another unique fire altar is of ‘yonipith’ type with a stump like projection in the centre.

CITADELWithin the citadel of Rakhigarhi (RGR-2), mud-brick podiums like those at Kalibangan have been found. Here the podium has in-built oblong pit chambers, used possibly for ritualistic purpose. These cham-bers have deposits of charcoal bits and cattle bones.

In another fire altar of Rakhigarhi (RGR-2) the floor and niches were coated with mud plaster. Significant-ly, a terracotta bull figurine has been

Terracotta figurine

Pendants

Remains of a toy bullcart (wheel)

Bangles


Seals of Harappan era

found on the floor near the western niche. Most likely, the structure was a place of worship, and the bull a sacred, revered animal. Next to this structure, a T-shaped fire altar with carved ends has been found.

FIRE ALTARS To the north, in the same alignment, a brick-lined rectangular pit contain-ing animal bones predominantly of the bovine family has been found. Almost from the same level three circular fire altars positioned in a semi-circular fashion reminiscent of those at Banawali have been excavat-ed. Fine brushing over the surface of these altars has revealed white patches of possibly burnt hard shell of fruits offered at the fire altar.

Nearest to Rakhigarhi, gold pan-ning or washing has been known in the upper reaches of Sutlej and Beas. The presence of fish bones suggests fishing as a subsistence trait and an important dietary habit. Likewise, occurrence of bird bones suggests that they constituted part of the diet of the inhabitants of Rakhigarhi. g

Drainage system


Outline of the proposed museum at Rakhigarhi

1

2 3

4

5

6

7

8

15COVER STORYHARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015

Preetinder Kaur Sodhi

Rarity is meant to be preserved for posterity. With this intent, the

Haryana Government has decided to set up two museums, one at Rakhgar-hi and another at Panchkula. A Rs 5-crore state-level museum would be set up at village Rakhigarhi in Hisar district. The various items excavated at Rakhigarhi would be displayed in this museum. It would be built at piece of land measuring five acres which has been donated by the vil-lage panchayat.

A seal of a tiger excavated could be the logo of the museum to be set up at Rakhigarhi. Besides, a Rs 30-crore museum of international level would be set up at Panchkula, to display the significant archeologi-cal findings.

BIGGEST HARAPPAN SITERakhigarhi is the biggest site of Harappan civilisation in the South-east Asia. The Archeology Minister, Mr Ram Bilas Sharma, said that the excavations made at Rakhigarhi revealed that it would be the fourth biggest township in the world. The other three included Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa in Pakistan and Dholavira in Kutch, Gujarat in India.

The archeologists are of the view that Rakhigarhi would have been the biggest township of India during Indus Civilisation. The excavations would be displayed in the museums in such a manner that even the common man would be able to easily understand their significance and the cultural heritage. Also, these museums would become centers of attraction for the tourists.

The work on museum at Rakh-igarhi would be taken up within a month, where as the work to set up museum at Panchkula would com-mence within next 3 to 4 months.

The site at Rakhigarhi is spread over an area of about 325 hectares and has a height of 22 m from surface level. Now the site is under the pro-tection of the Archeological Survey of India.

While referring to the future plans of the department, Mr Sharma said that the earlier excavated structures would be uncovered, preserved and protected for the benefit of the pub-lic. Dome structures would be raised on them so that they are safe and viewed all the year round.

Excavations will be undertaken at the habitation as well as burial portion of the site to establish proper cultural sequence, understand settle-ment pattern, health, diet and compo-sition of Harappan population. Apart from setting up onsite conservation labs, training in conservation and excavation would also be imparted. g

Museums to house the findsThe state government has decided to set up two global standard museums, one at Rakhgarhi and another at Panchkula

The Rakhigarhi museum would be built on five acres of land which has been donated by the village panchayat. A seal of a tiger excavated could be the logo of the museum

Seal of a tiger

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 201516 FOCUS

The BJP Government, led by the Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, has made the first six months memorable by blazing a new trail, giving governance a new meaning; and making use of this period to point to the road ahead

Six months point to the years ahead

The Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, releasing a booklet in Chandigarh highlighting the achievements of the state government during the first six months

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015 17FOCUS

Parveen K Modi

Six months may be a small peri-od in the five-year tenure of a democratically elected govern-

ment. But in Haryana, the BJP Gov-ernment, led by the Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, has made these 180 days a memorable period. It has converted challenges into opportu-nities; taken several path-breaking decisions; made things easy for the man in the street; and, more impor-tantly, pointed to the good govern-ance people are in for.

Be it distribution of compensa-tion to the hail and rain-ravaged farmers; procurement of wheat; promoting the cause of the girl child; batting for the state’s inter-ests; putting an end to graft; revving

up the engines of growth; or putting people in comfort zone, the state government has come up trumps.

Disbursing the highest ever relief to the farmers and mopping up wheat posed the biggest challenge which the state government has successfully hunched. The bulge, piled by the vagaries of unpredict-able weather making hailstones flatten the crops of farmers in large swathes of the agrarian state, once looked insurmountable. But the BJP Government, barely into its seventh month, succeeded in navigating it and proved beyond an iota of doubt that notwithstanding what loud-mouthing Opposition leaders maintain, it means business.

The two-pronged challenge was the biggest the state government faced during the first six months; enormous even by conservative standards. One prong involved the herculean task of gauging the loss caused to the crops through state-wide girdawari and surveys; making a meaningful assessment by putting quantity to the damage; monetising the loss; preparing the cheques and distributing them to those affected in a manner that is quite convincing and transparent. The second prong revolved around gearing up the state agencies to mop up wheat brought to the mandis by the farmers, espe-cially after the Food Corporation of India had decided to sit on the fence.

A GOVT THAT MEANS BUSINESSHuge by any standards, the chal-lenge was made monumental by the opposition whose pettifogging opportunism overshadowed state politics, unfolding its protean propensity for fission, fusion and confusion. They seemed to sharpen the claws of their nefarious designs on the altar of the first-time BJP Government headed by the first-time Chief Minister. Little did they know that Mr Manohar Lal means business; he says what he does; and, unlike his predecessors, has the determination to bring swigs and twigs to the dining table.

Facts failed the designs of the op-position. Hopes belied, fears duped, and design nailed, the opposition

predicament has been made acute by the ringing success of the state government on the farm front. Mr Manohar Lal has not only more than met the challenge but also rewritten what good governance means, making the opponents cower in the shadow of pessimism. Their chatty rhetoric looks synthetic to one and all.

After state-wide special girdawari and surveys, the farmers are now being handed out cheques for com-pensation for the loss to their crops. It is a case of record disbursement of Rs 1,095 crore in relief to the affected farmers, that too, in record short time. It is for the first time that they have been compensated even for the lower extent of the dam-age, never done by any government.

LIBERAL COMPENSATIONThose suffering damage to their crops to the extent of even 25 per cent have been compensated. And even in case of multiple holders of a small chunk of land, all stake-holders have been compensated by a minimum of Rs 500. By May 15, the last of the affected farmers had been handed the cheque, bringing curtains down on what will go down in the annals of the state as the first and biggest-of-its-kind operation.

It could not have been possible but for the enterprise and indul-gence shown by the Chief Minister who got constituted district-level teams for the purpose; assigned dis-tricts to secretary level officers and ministers; and personally oversaw monitoring of the entire operation. He not only set the bar quite high for governance but also polevault-ed it with the deftness that defies any first-timer. He knows full well that governance goes way beyond framing of policies; it also means continuous monitoring for their proper implementation to ensure that these deliver on the objectives set to be served.

The second part of the challenge revolved around procurement of wheat brought to the mandis by the farmers. With the FCI keeping out, the task was left to state agencies, something that made opposition


leaders raise hackles, and turn doomsayers. But the doomsayers have been doomed. Defying late start and nailing Opposition propaganda on its slow pace, wheat procurement in Haryana surpassed last year’s level on May 17, 2015.

Until May 17, 2015, as many as 67,54,386 metric tonnes of wheat has been procured by state agencies. Out of the total procurement this year, 67,53,964 metric tonnes has been pro-cured by gover ment agencies and the remaining 422 metric tonnes has been mopped up by the traders.

Not only this, the farmers got the concessions never given by any government. The Chief Minister tweaked the norms to facilitate mopping up of the damaged wheat; the cost of any value cut was borne by the state government, not by the farmers as before, and they got the MSP of Rs 1,450/quintal even for shrivelled grains. The farmers perhaps never had it so bad from the skies, and never so good from any state government.

PROCUREMENT TARGETPay-out to the farmers for the pro-cured wheat topped Rs 7,140 crore mark on May 1. About 600 officials form part of district-level teams that will remain in place till the state meets its procurement target. Procuring 90 per cent of the produce in a short time, especially since the crop matured late on account of hailstorms and rains.

The five state agencies procured 67.5 lakh MT of wheat up to May 17. The Department of Food and Sup-plies has procured 20.08 lakh MT; Hafed, 29.50 lakh MT; Haryana Agro Industries Corporation, 6.96 lakh MT; Haryana Warehousing Corpo-ration, 10.93 lakh MT; and Confed 5,800 MT.

Nailing opposition criticism, the Chief Minister said, “Facts have proved the opposition wrong and their wailing is of no avail. We will seek to actualise people’s aspirations by building a strong and trust-oriented bond with them, a bond that will rest on the pillars of corruption-free, open and peo-ple-friendly administration. Our ac-

tions will speak louder than words.”The first six months saw the state

government blaze a new trail in fields more than one. The Chief Min-ister announced that all-woman po-lice stations would be set up in each district for making it easier and con-venient for women to approach the police in case of any urgency. These would be made functional by Raksha Bandhan which falls on August 29, 2015 to ensure security and safety of women in the state.

To facilitate this, recruitment of as many as 500 women constables would be made soon. Besides, 5,000 vacant posts in the Police Depart-ment would also be filled. ‘HARSA-MAY’, a 24x7 portal of Haryana Po-lice, has already been started where anybody could lodge complaint

online by sitting at home.Approval has been accorded for

providing 500 new bikes to the Po-lice Department to facilitate greater mobility and effective patrolling. Besides, Road Safety Fund has been set up to strengthen the traffic infrastructure and improve traffic education.

SPV FOR RAIL PROJECTSWith a view to boosting connectivity, Haryana plans to enter into partner-ship with Indian Railways by consti-tuting a special purpose vehicle to strengthen the rail network in the state. This would help in converting mere announcement made by the previous Congress government into reality. An MoU in this regard will soon be signed between the two

(L-R) The Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Mr Kanwar Pal, the Agriculture Minister, Mr O P Dhankar, the Health Minister, Mr Anil Vij, the Woman and Child Development Minister, Mrs Kavita Jain, the Finance Minister, Capt Abhimanyu, MP Sonipat, Mr Ramesh Kaushik, and MP Ambala, Mr Ratan Lal Kataria, distributing cheques of compensation amount to the farmers for the loss of crops suffered due to unseasonal rains and hailstorms


stakeholders.The Chief Minister told Har-

yana Review that he had met the Union Railway Minister, Mr Suresh Prabhu, twice and requested him to complete all the pending rail projects in the state, be it the start of new trains, electrification of ex-isting railway lines, or construction of railway over bridges (RoBs) and railway under bridges (RuBs).

On the issue of land acquisition, Mr Manohar Lal has said the Cen-tral Government planned to bring a new Land Acquisition Act and land would be acquired in the state only according to the new Act. Barring defence projects, affordable housing, infrastructure, industrial corri-dor, railways etc, no land would be acquired without farmer’s consent, he clarified.

NINE NEW NATIONAL HIGHWAYSThe Chief Minister said that nine new national highways had been approved in the state which would

strengthen infrastructure and boost development. A scheme is being prepared under which roads in every district would be made 10-metre wide. A sum of Rs 340 crore has been spent on strengthening the roads in the state.

With concerted efforts made by his government, the work on Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressay has now been restarted and it would be completed in a phased manner. Apart from this, the survey work on the Yamuna-Bawana Expressway has been initiated.

With the initiatives taken by the present government, work on devel-opment of the Western Peripheral Expressway, which is also known as Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway, has been revived. The first-ever Expressway in Haryana will now see the light of day.

Linking four National High-ways No 1, 10, 8 and 2, the express-way would run through the districts of Sonipat, Jhajjar, Gurgaon, Mewat

and Palwal. Revival of this project would eventually ease the traffic congestion of the National Capital Region. The completion of this pro-ject will provide high speed link to northern Haryana with its southern districts like Gurgaon, Faridabad and Palwal.

DE-CONGESTING NCRThis project will also help in de-con-gesting the National Capital Region as traffic from the northern parts of the country destined for other regions need not pass through NCR, reducing pollution in NCR tremen-dously. Keeping in view the increase in traffic, the state government has also decided to make it a six-lane expressway, not four-lane as origi-nally planned.

In pursuance of the orders of Supreme Court on January 30, 2015, the Haryana Government has taken the decision to terminate the contract of the existing concession-aire and decided to have in place


a new concessionaire, in order to ensure time-bound completion of the project.

The HSIIDC allotted work on the Manesar-Palwal section (83.32 km to 135.65 km) on Item Rate Mode on March 28, 2015. Work has already commenced on the ground w.e.f. April 28, 2015 and this part of expressway, having 52.33 km length, will be completed in nine months as per provisions of the agreement.

Simultaneously, a tender for the remaining part of the expressway, the Kundli-Manesar section, has been invited on BOT (Annuity) Mode. The bids are scheduled to be received up to May 26, 2015, and work on this section is likely to be allotted in June, 2015.

Initially, this project was started in 2006 and was to be developed on Built-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis. The concession agreement was signed with M/s KMP Expressway Ltd. According to the original time schedule, the project was to be com-pleted by July 29, 2009. But it could not be achieved, and the project was left abandoned by the concession-aire for more than two years.

The Chief Minister said that he had always batted for the interest of the state on all important forums, be it the issue of Satluj-Yamuna

Link Canal, Hansi Butana, separate high court and separate bench for southern Haryana etc. Chandigarh is the capital of Haryana and it will continue to remain so in the future, he asserted.

ZERO TOLERANCE TO GRAFTTo fulfill its commitment of zero tolerance against corruption and providing graft-free administation, the state government has conduct-ed investigation into 39 cases of corruption in which 16 officials have been found guilty. Besides, the gov-ernment has also entrusted investi-gation into 30 new cases of corrup-tion to the Haryana State Vigilance Bureau, and recommended recovery of Rs 15.11 lakh in different cases.

The prominent among the 30 cases handed over to the Bureau for investigation included Kaushalya Dam, HCS recruitment, Ambala NAREGA Scam and the scam of 8012 square yards land in NIT Farid-abad.

Calling for people’s support to the various government initiatives to completely root out corruption, he said, “Both offering and accepting bribe is wrong and all those who take or give bribe are the perpetra-tors of corruption. It is a matter of happiness that Parliament is going

to introduce a bill under which besides those who accept bribe, the one who gives bribe, would also be held responsible,” he said.

The Haryana State Vigilance Bureau has been made more effec-tive to keep a check on the corrupt practices in government machin-ery. Efforts are also being made to modernise the bureau, and, in this direction, helpline number 1064 has been started. Action is taken within 24 hours after registration of com-plaint on this helpline number.

He has assured that this year, 5,000 posts of police personnel would be filled in the Police Depart-ment. Complete transparency would be ensured in the recruitment processes and recruitment would be made solely on the basis of merit. The Haryana Staff Selection Com-mission has been constituted and all the departments have been asked to send their requisition within 15 days so that the recruitment process could be started soon.

The recruitment process would be carried out in a phased man-ner and all vacant posts would be filled in the next two to three years. Apart from government sector, special emphasis would be given on providing employment to youth in industrial sector also, he added. g

A six-lane highway

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015 21FOCUS

Haryana Review Bureau

With a view to providing time-bound and hassle-free services to the citizens

of Haryana, the state government, under the leadership of the Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, has notified 163 services under the Right to Service Act, 2014. According to a notification issued to this effect, these services would be provided in a prescribed time period and in case of unnecessary delay, the concerned official would have to pay fine. These services include the following:

REVENUE DEPARTMENTCertified copies of all documents at Fard Centre level -- record of rights (Jamabandi), girdawari and muta-tion would be provided by duty pat-wari-1 in a day. Demarcation of land would be provided by circle revenue officer in 45 days. Registration of all kinds of documents-sale deed, lease deed, GPA and partnership deed would be provided in one day by sub-registrar or joint sub-registrar. Certified copies of all kinds of pre-viously registered documents would be provided in 7 days by sub-regis-trar or joint sub-registrar.

Attestation of uncontested muta-tions would be provided in 45 days by the circle revenue officer. Private partition of land (mutual consent of landowners) would be provided in 30 days by circle revenue officer. Issue of income certificate would be provided in 15 days by tehsildar. Succession or dependent certificate or counter signature will be issued in 15 days by tehsildar.

Mortgage (first charge) would be provided in 15 days by tehsildar.

Registration of lease or conveyance deed would be provided in 15 days by tehsildar. Conversion from lease to free hold would be carried out in 30 days by tehsildar.

Certification of Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes, other backward classes, special backward classes and economically backward classes will be done in 7 days by tehsildar. Resident certificate and rural area certificate would be issued in 7 days by tehsildar.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT Certified copies of birth or death certificate in rural areas would be issued in 7 days for current year and 15 days for previous years by the reg-istrar (birth and death) of the con-cerned primary health centre and community health centre or deputy civil surgeon (birth and death) of the concerned district.

In urban area, the registration of death and birth certificate (after one year of event) would be done in 60 days subject to applicant providing complete documentary evidence regarding his case. Birth and death certificate (name entry and new birth certificate) in urban areas would be issued in 7 days by the concerned local or district registrar. Correction of entry in birth and death certificate after submission of complete application would be is-sued in 15 days by district registrar.

URBAN LOCAL BODIES Sanction of building plan other than residential (all improvement trusts) would be issued in 60 days by the secretary or superintendent of im-provement trust. Sanction of build-ing plan or revised building plan

(residential) would be issued in 60 days by secretary or superintendent of improvement trust. Completion or occupation certificate for building (all categories) would be issued in 21 days by the secretary or superinten-dent of improvement trust.

No objection certificate or du-plicate allotment or re-allotment letter would be issued in 21 days by the secretary or superintendent of improvement trust. Conveyance deed of improvement trust would be issued in 15 days. No dues certificate would be issued in 7 days. Water supply and sewage in Municipal Corporation, Fariabad and Gurgaon would be issued in 7 days by assis-tant engineer.

POWER DEPARTMENT Normal fuse off call would be ad-dressed within 4 hours in cities and in 8 hours in rural areas. Overhead lines breakdown in cities would be addressed in 8 hours and in 16 hours in rural areas. Breakdowns due to breakage poles would be corrected in cities within 12 hours and in rural areas within 24 hours and similarly underground cable breakdown in cities and in rural areas would be corrected within 48 hours. Major power failure involv-ing power equipment would be corrected in 7 days.

PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEERING Sanction of water supply and sewerage connection in corporation cities and MC towns would be issued within 12 days. Complaints of water leakage or overflow pipes would be addressed in three days and sewerage or blocked or overflow of manholes in seven days. g

163 citizen services made time-bound

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 201522

Parveen K Modi

Haryana has adopted a two-pronged strategy to carry

forward the message of Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, launched by the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi. While one prong aims at catching them young—sensitizing children in schools towards cleanliness and sanitisation by making it part of the syllabus, the other seeks to incentiv-ise local bodies into ensuring clean surroundings and environment. The strategy was unfolded by the Harya-na Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, while addressing the second meeting of the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers

on Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, in Chandigarh.

“In order to make the children imbibe the sense of cleanliness at an early age, we have decided to include cleanliness in the school curriculum. Under this, there would be one period of cleanliness every day,” the Chief Minister said. He laid stress on the disposal of toxic waste and building construction waste in view of the rapid industrialisation and urbani-sation.

In order to encourage the local bodies to ensure cleanliness and make them party to successful im-plementation of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, the Haryana Government

plans to set up an award scheme un-der which, cash awards ranging from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh would be given to such panchayts as adopt solid and liquid waste management practices.

AWARD FOR PANCHAYATSBesides, an award of at least Rs 5 lakh would be given to such panchayats as make their villages free from open defecation. The state government has also implemented GARVIT scheme to ensure participa-tion of youth in rural development. The concerned gram panchayats could also set up cleanliness projects under this scheme.

Chaired by the Andhra Pradesh

Committed to making Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan a success, the Har-yana Government has adopted a two-pronged strategy: make cleanli-ness a part of school syllabus and incentivise local bodies

Catching them young to ensure cleanliness

The Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr N Chandrababu Naidu, and the Mizoram Chief Minister, Mr Lal Thanhwla, addressing a press conference after the 2nd meeting of Sub-Group of Chief Ministers of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in Chandigarh

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015 23SPECIAL REPORT

Chief Minister, Mr N Chandrababu Naidu, who is also convener of the sub-group, the meeting was attended by the Chief Minister of Mizoram, Mr Lal Thanhawla, and his Maha-rashtra counterpart, Mr Devendra Fadnavis. The others who attended the meeting included the Education Minister of Uttarakhand, Mr Surendra Singh Negi, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister of Karnataka, Mr H K Patil, Environment and Forest Minister, Delhi, Mr Asim Ahmed Khan, Chief Executive Officer of NITI Ayog, Mrs Sindhushree Khullar, Haryana Agriculture Minister, Mr O P Dhankar, and a large number of delegates and senior officers of the Haryana Government.

Mr Manohar Lal recalled that at the first meeting of the sub-group in New Delhi on April 30, 2015, he had stressed the need for increasing public participation in the successful implementation of the campaign. Efforts should also be made to rope in social organisations and other institutions.

Expressing concern over the lack of market for the sale of manure pre-pared from bio-degradable waste, the Chief Minister said that while work on preparing manure from bio-degra-

dable waste was being done at many places, a market is yet to be set up for its sale. For want of market, the projects had to shut shop after one or two years. There is need to take some initiatives to make this commercially viable, he added.

RE-CYCLING WASTE“As the rate of re-cycling waste in our country is quite high, the workers involved should be encouraged and provided with the latest techniques to hone their skills,” he said, adding that projects should be set up under the Skill India Programme and skill development of those involved in re-cycling should be ensured. He also emphasised the need for providing training to scientists working in En-vironment Control Boards for keep-ing a vigil on the loss to be caused to environment from garbage.

Speaking on this occasion, Mr Naidu vouched for tax rebate for the waste management plants generating power from waste. “I have met the Fi-nance Minister and requested him to provide tax relaxation to these plants, considering the fact that the income generated from them is notional income,” he said, adding that 200 MW of power could be generated from 20,000 metric tonnes of waste.

Referring to Andhra Pradesh, he said that the cost per unit of electrici-ty generated from these plants was Rs 8 per unit, and, after tax exemption, it would come down to Rs 5 per unit. In China, 210 such plants are operation-al. All regulatory boards in the states and at Centre have been told to use 50 per cent of the garbage for power production.

Swachh Bharat Mission should be taken as a collective responsibility by each and every citizen for making India a clean country by October 2, 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. Mr Naidu favoured a work-shop in Delhi with best technology providers at national and interna-tional level to get to know the best practices available before finalizing the report.

The Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr Devendra Fadnavis, suggested a framework to ensure the success of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan. Waste management techniques should not be forced upon municipalities. For successful implementation of these techniques, mayors and councillors would be given training in skill devel-opment.

The next meeting of the sub group will be held at Bengaluru in June. g

The Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, presenting a memento to the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr Devendra Fadnavis


Parveen K Modi

Water-starved Haryana has hammered its stand on the

inter-state waters issue once again, this time more forcefully, and in a tone that rings aloud. The state has averred that the riparian principle does not apply to the Ravi-Beas waters, and that Punjab’s contention on this issue is not correct. It has sought early hearing on the Presi-dential Reference on the validity of the Punjab Termination of Agree-ments Act of 2004 which has been

lying pending with the Supreme Court for nearly 10 years.

The loud-thumping on state’s stand on inter-state issues and reiteration of claim on waters and power was done by none other than the Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, at the 27th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council in New Delhi, presided over by the Union Home Minister, Mr Rajnath Singh.

Pressure of achieving high rate of growth for sustaining ever growing population consistently puts pres-sure on limited resources. Though

all member-states and Chandigarh would like their respective share of water and power to be progressively enhanced, yet decisions in his regard will have to be taken on the basis of well established principles, he said.

Explaining the rationale behind his repudiation of the riparian principle, Mr Manohar Lal dug into history to recall how the surplus Ra-vi-Beas waters had been distributed by the Government of India among different states once the waters of these rivers came in for exclusive use by India, after signing of the Indus

Water-starved Haryana has forcefully reiterated its stand on the in-ter-state power and waters issue and repudiated Punjab Government stand that the Riparian principle applies to the Ravi-Beas waters

Haryana looks Punjab in the eyeChief Minister Manohar Lal says Riparian principle does not apply to Ravi-Beas waters

The Union Home Minister, Mr Rajnath Singh, releasing a book at the 27th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council in New Delhi. The Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr Manohar Lal, Chief Minister of Punjab, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Mr Virbhadra Singh, and Lt Governor of Delhi, Mr Najeeb Jung, are also seen in the picture


Water Treaty with Pakistan. The joint Punjab, along with other

states, had been allocated surplus Ravi-Beas waters by the Government of India, in addition to its existing utilisation, on account of its then large arid areas, which now form a part of Haryana. “Therefore, the riparian principle of sharing of surplus waters of Ravi and Beas does not apply in this case and the con-tention of Punjab that these waters belong to Punjab only, is not correct,” he stated.

DEFICIT IN GROUNDWATERThat Haryana is a deficit state both from the standpoint of surface and groundwater can hardly be overem-phasised. The groundwater level in the state, particularly in the fresh water zone, is depleting fast due to inevitable exploitation of the ground water.

As against the annual demand of 36 Million Acre Feet (MAF), the availability of water is only 14 MAF. While on one hand, the Chief Minis-ter said, the state had to give out of

its own share in the Yamuna waters, extra water to Delhi in compliance with the Supreme Court orders, on the other hand, Punjab is not delivering Haryana’s full share in the Ravi-Beas waters.

Punjab is adamant despite two orders and judgments of the Su-preme Court on the SYL canal issue. Instead, the Punjab Government unilaterally decided to terminate all the inter-state agreements pertain-ing to the Ravi Beas waters in 2004. Haryana wants early hearing on the Presidential Reference in this regard which is pending before the Supreme Court for about a decade.

The Chief Minister said that work on Hansi-Butana Canal was started by the state government to carry water from the Bhakra Main Line (BML) Canal out of Haryana’s own share in the Ravi-Beas waters to the lift canal command for the dry and arid southern Haryana to ensure equitable distribution of the availa-ble water.

Although this project had been cleared by the Central Water Com-

mission from all angles, the canal has been rendered non-functional due to the suit filed by Punjab against this project, although it does not affect Punjab in any manner, Mr Manohar Lal added.

Presently, Haryana is able to utilise only 1.62 MAF out of its allo-cation of 3.5 MAF in the Ravi-Beas waters through the BML Canal. The balance share of Haryana is being utilised by default by Punjab and Rajasthan, at Harike. Punjab draws more than 1,000 cusecs of water from the Nangal Hydel Channel for its Ropar Thermal Plant which should have been drawn through a link from the Anandpur Sahib Hydel channel/SYL canal allowing Haryana to carry more water for itself as well as also for Rajasthan through BML.

“I would urge the Punjab Chief Minister to start the work on the link between Anandpur Sahib and the Ropar Thermal Plant, so that Harya-na is able to carry its share of water through BML as per the original project report of the SYL canal,” Mr Manohar Lal said.

The Chief Minister reiterated that the construction of the three dams namely, Renuka, Kishau and Lakh-war-Vyasi, on the tributaries of river Yamuna should be expedited. The stored water in these dams will great-ly help in meeting the requirements of drinking and irrigation water.

BILATERAL DELIBERATIONSOn power issue, Mr Manohar Lal said that Haryana was ready to resolve the issue of share of power from the Anandpur Sahib Hydel Pro-ject, Mukerian Hydel Project, Thein Dam Project and UBDC Stage-II, either under the aegis of Northern Zonal Council or through bilateral deliberations.

“However, we also feel that the Ministry of Power should refer the matter to the Supreme Court as consensus is not emerging,” he said reiterating the state’s share of power from the Anandpur Sahib Hydel Pro-ject, Mukerian Hydel Project, Thein Dam Project and UBDC Stage-II. For Shahpur Kandi Hydel Scheme, Har-yana has filed a suit in the Supreme Court, as Punjab is not agreeing to

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 201526 SPECIAL REPORT

the claim of Haryana.The state government has also

conveyed its willingness to Punjab Government to contribute its share of Rs 480 crores towards the cost of Shahpura Kandi project to become a partner, the Chief Minister added.

The need for fiscal and infrastruc-tural harmony can hardly be over-emphasised. Haryana looks forward to the meeting of the Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers of the Northern Region, as decided by the Standing Committee in its meeting held on November 27, 2014. Haryana is in favour of maintain-ing uniform rates of VAT on diesel and other petroleum products in the region. It recently increased the effective rate of VAT on diesel from 9.24 per cent to 12.75 per cent w.e.f. November 26, 2014.

A comparative study shows that the rate of VAT on diesel in the re-gion varies in a very narrow band of 11.5 per cent to 12.5 per cent. Rajast-han is the sole exception, where the rate is 22 per cent. Since the rates of VAT on diesel in the states surround-ing Himachal Pradesh are quite sim-ilar, they should not have any cause of concern, the Chief Minister said.

Diversification in agriculture is the need of the hour. There is need to diversify into production of fruits, flowers and vegetables. However, being highly perishable these crops require high quality post harvest management and marketing infrastructure.

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCEHaryana has established a Centre of Excellence for Vegetables at Gharaunda in Karnal with coop-eration of Israel. It will focus on Technological innovations in the fields of Poly houses, Shed Nets, Drip Irrigation and Micro Sprinklers. “We have also established a Centre of excellence for fruits at Mangiana in Sirsa for developing latest tech-nologies of high density plantation, canopy plantation and fertilisation,” he added.

Haryana is setting up an India International Horticulture Market at Ganaur in Sonipat for facilitating storage, marketing and export of

fruits, flowers and vegetables. This will perhaps be the largest Terminal Market Complex in the region cater-ing to whole of North India. This will facilitate real time marketing of pro-duce and will also help in realisation of better prices for the farmers. The state has already acquired 537 acres of land for this purpose at a prime location on National Highway No. 1.

“We are in the process of hiring a consultant for preparation of DPR for this project. Establishment of this centre will facilitate faster move-ment of agro produce and processed food products. Since it will provide requisite linkages for the farmers of all the member-states, I would request the Zonal Council to impress upon the Central Government for providing funds to the extent of Rs 600 crores out of estimated cost of Rs 1500 crores for setting up of this Market Complex,” the Chief Minister demanded.

In the recent past not only the flow in river Yamuna has dwindled but also its waters have got progressively polluted. The National Green Tribu-nal has also recently issued direc-tions to maintain minimum environ-mental flow in river Yamuna. Since there is no dam on this river, pre-cious water cannot be stored during the monsoon season. He reiterated the state’s request that the construc-tion of the three dams namely Renu-ka, Kishau and Lakhwar-Vyasi on the tributaries of Yamuna should be expedited. The stored water in these dams will greatly help in meeting the requirements of drinking and irrigation water.

On the request of Jammu &

Kashmir for the share of water from the rivers flowing through Punjab as compensation, Haryana feels that J-K has already been given 0.65 MAF share in the surplus waters of Ravi and Beas. Therefore, no further share is made out. On the issue of short and fluctuating supply of water to Rajasthan, he pointed out that for the last three months we are supplying excess water to them. The Rajasthan Government should recip-rocate by clearing the long pending maintenance dues.

WATER FOR CHANDIGARHReferring to the issue of water for Chandigarh, Mr Manohar Lal said that Haryana never refused to give water to Chandigarh, the joint capital of Haryana and Punjab. Chandigarh at present is getting 67 MGD (134 cusecs) water from Kajauli, which includes 12 cusecs share of Panchkula. We have also conveyed our willingness for imple-mentation of augmentation of water supply scheme for phase V and VI of Chandigarh with the condition that Haryana will be given its share of water for Panchkula as per the 1983 Agreement before any drawal of water at Kajauli.

“Despite such a positive stand by Haryana, it is incomprehensible that UT Administration entered into some sort of an understanding with Punjab without involving Haryana. Quite obviously, Chandigarh and Punjab are not competent to decide the issue bilaterally as Haryana and Rajasthan are also partner states for any drawal of water from BML Ca-nal, which is an interstate channel,” he said.

He pointed out that Chandigarh was not a member of the Upper Yamuna River Board since it did not fall in Yamuna Basin. An MoU for the allocation of Yamuna waters was signed on May 12, 1994 by the Chief Ministers of UP, Haryana, Rajast-han, Himachal Pradesh and NCT Delhi. As a result, Chandigarh has no share in either water or power from Kishau and Renuka Dams which are to be constructed on tribu-taries of Yamuna.

Further, the question of sharing

Haryana is in the process of hiring a consultant for preparation of DPR for International Horticulture Market at Ganaur. The centre will facilitate faster movement of agro produce and processed food products


of power from Hathnikund Barrage does not arise as there is no power production. U.T. of Chandigarh already gets its share of 3.5 per cent from Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) as per Government of India order dated October 31, 2011. Therefore, there is no reason to change the existing structure.

For development to be sustainable in the long run, steps must be taken to ensure that land, water and air remain non-polluted. Regarding the release of effluents from Bhiwadi Industrial area, the Central Pollution Control Board issued directions on October 31, 2014 for augmentation of common effluent treatment plant and for treatment of effluent up to the tertiary level. “I would like to point out that the samples of the effluent collected by Central Pollution Con-trol Board from CETP on December 1, 2014 did not meet the prescribed parameters. I would request Govern-ment of Rajasthan to take remedial measures immediately,” Mr Manohar Lal said.

On the issue of pollution in Ghaggar river, he said, “The Chief Minister, Punjab, and I have had a meeting in the month of December, 2014. Both the States have decided to ensure that no untreated sewage or industrial effluent flows into river Ghaggar. I would request Hon’ble Chief Minister, Himachal Pradesh to issue directions to his officers to ensure action on similar lines.”

Haryana has been pointing out the fact that the quality of water entering Delhi and exiting from Delhi is significantly different. The pollution levels get substantially increased when river Yamuna flows through Delhi. The National Green Tribunal has also issued quite a few directions to revive river Yamuna to its pristine glory.

These directions are mainly relat-ed to NCT Delhi, but a number of ac-tion points also relate to Uttrakhand and UP which are not represented here. National Capital being a prior-ity for all of us, a detailed action plan is being prepared by MOEF with the cooperation of participating states. This needs to be expedited, Mr Mano-har Lal said.

Referring to the menace of air pollution in Delhi, Mr Manohar Lal said it must be curbed. The Western and Eastern Expressways should be expedited to ease traffic congestion in Delhi. On its part, Haryana has taken requisite steps to complete the Western Peripheral Expressway (known as KMP) by 2017. Work on the stretch of KMP Expressway from Palwal to Manesar has been re-allo-cated and is likely to be completed by March, 2016. Work on the remaining stretch from Manesar to Kundli will also be re-allotted shortly.

Also, the feasibility of provid-ing U-Turn and underpass near the border of Delhi to turn back the non-destined vehicles trying to enter the city needs to be explored. More Air Quality Monitoring Stations are required to be set up in NCR with online display of data.

DUST SUPPRESSION METHODSIt is also a welcome step that local bodies and major construction agen-cies in the NCR have been directed to use dust suppression methods on the construction sites to reduce dust emission. Open burning of garbage in the NCR and neighbouring areas should be strongly discouraged and stopped. “Let me share with you that while the Haryana State Pollution Control Board has taken a number of measures to curb the practice of left-over straw burning after har-vesting, our Agriculture Department is also making concerted efforts to make the farmers aware on this count,” he added.

Raising another issue of concern,

the Chief Minister said the Govern-ment of India planned to replace the existing norms of reimbursement of ‘actual’ freight charges with ‘fixed’ freight charges irrespective of the dis-tance between the processing plants/ports and unloading rake points. “I wish to point out that the states like, Haryana and Punjab which are situat-ed quite far off from ports on Gujarat Coast would be adversely affected if such a change is brought about. The ‘actual’ freight charges in Haryana at present are being reimbursed to the manufacturers/suppliers @ Rs 1,650 per MT whereas as per the new proposal, the reimbursement would be made on the basis of ‘fixed’ freight charges @ Rs 1,240/- per MT.

Hence, the difference between the ‘actual’ freight charges and ‘fixed’ freight charges would be loaded by them in the form of enhanced MRP which in turn would increase the cost of cultivation leading to resentment amongst farmers,” he demanded.

Referring to preparation of an Inter-State Regional Plan for Chandi-garh, Haryana is in agreement with broad contours of the plan relating to integration of infrastructural services like roads, rail network, water supply, sewerage, drainage etc between Chan-digarh and other periphery towns. The state also agrees for synchronisa-tion of development controls, land use plans and future urban development centres. “We have also agreed that there is a need for preservation of natural features in the region such as forests, rivulets, choes and eco-sen-sitive zones like Sukhna Lake, Bid Sikargarh and Khol Ratia,” he said. g

Haryana has taken requisite steps to complete the Western Peripheral Expressway (known as KMP) by 2017. Work on the stretch of KMP Expressway from Palwal to Manesar has been re-allocated and is likely to be completed by March, 2016. Work on the remaining stretch from Manesar to Kundli will also be re-allotted shortly.

Manohar Lal Chief Minister, Haryana

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 201528 REPORT

Shweta Vashishta

Haryana is fast moving down the digital lane. Taking a cue from

the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister, Mr Mano-har Lal, launched seven e-Servic-es and software applications on May 2, 2015 with the avowed objective of making the life of the man in the street easy, administration graft-free, and delivery of citizen-centric service without any hassle free.

Launching the services in Panch-kula, the Chief Minister said that the e-Services would help translate

the dream of Digital Haryana into reality. Digital Haryana would seek to provide digital infrastructure as a utility for every citizen; e-Govern-ance and e-Services on demand; and facilitate digital empowerment of citizens.

e-SERVICES LAUNCHEDThe e-Services and other add-on facilities launched by the Chief Minister included Access to Common Service Centre (CSC); Services on de-mand; e-Stamping; Jeevan Pramaan; Revised State Portal; Aadhaar-en-abled Biometric Attendance Sys-

tem; CM Window, Mobile app; and Aadhaar-linked registration of birth. Haryana is the first state in the coun-try to launch some services on such large scale, Mr Manohar Lal said.

Access to CSC: The state govern-ment plans to provide the citizens access to CSC in their own village by setting up CSC in every village. During 2015-16, about 2,500 CSCs shall be set up across the state.

“We are now enabling the CSCs to deliver 20 e-Services in the fields of revenue and health as well as other B2C services through CSC-SPV, a Government of India entity. Under

The Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, has launched seven e-Services and software applications to make the life of citizens of Haryana easy

On the e-way to digital Haryana

The Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, reviewing the progress of various e-Services and other schemes through video-conferencing with divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners and additional deputy commissioners in Chandigarh

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015 29REPORT

this, a citizen can file application for various kinds of certificates. The file moves electronically to various concerned authorities, viz. tehsildar/ medical officer of Health Depart-ment,” the Chief Minister said.

The 635-odd CSCs which are working will start delivering these 20 services and other citizen-cen-tric services.

Services on demand: Elev-en e-Services of the Revenue De-partment have been launched. These include Scheduled Caste, Backward Caste, Other Backward Caste, Special Backward Caste, Tapriwas, Vimukt Jati, Economically Backward Gen-eral Caste and Resident Certificates, Income Certificate for education pur-poses, Income Certificate for other purposes and Rural Area Certificate.

Similarly, some services of the Health Department have also been launched. Under these, birth certifi-cate, death certificate, and copies of certificates shall be provided. “Appli-cation can be deposited for birth and death registration, name inclusion in birth record, correction in birth record and non-availability of cer-tificate. The state shall provide more than 100 e-Services to the citizens by the end of the year.

e-Stamping: Haryana has de-veloped an e-Stamping application for online sale of e-Stamps through the portal https://egrashry.nic.in. Citizens can now generate e-Stamp by paying online through internet banking or by paying cash at visit-ing e-Disha centres or CSCs which shall buy e-Stamp online. e-Stamp-ing would make the registry pro-cess easier.

Revised State Portal: State portal has been revised to fulfill the vision of providing easy and convenient information to the citizens about Haryana, and is further linked to the websites of departments to provide information on various schemes. The portal is user-friendly and has spe-cific section for citizen services. The Revised State Portal would have in-formation about various programmes of the departments.

Jeevan Pramaan: For pensioners, life has become easy as they can get Jeevan Pramaan Certificate from any

CSC in Haryana through portal www.jeevanpramaan.gov.in if they have the Aadhaar number. Haryana is the first state to launch this scheme on such a large scale in the country. Ap-proximately 40,000 pensioners shall benefit from the new system.

Biometric Attendance system: It shall be used to mark attendance in all district mini-secretariats, two secretariats in Chandigarh and seven departments (UHBVN, HPG-CL, HVPNL, HSIIDC, HAFED and Irrigation, Public Health Engineering at Panchkula).

It will help in improving attend-ance, increase disposal of work and

build professional work culture in government offices. Haryana is the first state to launch this scheme on such a large scale (Jharkhand has launched the scheme in a limited manner) in the country.

CM Window, Mobile app: The CM Grievances Redressal System was launched on December 25, 2014. The CM Window is operational in all DC offices. Citizens can go to e-Disha kendras and lodge their grievances at CM Window. With a view to enabling the citizen to track the status of his grievance/ application, an Android app has been created which can be downloaded on any smart phone. g

Haryana has become the first state in the country to implement Aadhaar-linked registration of birth on a large scale. The system would ensure that every newborn child will get Aadhaar number at birth, besides the birth registration so that later on he or she could get the benefit of all schemes and programmes. This facility shall initially be made available at PHCs and CHCs on every Tuesday.

On each Tuesday, the Aadhaar machine shall be available at all PHCs for making Aadhaar identity and also to register the birth and provide birth registration certificate immediately. In order to establish the identity of the child, the hospital discharge slip will also be a valid identity document for Aadhar enrollment of child. All children born after May 1, 2015 shall be provided the opportunity to

acquire Aadhaar identity at birth.

This Aadhaar-linking shall enable the state to offer proactive services related to health of the child viz, immunisation, nutrition, regular health check-ups etc. This is the first such initiative anywhere in the country. The Haryana Government had conducted a pilot project of Aadhaar-based registration of birth in collaboration with NITI Aayog at Tigaon in Faridabad.

“Inspired by the outcome of the pilot project, we have now rolled it out across the state for the benefit of citizens. After a few months, the state shall make each PHC a permanent Aadhaar enrolment centre and Aadhaar machines shall be made available there. Annually, about 5.8 lakh children can be provided Aadhaar identities at birth,” Chief Minister Manohar Lal said.

Now, Aadhaar number at birth

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 201530 REPORT

Parveen K Modi

Power in Haryana for various categories of consumers will

be cheaper than the neighbouring states of Punjab and Delhi despite the modest 8.5 per cent increase in tariff for 2015-16 effected by the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC). What’s more, the modest hike will not have any impact on the electricity bills of farmers, and of the economically weaker sections for whom a special slab has been worked out.

Giving out broad contours of the HERC order on the ARR and Tariff petitions of the UHBVN and the DHBVN filed in 2014, an official spokesman told Haryana Review that the farmers would be paying only 10 paise per unit in case of tubewells on which meters have been installed, and Rs 15 per BHP for the tube-wells on flat rate basis, against the average cost of supply of electricity to the tubewells used for irrigation of crops as well as for horticulture purposes, which works out to about Rs 7.34 per unit.

Rs 6,200 CR FOR SUBSIDYThis major relief for the farmers of Haryana has been made possible due to the commitment made by the state government, led by the Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, to provide for the highest ever amount of Rs 6,200 crore for subsidy. The government has also decided to release 7,000 additional tubewell connections to the farmers during the current financial year.

It is for the first time that a spe-cial category has been created for the economically weaker sections of the society. The tariff for this category of consumers is Rs 2.70 per unit as compared to the cost of supply of Rs 7.34 per unit. This cat-egory will cover consumers whose monthly consumption is less than 50

units. The intention is to target the economically weaker sections for providing power at subsidised rates.

It will benefit more than 20 lakh domestic consumers in the state. Up to first 50 units, the rate will be Rs 2.70 per unit as compared to Rs 4.93 in Delhi and Rs 4.52 in Punjab. In case of 50 to 100 units in Haryana, it will be Rs 4.50 per unit while in Delhi it is Rs 4.51 and in Punjab it is Rs 4.52 per unit, the spokesman said.

For other categories of consum-ers, an average increase of about 8.5 per cent has been made in power tariff. Despite this hike, the tariff in Haryana will be less than in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Delhi. In case of high tension industries, the tariff in Haryana will be Rs 7.46 per unit as compared to Rs 8.89 in Delhi and Rs 7.81 in Punjab. In case of low tension industries it will be Rs 6.76 per unit in Haryana whereas it is Rs 9.97 in Delhi.

In case of commercial category, the effective tariff for up to 100 units in Haryana will be Rs 6.20, whereas in Delhi it is Rs 9.59 and in Punjab Rs 6.53. Similarly, in case of con-sumption of up to 500 units, the rates in Haryana will be Rs 6.20, while in Delhi these are Rs 9.59 per unit and in Punjab Rs 6.71 per unit.

NEW INITIATIVES The HERC order on new power tariff is studded with new initia-tives. It seeks to incentivise ad-vance payment of bills, provides for consumer-friendly billing and payment system, and introduces the innovative concept of Time Of Day (TOD) tariff pattern to help cut down on consumption and spare the consumers costly purchase of power in peak hours.

An incentive scheme for advance payment is being introduced to earn rebate on electricity bills. Under the scheme, DISCOMs will pay an incen-tive of four per cent on every bill to

The 8.5 per cent hike in tariff imposed by the Haryana Elec-tricity Regulato-ry Commission notwithstanding, power in Haryana for various cate-gories of consum-ers will still be cheaper than in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Delhi

Farmers, EWS spar ed power tariff hike

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015 31REPORT

Farmers, EWS spar ed power tariff hikethe consumer who makes advance payment equivalent to 120 per cent of the amount he paid in the last one year for consumption of power. Besides, the consumer will also be given interest on advance payment.

SOLAR ROOFTOP METERING SYSTEMDISCOMs will introduce a new “So-lar Rooftop Net Metering System.” With the launch of this scheme, the consumers will get a chance to gen-erate solar energy, which will allow them to adjust their regular power bills against the solar power generat-ed by them.

The system will cut down on pow-er bills and save money as well as electricity. Bills will be issued after adjustment of power generated and power used. The unique facility of banking surplus power with Harya-na DISCOMS and then using it when needed can result in reduction in one's electricity bill.

Under this scheme, the maximum rooftops solar system capacity to be installed on any premises shall not exceed his connected load in case of low tension connection and contract demand in case of high tension connection.

The state government shall pro-vide financial assistance at the rate of 40 per cent of the cost of system to the beneficiaries, including finan-cial incentive being provided by the Union Ministry of Renewable Ener-gy, under JNNSM i.e. If 30 per cent financial assistance is provided by MNRE, then additional 10 per cent shall be provided from the Green Energy Fund.

TIME OF DAY TARIFFThe DISCOMs will take steps to introduce Time of Day (TOD) tariff as a pilot project in one circle. TOD encourages distribution licensees to move towards separation of peak and off-peak tariffs which would help in reducing consumption as

well as costly power purchase at peak time. The tariff has been struc-tured in a way that it inherently pro-vides incentives and disincentives for the use of electricity at different time periods.

The consumers will, therefore, be encouraged to shift their load from peak load period to off-peak period by means of providing incentives in the range of Rs 1 to Rs 1.5 approx on consumption during off-peak period (Night Hours). TOD will help in shifting of load from peak to off-peak period thereby enabling the utility to have a flat load curve throughout the day. TOD tariff shall be considered for roll-out through-out Haryana on the basis of result of the study in pilot circle.

PAPER-LESS BILLINGThe complete process of electricity bill generation, delivery and pay-ment would be made paper-less. In the new system, the consumers will have the option of having electric-ity bill availability through email along with billing alerts through SMS. It will not only reduce the time taken in the delivery of bills but also enable the consumer to make payment through various

online payment options.The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vit-

ran Nigam and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam have launched a campaign to change defective/elec-tromechanical meters. It will help in reducing complaints regarding bills on an average basis, and ensure energy audit. The electricity meters are available in sufficient quantity and the defective metres will be replaced on priority basis.

SPECIAL TARIFF SLAB FOR EWSIn the first phase, all the three phase industrial/commercial defective me-ters shall be replaced and thereafter the focus will turn to domestic me-ters. The first priority will be given to urban areas.

It is for the first time that a spe-cial tariff slab has been created for the economically weaker sections of the society. The tariff for this catego-ry of consumers is Rs 2.70 per unit as compared to the cost of supply of more than Rs 7.34 per unit. This cat-egory will cover consumers whose sanctioned load is less than one kilowatt and monthly consumption is less than 50 units. It will benefit about 20 lakh domestic consumers in the state. g

For 2014-15 For 2015-16Domestic Domestic

Units/month Rate/unit Units/month Rate/unit0-40 Rs 2.7 0-50 Rs 2.7

41-250 Rs 4.50 51-100 Rs 4.5251-500 Rs 5.25 0-250 Rs 5501-800 Rs 5.98 251-500 Rs 6.05

801 and above Rs 5.98 Above 500 Rs 6.75Non-Domestic Non-Domestic

Units/month Rate/unit Units/month Rate/unitUp to 5KW(LT) Rs 5.85 Up to5KW (LT) Rs 6.055KW-20KW (LT) Rs 6.1 5KW-20KW (LT) Rs 6.7520KW-50KW (LT) Rs 6 20KW-50KW (LT) Rs 6.1550KW-70KW (LT) Rs 6.75 50KW-70KW (LT) Rs 6.5

Tariff approved by HERC


Shweta Vashishta

Committed to making Haryana greener, the state government,

headed by the Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, has stepped up its ef-forts to protect and further develop its for-ests, wildlife and bio-diver-sity. But the government is not doing it all alone this time; people of the state are also being involved in this drive. By launching the “Har Ghar Haryali” Scheme, planning to set up a world-class herbal forest and by undertaking plantation activities, the state is inching closer and closer to nature.

The Forest and Environment Min-ister Capt Abhimanyu said, “We be-lieve that development is necessary but it should be done harmoniously along with preservation and protec-tion of environment so that the state

sees sustainable development. We are committed to mak-

ing the state greener with the involvement of people.”

In keeping with

the commitment to promote green Haryana, the state government has launched the “Har Ghar Haryali” Scheme under which 48 lakh households are to be involved in planting indigenous species of

plants near their houses, panchayats, and municipal com-mittees. Institu-

tions like schools, colleges, ITIs, and non-government organisations will also participate in the scheme.

Under this scheme, it is proposed to supply plants to each individual or household in rural and urban areas throughout the state. Emphasis will be given to indigenously grown plants and shrubs for plantation under this campaign.

PLANTS TO BE SUPPLIEDThe plants of various species to be supplied under this campaign are proposed to be charged at a nominal rate of Re 1 per plant. The plants will be supplied after site inspection of the pits dug by the individuals or households by the field staff and got verified from village Sarpanch or municipal councilor so as to

ensure better survival of planta-tions proposed to be done under this campaign.

The Haryana Government is im-plementing all the provisions of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, which is a Central Government Act, with respect to compensatory afforesta-tion in land which is equivalent to or double the land being diverted.

The delineation of Natural Con-servation Zone in the NCR Region and Aravali areas is being done by the Town and Country Planning Department through the deputy com-missioners. The areas presently re-corded as forests like Reserve Forest, Protected Forest, and Unclassed For-est areas under Section 4 and 5 of Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900, areas closed under Section 38 of IFA, as well as Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks are being reflected in the Natural Conservation Zone.

The status of potential forest are-as in the Aravalli Hills outside the re-corded forests will soon be identified with the help of criteria developed by the Union Ministry of Environ-ment, Forests and Climate Change and approved by the Supreme Court of India. Until the Supreme Court has approved the criteria for further identification of forests in the coun-try, ‘Mangar Bani’ and other such areas in the Aravalli Hills are being kept under the category of “status to be decided.”

The state government is setting up a world-class herbal forest in the state where as many as 25,000 sap-lings of different varieties from all over world would be planted. It would be first of its kind in the world in which all kind of medicinal plants and herbs would be planted.

Several “Theme Parks” would be set up in the herbal for-est which is coming up in Morni Hills of district Panch-

With a view to making Haryana greener, the state government is putting thrust on pro-tecting and further developing its forests

Inching closer to the greens

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAYfalls on June 5

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015 33ENVIRONMENT PACKAGE

kula. The herbs to be planted in these gardens would help in treating diseases.

‘Chetna Kendras’ would also be set up in the for-est to provide information to all visitors about the herbs planted there. Apart from this, various nurser-ies and greenhouses would also be set up in the forest.

Water would be taken from Ghaggar River to provide adequate water to plants and arrange-ment of drip irrigation system would be made. For this, small bridges and check dams would be constructed for conserva-tion of rainwater coming from hills. Also, fences would be placed on all sides of the forests to save plants from wild animals, activities of anti-social elements and to conserve the herbal plants.

PLANTATION ACTIVITYAs many as 11 districts of the state fall under the ju-risdiction of the National Capital Region. All urban areas in these districts are most affected from vehicu-lar and industrial pollu-tion. The state is making an all out effort to take up plantation activity in these urban areas. Affores-tation is being undertaken along roads, in parks and in blank areas in all 11 districts of the NCR. The Haryana Forest Depart-ment is also carrying out plantations on common lands, institutional lands and farmlands. g

Shweta Vashishta

‘Clean air for everybody’ that is what the Haryana Government,

led by the Chief Minister, Mr Mano-har Lal, is striving to achieve and all the efforts are directed towards meeting this goal. “We want to strike a balance between our developmen-tal needs and the environmental concerns,” said the Chief Minister, who is determined to let Haryana breathe in fresh air.

For this, the government is strictly implementing the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 in the state. This is an Act to provide for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution in the country so as to preserve the quality of air.

The Forest and Environment Minister, Capt Abhimanyu, said that Haryana would follow every sugges-tion of the centre to control pollution. Air pollution monitoring facility has been made available in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Rohtak and now this facility is being made available in Sonipat and Panipat.

DECREASING POLLUTIONStrict rules would be followed to get Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate so as to decrease the pol-lution from cars. Now, awareness campaign would be run to tell peo-ple not to burn the residue left after

harvesting the fields.“Let me share with you that while

the Haryana State Pollution Control Board has taken a number of meas-ures to curb the practice of left-over straw burning after harvesting, our Agriculture Department is also making concerted efforts to make the farmers aware on this count,” the Chief Minister told Haryana Review.

“Our concern is not just air pol-lution in Haryana, but also in Delhi. The air pollution in Delhi needs to be curbed. In this context, I feel that completion of the Western and East-ern Expressway should be expedited to ease traffic congestion in Delhi,” he added.

Haryana on its part has taken req-uisite steps to complete the Western Peripheral Expressway (known as KMP) by the year 2017. The work for the stretch of KMP Expressway from Palwal to Manesar has been reallot-ed and is likely to be completed by March, 2016. The work for the remain-ing stretch from Manesar to Kundli will also be re-allotted shortly.

Also, the feasibility of providing U-Turn and underpass near the bor-der of Delhi to turn back the non-des-tined vehicles trying to enter the city needs to be explored.

FOLLOWING BS-IV NORMSThe Haryana Government has decided not to register vehicles that are not Bharat Stage IV (BS-IV) compliant in 11 districts of Haryana falling in the NCR, such as Faridabad, Gurgaon, Sonipat, Panipat, Palwal and Bhiwani among others. BS-IV refers to vehicle emission standards set by the govern-ment based on Europeans norms.

More Air Quality Monitoring Stations are required to be set up in NCR with online display of data. It is a welcome step that local bodies and major construction agencies in the NCR have been directed to use dust suppression methods on the construc-tion sites to reduce dust emission. Open burning of garbage in the NCR and neighbouring areas should be strongly discouraged and stopped, said the Chief Minister.

These steps taken by the state gov-ernment will definitely go a long way in purifying the air we breathe in. g

Ridding the air of impuritiesThe state govern-ment is determined to fight the problem of air pollution dog-ging not only Harya-na but also Delhi

34 HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015ENVIRONMENT PACKAGE

Preetinder Kaur Sodhi

Providing clean water to all and conserving it in the best possible

way is the priority of the state BJP government, led by the Chief Min-ister, Mr Manohar Lal. And for this, the state government is experiment-ing to evolve best ways of cleaning and conserving water and managing solid and liquid wastes. The Chief Minister said, “For the development to be sustainable in the long run, we need to take care of our environment and to ensure that the land, water and air remain non-polluted.”

With a view to cleaning the Gh-aggar River, the state government has already joined hands with the neighbouring Punjab Government to make it pollution free. A plan has been drawn for this with the consent of both the states to combat this problem.

CLEANING GHAGGARConcerned about the pollution in Ghaggar River, the CM had a meeting with the Chief Minister of Punjab, Mr Parkash Singh Badal. Both the states have decided to ensure that no untreated sewage or industrial

effluent flows into the river. The Chief Minister said, “A plan has been drawn to make Ghaggar pol-lution-free, and this task would be accomplished by December 31, 2016. The Punjab Government has given its consent for the plan.”

The state has a plan to bring down the Bio Chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) parameter on all points of River Ghaggar to 10 MLD in a phased manner so as to improve the quality of water. Out of 20 towns located along the River Ghaggar in Hary-ana, Sewerage Treatment Plants (STPs) have been made functional in 12 towns, whereas work on eight STPs has been initiated and would start functioning soon. Haryana will continue to follow the SPR technolo-gy in new STPs for big towns which automatically brings down the BOD level to 10 MLD in the long run.

The Manohar Lal government is not only emphasising on the need of cleaning water but is also giving equal attention to conserving water and managing solid and liquid waste. The state government has decided to construct small and big check dams on the Shivalik foothills for tapping rainwater to be used for irrigation

purposes. The Chief Minister has directed the Forest Department to carry out a survey for the construc-tion of small check dams and the Irrigation Department for construc-tion of big check dams.

The Development and Panchayats Minister, Mr Om Prakash Dhankar, said that the state government is aiming at providing solid and liquid waste management in all villages by October, 2019. With this objective in mind, an action plan of Rs 915 crore has been submitted to the Govern-ment of India.

MANAGING WASTESMr Dhankar said that management of solid and liquid waste in villag-es was indeed a matter of great concern. The state government is using different methods to manage the wastes.

Presently, Sullage Stabilisation Ponds (three ponds, Anaerobic Pond - 10' deep, Facultative Pond - 5' deep, Maturation Pond - 5' deep) System is being adopted for treatment and re-use of waste water. These ponds have been successful in reducing Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) or Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) level to a large extent, in 15 villages.

Under this system, water of villages is channelised and gathered in a pond which reaches the second and third pond, respectively after getting filtered. The same water can

The state government is experimenting to evolve best ways of cleaning and conserving water and managing solid and liquid wastes

Pure water is govt’s priority

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015 35ENVIRONMENT PACKAGE

be utilised for agriculture, drinking of livestock and fisheries.

The endeavour of the state govern-ment is to find an end to end solution by collecting waste water from the households through an effective drainage system and treating the wa-ter collected in ponds so that is can be reused. Keeping in mind, the pop-ulation, topography and number of ponds, a complete solution for liquid waste management and re-use of wa-ter for agriculture purpose and for providing drinking water to animals would be developed for each village.

WATER RECHARGE OF PONDSFresh water recharge of ponds would be done with the help of the Irriga-tion Department, whenever required. In this regard, special arrangements are being made. Similarly, in case of excess water in ponds, when it is not required for agricultural or any oth-er purposes, efforts would be made to drain it out in a suitable manner.

The state government is further trying to identify best suitable methods and technologies for liquid waste management. Methods adopt-ed for the management of liquid wastes would focus on maximum re-use of such waste for agriculture purposes with least operation and maintenance costs. For collection of waste water, low cost drainage or small bore system, soakage pit etc are being adopted. For treatment of waste water the technologies such as Waste Stabilisation Pond (WSP) technology, Phyto Rid Technology (developed by NEERI) and Anaerobic Decentralised Waste Treatment are being tested.

Mr Dhankar said that better alter-native technologies for treatment of waste water had also been identified for those ponds which are situated in abadi area and could not be shifted outside abadi area. Some of these technologies using plant material and bio chemicals have been studied

and are being tested in pilot projects in six villages.

SLWM PROJECTS EXAMINEDMore than 50 projects of solid waste management set up in district Ku-rukshetra and Bhiwani have been examined. Collection, segregation and safe disposal of household gar-bage, and decentralised systems like household composting and biogas plants, are different components of this management.

During 2014-15, a total number of 487 Solid and Liquid Waste Manage-ment (SLWM) projects have been sanctioned by the State Scheme Sanctioning Committee in respect of 21 districts. An amount of Rs 69.62 crore has been sanctioned for these projects under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan or Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin. A total number of 1,472 SLWM projects amounting Rs 214 crore have been proposed for 2015-16. g

A liquid and solid waste management plant

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 201536 PHOTO FEATURE

Welcome to Kalesar National ParkPhoto feature by Vinay Malik

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015 37PHOTO FEATURE

The Kalesar National Park is located in the foothills of Shivalik ranges in Yamunanagar district of Haryana. It is on the border of Hary-ana, Himachal Pradesh, UP and Uttaranchal on

the road which leads to Paonta Sahib. The park is named after the Kaleshar (Shiva) temple built in the protected area. The whole area is full of bio-diversity having dense Sal forest, Khair forest and patches of grasslands, which support an amazing variety of plant and animal species.

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 201538 PHOTO FEATUREInside the forest - An elephant, a huge python and a deer

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 201540 PHOTO FEATURE

Monkey, worm and spider having free play

42 PHOTO FEATUREArchitectural marvel by ants - An ant hill

A place to sit and enjoy the mountain view

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 201544 FEATURE

Anjana Dutta

As the world reels under an alarming rise in cancer cases,

the question everyone is asking is –whether this deadly disease is curable or not. Can one survive this dreadful disease?

Oh, yes! Cancer doesn’t doom its victims to a miserable life. New research findings suggest that after treatment, many are just as happy and well-adjusted as those who never had the illness, sometimes, even more. To see how re-silient the survivors can be even after facing something as frightening as cancer, meet these courageous women who made a fresh start after battling the killing disease and defeating it.

Theirs was another kind of battle – the fierce, bitter kind that wouldn’t

have been won by merely suffering slowly and silently, but by sheer grit and determination. Their stories, told in their own words, are inspir-ing and moving. Celebrating the spirit of enjoying life to the hilt, we salute these brave hearts who made a fresh start after putting their cancer behind them.

Barely four years ago, Neelu was a happy woman, with a husband, well-established in his job, and two children, till a dark cloud of cancer threatened her peaceful life. It all be-

gan in April, 2010 when she visited USA to look after her

ailing brother who was not keeping well for quite some time when all of a sudden she felt a loss of weight and appetite. She also started feeling heaviness and got severe back-pain.

“Initially, I didn’t take it seriously because these signals don’t always mean cancer. But when I started los-ing weight as well as appetite alarm-ingly, I got panicky. When I returned to India in 2011, I made an immediate visit to the PGI and got myself thor-oughly checked-up. I got a shock of my life when I l was diagnosed with blood cancer with enlarged lymph nodes,” said Neelu.

“I was promptly hospitalised, followed by numerous screening tests and chemotherapy. Within 24 hours when I came to know that I had cancer, my whole world came crashing down. The first thought which came to my mind was about my family. I am very attached to my family. I didn’t want to lose them so soon. Though my daughter was married, my son was still studying in USA. But I was positive. If the

patient is positive, everyone else is also positive,” she recounts.

“Thank God, my disease was discovered while still localised and I was properly treated. Now I am per-fectly fine and leading a normal life. Now I still go for a periodic follow-up exam. But it’s a routine check-up. I am in good health now,” she adds.

She attributes her fast recovery from this horrible disease to the tender and loving care of her fam-ily who stood by her as a pillar of strength during this entire catastro-phe. More so, to the highly competent team of dedicated doctors who treat-ed and supported her throughout her post-operative period at the PGI.

INNER STRENGTH MATTERS“The patient has to get inner strength from herself and regain confidence that nothing has changed. Talking about your feelings and mixed emotions with your loved ones, family members and friends, would enable you to become stronger than before.” she adds.

“Cancer has reached epidemic proportions throughout the world. And, India is no exception to this. More and more women are being

Meet these courageous women who made a fresh start in life after battling the killing disease of cancer and defeating it

Fought cancer and won

Veena Goyal

Renu

NATIONAL CANCER SURVIORS DAYfalls on June 7

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015 45FEATURE

diagnosed with cancer these days,” remarks Sneh Kohli from Solan. A retired government teacher, she was leading a normal and peaceful life with no trace or symptom of this dreadful disease.

All of a sudden, she felt loss of weight and appetite. She also lost her smelling power so much so that she couldn’t even smell food. That was something very unusual for her. She had fever all the time which was showing no sign of letting up despite all the treatment. That was a wake-up call for her that prompted her to visit the PGI and get herself thoroughly checked-up

OVARIAN CANCER, A SHOCK“I got the shock of my life when I discovered that I had an ovarian cancer. I would ask myself, ‘Why me?’ I had always led a simple and pious life, being vegetarian, how come I got ovarian cancer. My whole family was upset. Normally people plan their retirement lives four-five years ahead. I, too, wanted to lead a fruitful and active retirement life. I hadn’t expected anything like that,” narrates Sneh.

“Nevertheless, I decided to fight it out. Being a die-hard optimist, I always look at the brighter side of the things. I accepted this disease bravely and went for a pap smear test and I was operated upon for colon cancer. Chemotherapy was done to me six times. Once, the poison spread throughout my body. At that time it seemed that I wouldn’t survive any more. But luckily, I was saved by the grace of God and within six months, I was on my way to recovery,” she recollects.

“Now I have fully recovered from this killing disease and I am leading a normal life as usual. Though I still follow a strict routine and always try to be alert and vigilant against any kind of unusual symptom, there is nothing to fear about,” she beams.

Sneh owes her fast recovery from this killing disease to her family and her trust in God. In her words, “Your trust in God is more important than anything else. And, strength of character which must come from within, works wonder.

Once we overcome our initial fears and doubts, both from within and without, things become much better. It was my resolution to recover from this fatal disease that ultimately tri-umphed. I wanted to live – for myself and for my children. Now I consider myself lucky for God has been very kind to me. I put up a brave front. Now I smile, laugh and enjoy life and its beauty.”

Good health is something which all of us aspire for ourselves and for our loved ones. But what happens when all of a sudden you detect something as serious as cancer. This is exactly what happened to Veena Goyal of Gurgaon. In 2011, suddenly one day she found her breast too stiff and solid to find it normal.

Panic-stricken, she rushed to the Vedanta hospital and got herself examined. She was alarmed when it was detected breast cancer. She took time to swallow the truth. In much of the world, breast cancer is the second biggest killer of women overall, and the biggest in the over-40 age group. And, she was 64.

There was panic as the cancer was in the late second stage which offers a little chance for cure. She was gripped by mixed feelings. Confusion – what was this all about? Disbelief – why had this happened to her only? Guilt – was it negligence on her part? God had certainly not been fair to her, she would often think. And, final-

ly, hope – something surely could be done about it.

“I decided not to succumb to this dreadful disease and let me down in any way,” she exclaims. Filled with unusual determination, she decided to dare, to face the situation, even fight it out and emerge a winner, and make her worthy of herself.

Thus began her Herculean efforts, paying endless visits to the doctors, getting herself examined, followed by numerous tests, screenings etc. “When a diagnosis of cancer is confirmed, it’s best for you to begin treatment in a hospital that has an expert staff and resources to apply all forms of effective treatment right from the beginning,” she suggests. She got herself admitted at the Vedanta Hospital in Gurgaon where a team of eminent doctors gave her a treatment that helped her start a new life once again.

Veena had a lump in her breast and it had to be removed which was not easy for her to bear it. “The loss of breast is the biggest health anxi-ety any woman faces anywhere. For the fear of living without a breast is nagging,” she avers. Nevertheless, she decided to be totally upfront about her operation and treatment that made her hair fall out and her curves disappear. She had her breast removed.

GIVING HOPE TO OTHERS“I had to cope with the traumatic loss of a breast because I wanted to feel deep down certain that the whole cancer is gone once and for all,” she says. Today she looks wonderful; wonderful enough to put her heart into other fighters, as she puts it, “Now I am in a position to give hope to others who are also victims of this dreadful disease.”

She is now leading an active and busy social life as before. She dances and dabbles at paint. “At present, I see nothing to dissuade me from pur-suing my hobbies and interests. I am still full of hope. One must remove the inner diffidence and realise the fact that the world has not come to an end just because you are stricken with cancer,” she concludes. g

The writer is a freelance journalist

Sneh Kohli

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 201546 FEATURE

Y S Rana

The tectonic event of the earth-quake in Nepal points to the

likelihood of more such tremblers rocking the Shivaliks along the path of the old Saraswati River and the Ghaggar River, says Dr Ritesh Arya, Guinness World Record holder and an acclaimed geologist of Kasauli. The foothill areas like Parwanoo, Pinjore and Panchkula fall into this zone.

Dr Arya feels that earthquake in

Nepal is a warning to the authori-ties and private institutions bent on constructing cities with high-rise buildings and big industrial areas in North India, especially if we are talking about the Shimla-Solan-Par-wanoo-Surajpur axis located near Chandigarh.

QUAKE-PRONE ZONESDr Arya thinks that these towns are located in zones which are geologi-cally upside down. By this, he means

that older rocks are resting on the younger rocks as a result of which the entire sequence is geologically very fragile and susceptible to greater damage in the event of epicentre be-ing concentrated upon these zones.

Surajpur region is located on the Surajpur Thrust where Tehtyan Him-alayan Limestone sequence is resting over the younger Shivalik formation. In Parwanoo, the Lower Shivalik For-mation (15 million years old) compris-ing sandstone and shale representing

The earthquake in Nepal is a warning to the government and pri-vate institutions bent on constructing cities with high-rise build-ings in the Shimla-Solan-Parwanoo-Surajpur axis

Quake gives a wake- up call

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015 47

fresh water terrestrial environment is overlain by Subathu limestone and black carboniferous (age approx 55 million years old), representing marine environment at the time of deposition. “This gap in the deposi-tional history is a matter of concern and is also the cause of concentration of seismic activity in the region,” warns Dr Arya.

He has done geological field work around Surajpur-Shimla Highway and has found that this stretch is quake-prone. An experimental well was dug in Sector 4 of Parwanoo a few years ago to monitor the earth-quake. But there were a few practical problems and the instrument started recording the movement of the trucks

and heavy vehicles and the project was prematurely abandoned.

Dwelling on his study, he says that in Barog or Solan, the Subathu formation which is 55 million years old was overlain by Krol Formation which is more than 400 million years old. Similarly, in Shimla town, the metamorphosed Shimla slates are overlying the younger sedimentary tertiary sequence of Subathu.

Today these have become crowded epicenters of tourism, education and industries. There is haphazard con-struction of high-rise buildings on either side of Kalka-Shimla National Highway in the absence of proper ge-otechnical institutions to control and design the buildings and certify or lay standards necessary for these to withstand the seismic activity. “The whole concept of sustainable develop-ment goes for a six in the area,” avers Dr Arya.

Commenting on the reason, he said

that there was a tectonic shift of the Indian plate at a rate of 47 millim-eters a year towards Chinese plate. Geologically, the region is highly folded and faulted due to northward tectonic movement of Indian Plate which dragged for millions of years to finally collide with Chinese plate.

He regretted that there was no institute dedicated to study and mon-itor or predict earthquakes in spite of the fact that earthquakes have the greatest impact and cause instant devastation on the crowded habita-tions. Thus, there is an urgent need to set up a geotechnical institute and monitor data collected from the bore wells to seriously study and reinterpret data for predicting earth-quakes and to understand the global warming phenomenon.

PRECAUTIONS TO NULLIFY IMPACTThe need of the hour is to take all the necessary precautions to nullify the impact of any seismic activity up to Richter scale 9. Dr Arya revealed that during the earthquake at Latur, it was found that there was a surge in the level of groundwater several hours before the event occurred. It had been observed that the water level either increased or decreased sharply before a tremor hits an area. Besides, its chemical composition was also altered due to an increase in Radon gases because of excessive radioactiv-ity before and after the event.

Of the total earthquake-prone area, 12 per cent is prone to very severe earthquakes, 18 per cent to severe earthquakes and 25 per cent to damageable earthquakes.

From 1819 to 1950, the country had experienced five earthquakes of 8 or more magnitude at Richter scale. On June 16, 1819, an earthquake of 8 magnitude at Richter scale occurred in Kutch (Gujarat); June 12, 1897 of 8.7 magnitude in Shillong; in 1905 of 8 magnitude in Kangra (Himachal Pradesh); January 15, 1934 of 8.3 magnitude on Bihar-Nepal Border; August, 1950 of 8.5 magnitude in Arunachal Pradesh. Since 1950, country has experienced earth-quake of less than 6.5 magnitude at Richter scale. g


Quake gives a wake- up callFEATURE

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 201548 NEWS IN CAPSULE

The finance ministers of northern states have agreed on the need to

have uniformity in VAT rates on all goods, especially on such goods as admit of trade diversion and smug-gling due to the difference in the sale price. They have decided to set up a zonal economic intelligence unit to put a stop to cross-border smuggling of goods. With a view to achieving uniform-ity in tax rates, they also decided to set up a committee of secretaries/commissioners of finance/taxation departments of northern states. It would meet within a week.

The decisions of the committee would be implemented in a time-bound manner, preferably within a month. The initiative for the meeting

was taken by the Delhi Government. Disclosing this after emerging from the meeting, Captain Abhimanyu, Haryana Finance Minister, told mediapersons in New Delhi, that all states had agreed on the need for uniformity in tax rates on all goods, without causing any loss to any state. No state would suffer any loss of rev-enue on account of implementation of uniform VAT rates, he added.

He said that Commissioner, Excise and Taxation, Punjab, would coordi-nate the meeting of the committee of secretaries. It would co-opt Finance Secretaries/Commissioners of Tax-ation of Jammu & Kashmir, Uttara-khand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. After achieving the avowed objective, the committee would deliberate on

policy matters also.Since VAT is major source of reve-

nue of states, uniformity in rates is essential for safeguarding revenue. It was with this end in view that the Delhi Government convened the meeting. Divergence in tax rates leads to shift in market from one state to another, resulting in the loss of revenue.

The meeting was attended by Mr Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister, Delhi, Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister, Punjab; Mr Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Finance Minister, Punjab; Mr Parkash Chaud-hary, Finance Minister, Himachal Pradesh; Mr Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister, Delhi. Mr Kejriwal welcomed the ministers and officers

THE MONTH THAT WAS

Haryana Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa and Himachal Pradesh Excise and Taxation Minister Prakash Chaudhary at the northern states finance ministers meeting in New Delhi

FMs of north to work for uniform VAT rates

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015 49NEWS IN CAPSULE

of all states.

67.5 lakh metric tonnes of wheat procured

Haryana has procured 67,54,386 metric tonnes of wheat so far (till May 17, 2015) during the current Rabi season. The target of 65 lakh metric tonnes of wheat procurement was fixed for the current Rabi season.

While giving this information, the Food and Supplies Minister, Mr Ram Bilas Sharma, said that wheat procurement is 3,48,222 metric tonnes higher as compared to the procurement made up to the same day last year.

He said that out of the total arrival of 67,54,386 metric tonnes this year, 67,53,964 metric tonnes of crop has been procured by govern-ment procuring agencies on Mini-mum Support Price and remaining 422 metric tonnes was mopped up by the traders.

Giving details of the procure-ment, he said that over 20.08 lakh metric tonnes of wheat had been pro-cured by the Food and Supplies Department, over 29.50 lakh metric tonnes by Hafed, over 6.96 lakh met-ric tonnes by Haryana Agro, more than 10.93 lakh metric tonnes by Haryana Warehousing Corporation and 5,800 metric tonnes of wheat was purchased by Confed.

88 pc marks for written paper, 12 pc for interview

With a view to bringing more trans-parency and fairness in the process of recruitment by the Haryana Staff Selection Commission, the Hary-ana Cabinet which met under the Chairmanship of the Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, has decided that recruitment should only be based on the written examination followed by the interview.

It was decided that interview marks weightage will be 12 per cent of the total marks and written exam shall be of 88 per cent weightage of the total marks. The written exam will be divided into two portions: - (i) 75 per cent comprising Gener-al Awareness, Reasoning, Maths,

Science, English, Hindi etc and (ii) 25 per cent comprising History, Cur-rent Affairs, Literature, Geography, Civics, Environment, Culture etc of Haryana.

The Cabinet has also decided to include Deaflympics in its Sports Pol-icy so that the Deaflympian medal-ists are able to get cash rewards, jobs and other benefits. The Deaflympics (previously called World Games for the Deaf and International Games for the Deaf) are an International Olympic Committee (IOC)-sanc-tioned event at which deaf athletes compete at an elite level. However, unlike the athletes in other IOC-sanc-tioned events, the Deaflympians cannot be guided by sounds like the starter’s guns, bullhorn commands of referee whistles. The games have been organised by the Committee International des Sports des Sourds (The International Committee of Sports for the Deaf) since the first event. The Deaflympics are held every four years and are the longest multi-sports events, excluding the Olympic themselves.

To qualify for the games, athletes must have a hearing loss of at least 55db in their better ear. Hearing aids, cochlear implants and the like are not allowed to be used in competi-tion, to place all athletes on the same level.

The project for extension of Metro from YMCA Chowk in Faridabad to Ballabgarh with the contribution of Rs 569.80 crore, has been approved by the state government, instead of earlier commitment of Rs 468.20 crore, as per the revised supplemen-tary report.

The project cost has been revised from Rs 564 crore to Rs 678 crore

due to price escalation and increase in land cost. It will be implemented on the funding pattern adopted in the case of Gurgaon, Faridabad and Bahadurgarh DMRC Metro exten-sions and will be financed by the state government and the Central Government in the ratio of 80:20. The central taxes are also to be financed as subordinate debt by the state government and the Central Govern-ment in the ratio of 20:80.

The total route length will be 3.205 kms and it will have two stations of NCB Colony and Ballabgarh. The daily ridership in 2017-18 will be 0.37 lakh. While the foundation stone of the project has already been laid on June 22, 2014, it is likely to be com-pleted by December, 2017, whereas earlier it was to be completed by March, 2017.

Purchase tax on sugarcane waived

The Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, has taken another farmer-friendly decision and waived the purchase tax on the sugarcane crushed during the crushing season 2014-15. The pur-chase tax is calculated at the rate of Rs 1.5 per quintal. This decision has been taken in view of the acute prob-lem arising due to the fall in sugar prices in the market which has come in the way of the sugar mills making payment to the growers for the cane purchased.

Every year, 579.44 lakh quintals of sugarcane is crushed by all mills in the state and their purchase tax works out to Rs 8.68 crore. The waiver will facilitate the sugar mills to save lot of money so that they can make payment to the sugarcane growers. g

The Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, chairing a cabinet meeting in Chandigarh

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 201550 SPORTS

Saurabh Duggal

The Haryana Junior Girls Team, comprising 12 out of 18 players

from Sonipat, won the gold medal in the recently concluded 5th Junior National Hockey Championship 2015 (Women) ‘’A’’ Division held at Ra-jnandgaon, Chhattisgarh. Barring the inaugural edition held at Rai, Sonipat, where Haryana girls fin-ished second (silver), the state team emerged out victorious in all the last four editions.

In the final, Haryana defeat-ed Jharkhand 6-1, while Punjab pulled down Odisha 7-1 to grab bronze. Earlier, in the semifinal, Haryana defeated Orissa 3-1, and in the group matches they outclassed Karnataka 11-1, Uttar Pradesh 5-0 and Kerala 21-0.

Haryana’s Neha Goyal, who hails

from Sonipat, was the highest scorer of the tournament, while her city mate Jyoti Gupta was adjudged the ‘best player of the tournament’. Jyoti, who has featured in all the five editions of the nationals organised under the aegis of Hockey India,

got this prestigious honour for the second consecutive time.

“Haryana has always been a powerhouse in the women’s hockey and winning the junior title for the fourth time in a row has further add-ed to its supremacy.And the best part is that our girls have won the title in one-sided final. We got better off Jharkhand 6-1 and maximum of the time we dominated the proceedings,” said Haryana team coach Pritam Siwach, who is running a hockey academy in Sonipat and all the girls from the district are the product of her training centre.

“Earlier only Shahabad used to be the powerhouse of women’s hockey, but now Sonipat and Hisar have also come up well, which is a good sign for the growth of the sport in the state,” added Arjuna awardee Siwach.

Pritam along with her husband

Out of the 18-member Haryana team which has clinched the jun-ior national title, 12 are the products of Sonipat training centre opened by former Arjuna awardee Pritam Siwach

Sonipat, new women's hockey powerhouse

Junior Girls National Hockey team in a cheerful mood after winning the championship

Shweta, Shilpy, Pooja, Mahima Choudhary, Darsana, Saroj, Jyoti Gupta, Neha Goyal, Jyoti, Priti, Ekra Saifi, Deevika Sen (All from Sonipat), Pinki, Ritu, Udita, Manjeet and Neetu (all from Hisar) and Manisha (Gurgaon)

The winning team

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015 51

Kuldeep started the centre about a decade ago and for the last four-five years the centre is contributing a decent number of players in the state age-group teams (sub-junior and junior). The highest scorer of the tournament, Neha, ‘best play-er’ Jyoti and skipper of the team, Shweta, are all products of Siwach’s Sonipat centre.

“It’s a long journey since we started this centre for girls and I am thankful that it’s producing fruitful results. But the journey is still on and we are yet to reach the halfway mark,” added Siwach, who is an em-ployee of the Indian Railways.

Starting the centre was her per-sonal initiative. In the beginning, she had to even invest from her own pock-et as most of the girls were from very humble background. The Haryana Sports Department has also given 25 seats each for the state nursery and academy to the centre.

JUNIOR NATIONAL TITLEIn the finale clash between Haryana and Jharkhand, Haryana girls com-pleted outclassed Jharkhand with a margin of 6-1. The state girls show-cased confidence from the starting as they opened the account in the very second minute of the tie. Hisar’s Manjeet converted a penalty corner to give the team lead of 1-0.

In the ninth minute, Sonipat’s Neha, who also went on to win the highest score award, struck a field goal. Jharkhand girls tried to make some efforts to penetrate the defence circle, but couldn’t succeed much. In the 32nd minute another Sonipat girl Saroj sounded the board, making it 3-0 in favour of Haryana.

Sonipat’s Jyoti Gupta in the 44th minute smashed a field goal in support of Haryana. It was in the 54th minute that Hockey Jharkhand managed to score when Pramila Sor-en converted a penalty corner for the team. With two more field goals in the 63rd and 65th minute scored by Devi-ka Sen, who also hails from Sonipat, Haryana clinched the title defeating Jharkhand with leading score 6-1. g

The writer is senior sports journalist with Hindustan Times,

Chandigarh

SPORTS

The world’s most expensive bout between professional boxers Floyd Mayweather Junior and Manny Pacquiao for the World Boxing Council (WBC) world title (66kg) has generated a lot of attention in the country towards professional boxing. Soon WBC professional boxing circuit will be having Indian flavour.

Former Youth Commonwealth Games medalist Neeraj Goyat, who hails from Bhiwani, will be challenging the seasoned professional boxer from Philippines, Nelson Gulpe, for the Asia tile in 66kg in the 10-round bout during the Pro Boxing Champions Fight Night in the forthcoming event to be held at a private shopping mall in New Delhi. The event is organised by the Professional Boxing Organisation India and is approved by both WBC and Asian Boxing Council.

Goyat has many national and international medals under his belt and turned professional in 2013. In the pro circuit he has boxed in seven fights, winning two and playing as many draw.

Apart from 23-year-old Goyat, undisputed national champion and 2010 Commonwealth Games medalist, Dilbag Singh (72kg), will be making his entry into the professional boxing circuit.

Dilbag, who hails from Sonipat, will have his undercard bout against American boxer. And the other Indian boxers, who will have their bouts on the day, are former junior world champion Balbir Singh (56kg), Vikas Hooda (91kg) and Gurlal Singh (91kg), who has so far featured in six professional bouts in Thailand.

“Professional boxing is quite popular in Asian continent too, especially in Thailand, China and Philippines, and for the last couple of years, five-six of our boxers are making regular appearances in the Asian pro circuit. As India is yet to make a name in the professional boxing, so right now our boxers are not paid much, but as we keep on winning the bouts and more boxers will join the circuit, our boxers too will start getting the good appearance money,” said Neeraj Goyat.

Bhiwani’s Neeraj Goyat to take on Philippines boxer for Asia title

52 HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015ART AND CULTURE

Anjana Dutta

Over the years, immense damage has been done to the environ-

ment by man. ‘Save Earth for future generations’ is the mantra of today.

Some environmentally-conscious art-ists of Haryana through their works of art are making an effort to spread the message of saving the planet for the coming generations.

“Preserve, protect and conserve

biodiversity in the most natural way,” is the theme of work of Pawan Julana, an artist from Jind. “Ef-forts should be aimed at making the reserves verdant by providing stimulated jungle conditions for the wildlife that resides within so that the animals can roam free in their natural habitat,” he suggests.

He is against any kind of en-croachment of the natural habitat of the animals as it affects wildlife adversely by violating animal rights and exposing wildlife to numerous dangers caused by civilisation in their own woodlands.

His oil paintings on wildlife are expressionistic quasi-realistic paint-ings based on his observation of the effects of industrialisation and expansion in the name of progress. His another oil painting of a peacock with its tail spread is imposing and fascinating. His mastery over the medium is unquestioned. Colours, strokes of brush, splashes, lines of his oeuvre are impressive and sug-gestive. His multi-coloured acrylic painting of peacock is vibrant, strik-ing and arresting.

MAN HAS A ROLE TO PLAYAccording to Sudhir Dangi, a photo artist from Rohtak, man is at the centre-stage of all efforts for environ-mental protection and sustainable development. “It is his responsibility to secure the ‘Earth Planet’ and make it a hospitable home not only for himself and the future generations, but also for all the species that exist on this universe which is a home to all the fauna and flora,” he says.

His photographs depicting but-terflies on a yellow mustard flower, myna-sized birds, reptiles, insects and dogs and wild flowers depict the myriad charms of nature. His poign-ant candid shots of wildlife prove his expertise in photography. Through his medium of art, he wants to show importance of birds and animals in maintaining the ecological balance.

“Hills are like a precious jewel nestling in the dense forests. An enclave of nature, the area is like a paradise on earth– lush and green with precipitous cliffs, cascading waterfalls, scented pine and eucalyp-

Some environmentally-conscious artists of Haryana through their works of art are making efforts to spread the message of saving the planet and biodiversity

Artists paint to save the planet

By Pawan Julana

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015 53ART AND CULTURE

tus forests and a lacy mist hovering above,” remarks Rajesh Siwach, another artist.

Being a lover of nature and wildlife enthusiast, his oil paint-ings inspired by nature, depicting peacock, pigeons, some water-birds and duck give us rare glimpses of the varied and plentiful flora and fauna that grace the slopes of hills and mountains. He has a strong control of line and form. A unique feature in his works is the brilliant use of colours and the transparent effect that he tries to achieve to convey his message.

Basant, another artist from Hary-ana, portrays the sublime beauty of nature in his acrylic paintings - the greenery, flowers and trees exuding their smell, stretching as far as eyes could gaze. Through his works, he wants to highlight the problems wild-life faces today and how we can help check them.

BENEFICIAL ROLE OF BIRDS“The green oasis attracts wildlife in abundance, including a dozen species of birds – quail, red-shafted flickers, white-crowned sparrows, and various wood-peckers which play a beneficial role in saving the environment by eating insects and worms which are harmful to our living,” he explains.

Basant’s other paintings in

acrylic showing the pigeons enjoying their feed are impressive and inter-esting. He works in mixed media. His figures are outlined in bold colours. Blue is predominant in his works and all his birds which are pigeons, are also depicted in blue. Using the vignette method in applying colours, he brings his non-conformist style to the fore.

“Every citizen has a responsi-bility to protect nature. You can’t sustain development without nature, as it is the basic source of our existence,” says Raj Krishan Nain, a photo artist from Haryana. “There-fore, we have to be active in spread-ing awareness on environmental and wildlife conservation,” he avers.

His photographs depicting vultures swarming over the dead animals swooping and squawking in hungry excitement, is creative and eye-catching. Being a lover of na-ture, he often catches rare glimpses of wildlife in action which is a treat for the viewers.

“Vultures are scavengers/carcass eaters. Sometimes a colony of vul-tures finishes off a dead elephant in less than three hours. They devour carcasses with amazing speed. They are found near human habitation and used to be fed on dead animals laid out in the open after skinning the hide. They are an integral part of our urban and village landscape.

Their absence will have catastrophic impact on the health of environ-ment,” says Nain.

“When vultures are no longer around, carcasses will decay and lead to the outbreak of TB, an-thrax and foot-and-mouth diseases. Vultures will be replaced by less-fa-voured scavengers like rats and dogs. Diseases spread by them can become rampant in urban areas, too,” he explains.

VULTURES BECOME ENDANGEREDIn parts of the country, particularly urban and semi-urban areas vul-tures were once common. Today it is one of the most critically endan-gered bird species. “There are sever-al reasons for the disappearance of this bird. Change in lifestyle and in-creased awareness of public hygiene are prime,” he remarks. “Their loss has important economic, cultural and human health consequences,” he adds.

The pollution and fast deteriorat-ing environment of today is causing extensive damage to our wildlife. It is time to conserve our fauna and flora. In their endeavour to bring about active change in the attitude amongst citizens towards conserving our wildlife and to save our Mother Earth, the works of these artists is praise-worthy. g


By Sudhir Dangi

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 201554 POTPOURRI

Environmental pollution is an incurable disease. It can only be prevented."

- Barry Commoner

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

DO YOU

KNOW? A well known speaker start-ed off his seminar by

holding up a $20 note. In the room of 200 people, he asked, “Who would like this $20?” Hands started going up.

He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you, but first let me do this.” He proceeded to crumble the dollar. He then asked, “Who still wants it?” Still the hands were up in the air. “Well” he replied, “What if I do this?” and he dropped it on ground and started to grind it on the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumbled and dirty. “Now who still wants it?” Still the

hands went into the air. He said, my friends, you all

have learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to money, you all still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our life, we are dropped, crumbled, and grounded into dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. You are spe-cial - don’t forget it. g

A net pick

Know your value

n As many as 27,000 trees are cut down every day so that we have the toilet paper.

n We can save 75,000 trees if we recycle the paper used on the daily run of the New York Times alone.

n Aluminum can be recycled continuously.

n Recycling one aluminum can save enough energy to run our TVs for at least 3 hours. Eighty trillion aluminum cans are used by humans every year.

n When you throw plastic bags and other plastic materials in the ocean, it kills as many as 1 million sea creatures annually.

n A glass bottle made in our time will take more than 4,000 years to decompose.

n Only 1 per cent of our planet’s water supply can be used. Ninety seven per cent is ocean water and two per cent is frozen solid in the Arctic, for now.

n Our planet gains inhabitants numbering 77 million a year.

n The world’s oldest trees are more than 4,600 years old.

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 2015 55FEEDBACK

A: Are you getting the magazine every month?

Yes…………….No…………..

B: Do you get it on time, say by the 15th of every month?

Yes…………….No…………..

C: How do you rate Haryana Review from the standpoint of get-up; lay-out; design and production?

Very good……......Good ……......Average….

D: How do you find the contents of the magazine?

Excellent…………….;Satisfactory…..…..; Unsatisfactory

E: Does Haryana Review do justice to the readers by providing information about the state?

Yes………………No………… Can’t say

F: Any suggestions for improvement?

…………………………..................................................……………………................ ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Note: Having filled your feedback, please cut the perforated page, fold it and mail it to us at the address given at the back of the page. You need not affix the postage stamp.

FEEDBACK

Name of the sender............................................

Address..….......…….........……...................................................................................................................................................................................Cell/Phone No.......................................................……………………….............……………….................... e-mail……..................................... ……………...........

HARYANA REVIEW JUNE 201556 FEEDBACK

ToTh

e Ch

ief E

dito

r, Ha

ryan

a Re

view

SCO

23,

1st

floo

r,Se

ctor

‐7C,

Mad

hya

Mar

g,

Chan

diga

rh. 1

6001

9

Pos

tage

wil

l be

pai

d by

th

e ad

dres

see

BLOODDONATEIt's safe, it's simple and it saves life

JUNE 14, 2015WORLD BLOOD DONOR DAY

ONE PINT OF BLOOD CAN

SAVEUP TO3LIVES

Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers of India

If undelivered, please return to the Director General, Information, Public Relations and Cultural Affairs Department, Haryana, SCO-29, IInd Floor, Sector-7C, Madhya Marg Chandigarh-160019 | Posted: MBU

RNI No: 10412/67 | Postal Regd No: CHD/0123/2015-17 | Price: Rs 15

Good morning sunshinePhotograph by Vinay Malik

bonding with history @ rakhigarhiharyanasamvad.gov.in/store/document/hr review june...

Documents