IEP New Delhi 

Mr. Justice Arun Mishra, Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, India today said that languages play an important role in the preservation and promotion of the culture of a country. Therefore, it is necessary to keep alive the Hindi and other Indian languages by promoting their use in our day-to-day life for the cultural unity and integrity of the country. Justice Mishra was addressing a function organized today to present awards to the 33 winners of various competitions held during the Hindi fortnight in September, 2022 for the officers and staff of the Commission to encourage them to work in the official language. However, the NHRC Chairperson said that there is nothing wrong in learning different foreign languages but overuse of these languages at the cost of Hindi and other Indian languages may impact our culture and value systems. Therefore, all the mother tongues and national languages need to be maintained and enriched. Justice Mishra also said that when foreign countries have been taking advantage of Indian literature in the Sanskrit language, it is necessary that we also protect our culture through our languages and guide the world.The NHRC Member, Dr. D.M. Mulay also addressed the officers and staff and encouraged them to promote official language in their work. The NHRC Member, Mr. Rajiv Jain, Secretary General, Mr. D.K. Singh, Registrar (Law), Mr. Surajit Dey, Joint Secretary, and Mrs. Anita Sinha, among others, were present.

IEP Chandigarh, January 25

Haryana Chief Secretary Mr. Sanjeev Kaushal said that keeping in view the interest of the farmers, the Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal has today announced an increase of Rs. 10 in the State Advisory Price (SAP) of sugarcane. He said that now the sugarcane farmers of Haryana would get Rs. 372 per quintal from the existing rate of Rs 362 per quintal. Moreover, the farmers of Haryana are getting enormous benefits because of the smooth payment mechanism to the farmers as compared to the neighbouring states like Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. This fact is evident that in the current crushing season, Haryana Government has made a payment of Rs. 620 crore to the sugarcane farmers whereas the payment of only Rs. 230 crore has been made to the farmers across Punjab.         The Chief Secretary was presiding over a virtual meeting regarding management of sugarcane availability in cooperative sugar mills from Yamunanagar today. On this occasion, Additional Chief Secretary, Cooperative Department, Sh. T.V.S.N Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture Department, Sh. Sumita Misra, Director General of Police, Sh. P.K. Agrawal, Deputy Commissioners and other senior officers were present through video conferencing.Complete payment till July 5 last year made to Haryana sugarcane farmers madeDirecting the Deputy Commissioners and Managing Directors of the sugar mills of concerned districts to interact with farmers and unions to aware them regarding the recent increase in SAP and also inform them regarding the in-time payment of sugarcane to farmers by the state government. He said that Haryana has made complete payment of sugarcane farmers till July 5 last year, whereas farmers of neighbouring states are yet to receive the payment of sugarcane. He further directed the officers to provide information about the facilities and the price of sugarcane to the farmers so that they do not get misled by anyone.Mr. Kaushal directed the MD of sugar mills and district agriculture officers to urge the farmers to bring their sugarcane to the mills at the earliest so that they would not suffer huge loss as their crop would dry up which would eventually lose the recovery. Moreover, the farmers may suffer a delay in sowing the next crop. He directed the officers to provide required facilities to the farmers in bringing their produce to the mills. He directed them to ensure and make efforts to resume the operation of private sugar mills. Keeping the interest of farmers, the state government has raised the SAP of sugarcane by Rs, 10.Loan of Rs 1005 crore to cooperative sugar mills, subsidy of Rs 329 crore to cooperative and private sugar mills in HaryanaMr. Kaushal said that keeping in view the interest of the sugarcane farmers in Haryana, a loan of Rs. 1005 crore has been given to the cooperative sugar mills while Rs. 329 crore has been provided as subsidy to the cooperative and private sugar mills. Unalike to the neighbouring states, the Haryana government is consistently increasing the price of sugarcane every year. He said that this year also the SAP of sugarcane has been increased by Rs 10.A total of 7.45 crore quintals of sugarcane is crushed in Haryana every yearIn the meeting, Haryana Additional Chief Secretary, Cooperative Department,Mr. T.V.S.N Prasad informed that cooperative sugar mills crush 4.95 crore quintals of sugarcane every year while private sugar mills crush 3 lakh quintals of sugarcane. In this way, a total of 7.45 crore quintals of sugarcane is crushed every year. He said that so far this year, 40 percent sugarcane has been procured for crushing while 60 percent sugarcane is yet to arrive for crushing this year.Mr. Prasad said that at present the sugar mills of the state are in loss of Rs. 5293 crores and our average sugar production is Rs. 4341 per quintal, which is much higher than the selling rate of Rs. 3400 per quintal. He said that according to the report of the committee constituted under the chairmanship of the Agriculture Minister, the rate of sugarcane was fixed at Rs.370 per quintal, but keeping in view the interest of the farmers, the Chief Minister announced to increase the rate of sugarcane to Rs.372 per quintal this year. He said that the medium variety rate of sugarcane in Punjab is Rs.370 per quintal whereas it is Rs.372 per quintal in Haryana.

IEP CHANDIGARH/PATIALA, January 25

The state level National Voter’s Day event was celebrated with great fanfare at the Punjabi University Patiala on Wednesday.

Divisional Commissioner Patiala Arun Shekhadi graced the event as the chief guest in the function, while, Additional Chief Electoral Officer Punjab Vipul Ujwal presided over the function. District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney welcomed the guests and shed light on the ongoing SVEEP activities of the district.

The function was commenced with a cycle rally led by paracyclist-cum-district SVEEP icon Jagwinder Singh in which Additional Chief Electoral Officer and Electoral Officer Punjab also participated along with hundreds of students and officials. The youth on Harley Davidson super-bikes added to the vibrancy of the event.

National/ international level archery players aimed at the target of “I will vote” to give the message of importance of voting.

 During the state-level function, the election officials were felicitated for their exemplary services during the Vidhan Sabha Elections 2022. The recipients included Director Information and Public Relations Department, Punjab Sonali Giri, District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar Jaspreet Singh and Director Food and Civil Supplies Department Ghanshyam Thori, SSP Rupnagar Vivek Sheel Soni, State Icon PwD Voters Dr Kiran, Paracyclist-cum-District SVEEP Icon Jagwinder Singh, District Icons including Ujagar Singh Antal, Gurpreet Singh Namdhari and Jagdeep Singh, who is also a PwD Coordinator. In addition, Principal Dr Navneet Walia, District Nodal Officer SVEEP Patiala Gurbakshish Singh, and SVEEP Consultant Manpreet Singh Aneja were also felicitated for their contribution in SVEEP activities.

Meanwhile, SDM Nabha Damanjit Kaur, Nodal Officer Satbir Singh Gill, and Election Tehsildar Ramji Lal, and Election Officer Rajpura Satinder Kaur were also honored for best performance at the district level.

On this occasion, cultural programs were presented by children with special needs from Blind and Deaf School, Saifdipur, Patiala. The orchestra of folk instruments led by Vijay Yamla Jatt made everyone groove. A painting made by Gurpreet Singh Namdhari depicting the special app ‘Saksham-ECI’ created by the Election Commission of India for the disabled was released by the chief guest. Special needs student Lovepreet Singh participated in the event as Punjab Elections mascot ‘Shera’. National Anthem presented in sign language by children with special needs. State and District Disability Coordinators who volunteered their services in the elections were also felicitated.

The entire event was overseen by Additional District Election Officer-cum-Additional Deputy Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Thind and Shri Gurbakshish Singh Antal, District SVEEP Nodal Officer.

IEP New Delhi, January 25, 2023

 The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, India today said that all the 46 Government Mental Healthcare Institutions across the country are in deplorable conditions and depict a very pathetic handling by the different stakeholders. The inhuman and deplorable conditions of the mental health institutes recorded by it across the country, present sorry states of affairs amounting to infringement of the human rights of mentally ill patients.  The cured patients are being kept illegally in the hospitals.  There is acute shortage of doctors and staff.  The Commission’s observations have come on the basis of the visits of the Full Commission to the four government hospitals in Gwalior, Agra, Ranchi, and the remaining 42 by its Special Rapporteurs in various parts of the country recently to assess the situation on the ground and the status of the implementation of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017.  The reports of the visits have prompted it to take suo motu cognizance of the matter and issue notices to the Union Health & Family Welfare Secretary, Director General of Health Services, Chief Secretaries and Principal Secretaries, Health, Director General of Police and Commissioner of Police in the metropolitan cities of all the State Governments as well as Union Territories, Directors of 46 mental institutions across the country calling for the specific reports detailed action taken reports within six weeks on the following: The State Chief Secretaries, Secretaries of Health, and UT Administrators have to submit an Action Taken Report on the following:                  (i)          How the cured patients are being kept illegally in mental hospitals by curtailing their liberty.  All such patients are to be sent back to their homes/halfway homes and dealt with in accordance with in violation of the provisions of Section 19 of the Act, 2017;(ii)         Status of formation of Mental Health Authority, State Mental Health Review Board, State Mental Health Care Rules, and State Mental Health Care Regulation;(iii)       Budgetary allocation and funds released with regard to the mental health institutions;(iv)       State of the infrastructure of the institutes, plan for improvement of the buildings which include various amenities;(v)         Status of the recruitment process of the Health  professionals including hospital staff; time frame for that;(vi)      Measures taken to ensure de-crowding of mental hospitals/institutes and create a conducive atmosphere for stay including proper hygiene;(vii)     Appointment of Professors for the course of M.Phil wherever it is necessary with an adequate number of teaching staff;(viii)   Status of emergency services, maintenance of electronic data and medical records, measures and initiatives were taken for reintegration and rehabilitation of the cured patients;(ix)       Statistics to be provided regarding discharged patients of last five years and their rehabilitation, reunion with the family or community, how many of them have become new inmates again, and status of number of such persons staying in the hospital with reasons thereof;(x)        Government-sanctioned amount for food and actual payment;(xi)      Financial or social audit report of last three years. The Union Health and Family Welfare Secretary and Director General of Health Services have to submit the report on the status of framing rules under the Act, 2017 as contemplated under Section 121 of the Act 2017, as well as the establishment of the Central Authority as contemplated under Section 33 of the Act 2017, and filling up the vacancies of  the Central Authority and status of execution of various provisions of the Act 2017 by the Central Govt.       The reports of the Directors of 46 mental institutions response should include the steps taken or proposed to be taken for filling up the vacancies of the Professors and other staff members; records of the discharged patients, who have been cured from mental illness, latest status of the emergency ward and other overall improvement made after the visits of Commission and / or Special Rapporteurs of the Commission with regard to infrastructure, vocational opportunities to the inmates, number of persons released and reunited with the family members with specific statistics.     The Director General of Police and Commissioner of Police in the metropolitan cities respectively of all the States and Union Territories have to submit reports with regard to the status of the complaints received or registered relating to mentally ill persons, regarding non-rehabilitation or non-reintegration with the family and measures taken or proposed to be taken to ensure that cured persons from mental illness should be living with the family and other members of the community.  The reports must also contain assistance or other measures taken from District Legal Services Authority or State Legal Services Authority, as the case may be.

IEP Chandigarh

Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister and Director General, Information, Public Relations and Languages Department, Haryana, Dr Amit Agrawal on Wednesday launched the ‘Smart Solar Hub startup’ started by Ishank Bansal and Arjun Mittal, two students of University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET), Panjab University.

Launching the startup named Envinova of Solar Energy, Dr Agrawal said, “Today is the time of startups and along with jobs, the youth should focus more on self-employment. There are immense employment opportunities in areas like solar energy and e-commerce.”

He said that Haryana is at the third position in the country in terms of startups. Out of 60,000 new startup companies, 5,000 companies are in Haryana, which is 12 percent.

Appreciating the startup project of the students, Dr Agrawal said that to promote startups, the state government has formulated a new startup policy; under which it has encouraged setting up new startups in the state by giving different types of rebates and exemptions.

This technology will prove effective in making cities more livable and sustainable

Dubbed as Smart Solar Hub, the start-up Envinova aims to increase public interaction in outdoor spaces with accessible energy and connectivity. Through this, the focus has been on how urban living can be improved by popularizing technology in public life. This technology will also prove effective in making cities more livable and sustainable.

IEP Chandigarh, January 25

 Slamming the BJP government at centre for not including the tableau of state in the Republic Day parade, the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said that this anti-Punjab stance of the Union government is unwarranted and undesirable. In a statement issued here today, the Chief Minister said that every year Republic Day Parade celebrations include a spectacular ceremonious parade, which is a tribute to India, its unity in diversity and its rich cultural heritage through various states’ tableaus. He said that the state of Punjab has also been regularly featuring in the tableau parade showcasing the critical importance of this border state with its rich history, colourful and vibrant culture and pivotal point for defining events which shaped the history of the great nation. Bhagwant Mann said that it is a matter of great disappointment that this year despite the presentation of ideas to the selection committee on important themes like Watan Ke Rakhwale – emphasising the significant role of Punjab in India’s military might and anndata, Nari Shakti- through valour of Mai Bhago ji and the revered events in history of freedom struggle along with tales of bravery and supreme sacrifices through Battle of Saragarhi, the tableau of state of Punjab has not been selected for the Republic Day Parade. The Chief Minister said that though the selection committee even appreciated the ideas but it is disheartening that the people of this great country along with the whole world will be bereft from the rich cultural and historical tribute, which Punjab will have showcased. He recalled that Punjabis had made enormous sacrifices to free our motherland from its yoke of British imperialism. Bhagwant Mann said that despite of being merely two percent of the country’s population 80% of the martyrs either executed or exiled during the freedom movement were Punjabis. The Chief Minister said that even after independence the Punjabis have been instrumental in the prosperity and overall development of the country besides safeguarding the borders of the nation from the external aggressions. He said that the state government wanted to showcase this stellar role of Punjabis in the freedom struggle through the Tableau. Bhagwant Mann bemoaned that the Union government had hatched a conspiracy by not allowing Punjab to showcase its achievements to the world. The Chief Minister lamented that though the country is celebrating 75th year of its independence but due to reasons best known to them, the Union government is skeptical of those patriots who have steered the country to freedom. He said that this reflects the myopic mindset of the BJP led government which is at the helms of the affairs in the country. Bhagwant Mann said that the BJP government is probably hesitant to reflect the contribution of the state in the national freedom struggle. The Chief Minister said that it is ironical that only BJP ruled states have been allowed to participate in the Republic Day parade from North India. He said that non-BJP ruled states especially Punjab and Delhi have been deliberately kept out of the parade by the BJP. Bhagwant Mann said that this type of discriminatory treatment with Punjab and Punjabis is highly condemnable and intolerable.