Bathinda, June 10
The land purchase policy of Punjab that was introduced in 2010 to do away with the complications in the traditional land acquisition process, failed to meet the expectations in Bathinda region with only a few land holders responding.
Finding the response of the land owners much below the expectations, the government is now going to involve private facilitators/aggregators, who will get two per cent commission for aggregating lands from different owners and offer it to the government in the shape of a huge chunk meeting the requirements of the area.
The basic aim of the policy, when launched, was to make the urban land acquisition process a land owner and government-friendly affair. As per the policy, the state was to buy land for projects from owners through tender-based bidding, divided in two parts — technical and financial bids.
With high hopes from the new policy, the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA), in March 2011, invited bids from six towns of the region — Bathinda, Muktsar, Mansa, Bhucho, Goniana and Rama Mandi — as it wanted to develop urban estates there.
However, the response to the invitations was quite discouraging for the authorities as no bidder came forward in three towns, namely, Rama Mandi, Goniana and Bhucho.
Moreover, only two bidders responded to the invitation for Muktsar and Bathinda (one each) but they too could not fulfill the basic conditions of minimum area (50 acres). Finding them not complying with the conditions, the BDA re-called the tenders.
Ironically, in the second offer, no bidder came forward in Bathinda while two land holders of Muktsar after clubbing their ,lands offered a bid, which the BDA shortlisted.
The tenders/bids were invited by adopting a two-envelope system through newspapers.
The first envelope that carried technical details like revenue record, registry, Jamabandi, ownership rights etc., was recently opened and only two properties one at Mansa (nearly 63 acres) and another at Muktsar (nearly 62 acres) were shortlisted.
The second envelope that contains financial bids is yet to be opened, said BDA officials.
Chief Administrator, BDA, Ravi Bhagat informed that the financial bids would be opened next week. Considering the financial viability of the project, an interim report would be sent to the district collector to fix the price. After that, negotiations would be made with the bidders and whichever land proved suitable to the cabinet sub-committee, would be purchased, he added.
Replying to a query related to response to the land purchase policy, Bhagat said, "Had we got satisfactory response from the bidders, the involvement of facilitators and aggregators, which is now going to start, would not have been required."
He maintained that the policy was beneficial for the land owners but due to lack of awareness among them, it could not evoke much response in the region.
Bathinda, June 12
A few years ago, some progressive farmers of the Bathinda region got together to find a way to reduce the cost of input in agriculture and simultaneously, cope with the competitive world. Today, they are providing free help to various potato, chilly and onion growers of the region.
As many as 25 of these progressive farmers had formed the Bathinda Horticulture Association in 2005 to realise their goal of cutting down on time, energy and expenditure incurred on agriculture-related activities. For this purpose, they introduced a system of collective purchase of seeds, tools and other things. The purchased items were later distributed as per one's requirement. Besides, every member was duty-bound to share his knowledge with others.
Some of them, tech-savvy and well-qualified, utilised the internet to keep themselves abreast of the latest agricultural technology.
The members of the association have attended more than a dozen national and international conferences on horticulture, where they also share their knowledge with others. The association was honoured during the district farmers' training camp held recently. Hailing the efforts of the association, the agro-experts at the camp termed them as role models.
Speaking to The Tribune, secretary of the association, Jagtar Singh Brar of village Mehma Sarja said, "We always prefer to purchase equipment, seeds, plants and other required things in a collectively. Besides the product cost, the collective purchase also help us in saving time and energy."
About the advantage of attending seminars and conferences, vice-president of the association Bhupinder Singh Sidhu said, "It has not only widened our vision but also helped us in catching up with the pace of the fast-moving world."
"Now, we keep a check on the swinging moods of the market and accordingly decide if to sell or hold the produce," Sidhu mentioned.
Bathinda, June 13
Finding the sponsored activities bringing about positive results to keep the youth away from drugs and helping in developing their personality, the Punjab government showered its largesse for the department of Youth Services and also set a target to enhance youth participation in extra-curricular activities with more focused approach, this year.
Following the guidelines of the government, the Department of Youth Services, Punjab, has revised the district-wise youth participation target. It is now double than in the previous year in different activities like youth leadership training camps, hiking, trekking and mountaineering, inter-state tour, teacher training camps and the cultural and youth exchange programmes.
All the activities (camps) would be held at Shimla and Manali from mid July to December, the officials of the department informed.
To cover the youngsters in the age-group of 13-35 years, the state government has reportedly increased the annual fund allocation for the camps/activities from Rs 31 lakh to Rs 91 lakh, this year.
Confirming the details, the Assistant Director, Youth Services, (Headquarters), Charanjit Singh said, "As the activities brought about amazingly positive results last year, the funds as well as the participation targets have been revised this year."
Issuing a revised target plan, the department has allotted 10 camps for youth leadership training programme to each district with seven seats in a camp, which include five camps for girls only.
With the equal participation of boys and girls, the camps have been divided into four categories-college students (two camps), students of class XI and XII (four camps), students of class IX and X (two camps) and non-student youth (two camps).
For another activity of the department- hiking, trekking and mountaineering- the department has given five camps to each district with nine seats in a camp. Further, each district has been given 50 seats for the inter-state tour programme. The cultural programme/youth thought exchange programme, one of the major components of the activities, will see the participation of 10 youngsters from each district.
Besides, each district has been given one camp of nine seats for teacher's training programme that is meant to hone the skills of teachers.
To ensure the participation of the youth belonging to the reserved categories, the Director, Youth Services, has clearly directed each district official that 25 per cent of the total participants should be from the SC/BC category.
Assistant Director, Youth Services (Bathinda), Kamajeet Singh Sidhu, when contacted, said, "The process to enroll the participants has been initiated and the response from the youth suggests that the department will surely achieve the revised targets."
Bathinda, June 15
The ‘tough’ decision taken by the authorities of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) to make it mandatory for the students of class X to pass in five of the total six subjects led to a steep downfall in the pass percentage from 77.94 last year to 64.32 this year. The move is now attracting criticism.
Of the total 3,52,948 students who appeared in the PSEB matriculation examination, this year, only 2,27,009 could clear it.
Parents and some educationists are anticipating that it would further increase the drop-out rate.
“Finding the Board examination tough to crack, a large number of students who failed this year would opt to leave their studies and it would even affect the next batches also,” they feared.
Sham Lal Bansal of Bathinda termed the PSEB decision against the national policy. Flaying the PSEB for repeatedly claiming that it had been moving on the pattern of the CBSE, Bansal said, “When the CBSE can give the option for students to go for either the Board exam or the school test, why has PSEB toughened its stand?”
“The officials of the state education department want some amendment in the Right to Education Act 2009, claiming that they want it to be more friendly but making the three languages and two out of the remaining three subjects compulsory indicates wrong intentions,” said Parkash Goyal, a teacher.
“Though the PSEB officials are claiming that the tough decision will pave the way for better results in future, the fail percentage of this year, that is nearly 36 per cent, can not be justified in any way. Hardly a few students declared to have failed or those given compartment in math, science or social studies will be able to bear the jolt and make another attempt,” lamented Darshan Singh Dhillon, convener of the district Save Education Society, Mansa.
“This experiment of the PSEB making it mandatory to clear five out of six subjects is not less than being responsible for the national loss. The affected students would either have to pay huge fees or would opt to quit studying further,” he added.
However, the chairman of the PSEB, Dalbir Singh Dhillon said, “Making it mandatory to clear five subjects was not the decision solely taken by me. It was decided after a number of meetings conducted with different committees of eminent educationists for the purpose.”
Clarifying the doubts, Dhillon said the actual fail percentage is just 15 per cent and comparatively unchanged compared to last year. The rest of the gap is of compartment cases, which decreased the overall pass percentage.
“Taking a tough stance may have resulted in unexpected results and has invited criticism but in the long run it will surely prove to be beneficial for the students and people will appreciate it,” he added.
Bathinda, June 17
The Postal Department, after receiving a dent in the strength of its customers due to the facilities offered by banks, is now ready to roll out its banking services. As part of this move, the department is going to install Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) at the head post offices.
The installation of ATMs is the part of the core banking project of the India Post that will focus on faster transfer of funds and easier withdrawals. As the department is in no mood to delay it further, the locations to install ATMs are being finalised in the state.
In the past couple of years, the postal department authorities were reportedly observing that due to the failure to adopt technology in its services, it had been losing customers to the banks, which were using technology to its fullest.
Finding the step of the banks proving to be of multiple benefits including helping in reducing the rush at their counters and providing their customers with efficient and rapid services the postal department also decided to improve its quality of service and operational efficiency.
Toeing the lines of its competitors (banks), the postal department that still has the pride of having the largest banking network in the country, once it is in place, will also provide 24-hour banking facility to its customers.
The move is being mainly seen as a great relief to all, who have savings accounts in the post offices, from the trouble of standing in long queues for withdrawing and depositing money, making enquiries regarding outstanding balance, etc. Besides, it will also attract new customers.
According to the information available, the postal department has planned 1,000 ATMs as part of the India Post 2012 project.
It has also been informed that the department is also working on issuing debit cards. As per the scheme, for other post offices where the ATMs are not planned, debit cards will be issued to customers who can use the other banks' network of ATMs to withdraw money and access transactions in merchant establishments.
As the head post of Bathinda has also been selected for the installation of an ATM in the first phase, the officials posted here are busy in finding a suitable location as they have to submit the report to the authorities concerned within a stipulated time period.
Confirming the details, the postmaster, head post office Bathinda, Parshottam Dass said, "The department is also going to link up its ATMs with the national network to which the ATMs of all banks are hooked up. After that, the post office customers will be able to enter into transactions at the ATMs of other banks and vice versa."
"We are working at a fast pace to get the ATM installed here and after that the cards will be issued to the customers as per the directions from the higher authorities," he added.
However, the post master could not divulge more details including the withdrawal limits through the ATM and annual service charges for the ATM users.
Bathinda, June 16
In this era of fast communication, people want quick services and the postal department has also not remained unaffected by it.
Adapting to the trend, migrant labourers, once totally dependent on the traditional money order service of the postal department, have now started using it less frequently, moving on to technologically more advanced methods.
With the emergence of the ATM facility provided by almost every bank, they have started switching their decades-old relationship with the postal department.
"I used to save money and immediately after the savings amount reached the Rs 5,000 mark, it was my first job to go to the post office and book a money order to send the money to my family at a small village in Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh," said a 50-year-old labourer Hari Vallabh Ram.
"But with the introduction of the ATM facility in government banks, which is quite simple and almost free from any transaction expenses, I stopped going for money orders. Now, I deposit money in the savings account of the bank and tell my kin at home to withdraw it as and when required through the ATM card, which is with them," he added.
This is not only the story of Hari Vallabh Ram. A majority of the migrant labourers working in Punjab to earn a livelihood have switched to the ATM facility of banks from the traditional money order service of the Indian postal department.
Though finding the customers (especially migrants) running away from their expensive service (charge @ Rs one for Rs 20), the postal department introduced the electronic money order (eMO) facility, which is a comparatively quicker than the traditional MO. But it could not succeed in attracting the migrant labourers as the service charges remained unchanged.
The data collected from the Bathinda head post office, which is the parental office of 35 post offices and 200 rural post office branches in Bathinda and Mansa districts, the total money order amount sent has seen a steep downfall since the year 2007-08.
In the year 2007-08, a sum of total Rs 6.25 crore was sent through money orders, while the next year (2008-09) it was Rs 5.13 crore. The downfall continued in the coming years also as in the year 2009-10, a total of Rs 3.25 crore was sent through money orders which was further decreased to Rs 2.38 crore in the year 2010-11.
Though the post office officials claim that with the introduction of eMO service, the money order service regained some life and people sent Rs 1.89 crore through eMO in 2010-11, they agree that out of the total eMO consumers the number of migrant labourers was negligible.
Besides the expensive service, one more reason that is pushing the labourers away from the money orders is that the whole amount comes in the hand of the recipient in a single lot that makes a safety risk. On the other hand, they feel the ATM transactions comparatively safer as one can withdraw the amount as and when required.
The postmaster, head post office, Bathinda, Parshotam Dass, said, "We have another option that is cheaper and faster-instant money order (IMO). But despite efforts, the migrant labourers are still not becoming familiar to it. Now the postal department is going to launch Core Banking Project (CBP), which is expected to come soon in Bathinda.
"Once the CBP is introduced, we are sure our customers will return to us as the trust worthiness of the postal department remains unchallenged," he added.
