Athletes brought glory to Haryana in 2010,Mirchpur shame

With khap panchayats earning a bad name for their ‘fatwas’ against young couples who marry against societal norms,a Karnal court in March delivered a landmark judgement.

It awarded capital punishment to five persons and life sentence to another for murdering a couple on the diktats of a self-styled community panchayat for marrying against societal norms. It was the first case in the state in which the boy’s family had moved court against the honour killing.

In April,mayhem was unleashed in Mirchpur in Hisar district,as people from the dominant caste in the village attacked and burnt houses of those belonging to the Dalit community. A 70-year-old man and his disabled daughter were burnt alive leading to exodus of Dalits from the village to different parts of the state and the national capital and causing major embarrassment to the government.

In December,the Supreme Court transferred to a special designated court in Delhi,the trial relating to the Mirchpur incident to ensure a free and fair trial.

The year brought relief to Haryana’s former DGP Rathore in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case. Later in the year,CBI filed closure reports in two of the three fresh cases against him.

In May,he was jailed following his arrest for the first time after a session’s court enhanced his prison term to 18 months for molesting the teenager — who later committed suicide — 20 years back.

However,after spending close to six months behind bars at high-security Burail jail here,Rathore was released on bail by the Supreme Court.

November brought good news for farmers as Hooda gave a Diwali-eve bonanza,announcing doubling of the minimum floor rate (MFR) payable for acquisition of land.

But it were the sportspersons who put the state on the international map,bagging 38 of the total 101 medals India won in the Commonwealth Games. The commendable part was that with most of the players came from humble rural backgrounds.

The icing on the cake came when players from Haryana also left their mark at the Asian Games in China,the notable being boxer Vijender Singh,shooter Gagan Narang and athlete Krishna Punia.

In the year gone by,the state also battled one of the worst floods in its history as several lives were lost. Many parts of Haryana including Ambala,Karnal,Kurukshetra,Fatehabad and Sirsa faced the flood fury and the state and its neighbour Punjab engaged in a blame game over the deluge.

The months of August and September saw many parts of Haryana on the boil as the predominant Jat community was up in arms demanding reservation for the community in jobs (OBC quota) and a youth was killed in the agitation in Hisar.

In August,the Haryana Janhit Congress,founded by former chief minister Bhajan Lal,moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court here and sought disqualification of five MLAs who were elected on party tickets but subsequently joined the ruling Congress after the last state Assembly polls held in October 2009.

Bhajan Lal’s son and HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi filed a writ petition seeking the disqualification of the MLAs under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution.

In mid-November,the Supreme Court upheld Haryana government’s decision to remove the Chairman and all other eight members of the State Public Service Commission for various irregularities and misconduct in recruitment process.

In late November,India ushered in mobile number portability that allows cell phone users to switch operators without changing numbers,with Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal launching the service from Rohtak.

India also signed an agreement with the US to set up an International Nuclear Research Institute in Bahadurgarh city.

Metro rail link was provided to connect the satellite town Gurgaon with the national capital thus facilitating with better connectivity and fulfilling a long standing demand of the people.

While continuing its efforts to make modern health services easily accessible to the people,Indira Bal Swasthya Yojana was implemented to focus on health of children of up to18 years of age. The scheme was targeted to benefit 40 lakh children.

The Government also announced its decision to declare Punjabi as the second language in the state even as the Sikhs demand for the formation of a separate Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee for managing the Sikh shrines in Haryana remained pending.

The state took a big leap forward in becoming an education hub. The state got approval for setting up of a Defence University at Gurgaon and a Central University. The Central University has already become functional in district Mahendergarh.

The pension admissible to freedom fighters and their widows was raised from Rs 6000 to Rs 11,000 per month.