Rebel at it again

JAT AGITATION

Thousands squatted on railway tracks and roads during the past fortnight,protesting against the arrest of members of the Jat community for the Mirchpur violence,and virtually cutting off Jind and Hisar from the rest of the state. The Sarvjatiya Sarv Mahakhap Panchayat,which predominantly includes Jats,was demanding a re-investigation into the Mirchpur incident of April last year,when an elderly man and his daughter were burnt to death,allegedly by a group of Jat men. The stir was finally called off when Chief Minister B S Hooda assured the protesters their “Dalit brethren would help the Jat Samaj get out of this problem.”

CIVIL SERVICES

The controversy over the selection of Haryana Civil Services (HCS) officers by the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) is yet to settle. The range of marks given in the interviews led to major changes in the final merit list making it the most important criteria for selection. The final list of successful candidates included the daughter of the chairman of the commission,the nephew of a HPSC member and the daughter-in-law of another HPSC member. Sons and daughters of many of the state’s who’s who have also been selected. The HPSC members and the chairman still maintain that the selection was entirely transparent and above board.

LAND SCAMS

Haryana’s main Opposition,the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD),may have maintained complete silence over the recent Jat agitation in Jind,but it has demanded a probe into several land scams. Party chief Om Prakasah Chautala has alleged that hundreds of acres of land,worth crores in the open market,are being acquired from farmers and then given to private parties at throwaway prices. The INLD has prepared a list of such instances. Haryana has been pulled up by the High Court several times for land acquisition violations but the state government has not yet managed to free itself of such controversies.