Arun Kumar Gupta has taken the oath of office and secrecy as chairman of the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission, known as HERC. The oath was administered by Haryana Energy and Labour Minister Anil Vij at Haryana Niwas. Gupta is a 1992 batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre who retired the previous month, and he was Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini before that. He has also been Additional Chief Secretary for Finance, Secretary of HERC itself and managing director of power utilities. His appointment order was issued by the Commissioner and Secretary of the Energy Department under Sections 82 and 89 of the Electricity Act, 2003, and his term runs for five years from taking oath or until he turns 65, whichever comes first. The post had been vacant since the previous chairman, Nand Lal Sharma, died in office, after which Member (Legal) Mukesh Garg officiated. The appointment comes while the Commission is in the middle of a dispute over a parallel power distribution licence it granted for Gurugram and Nuh, which the State asked it not to operationalise.
Term:Five years, or until age 65Law used:Sections 82 and 89, Electricity Act, 2003
Why it matters for exams: State electricity regulatory commissions are created under Section 82 of the Electricity Act, 2003, a standard Polity and Economy fact.
Haryana has raised the monthly honorarium of its Gramin Chowkidars, the rural watchmen, from Rs 11,000 to Rs 15,221, an increase of Rs 4,221 a month. Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini announced this at a state level Gramin Chowkidars Samman Samaroh held in Panchkula. He said the honorarium has more than quadrupled since 2014, when it stood at Rs 3,500. The annual uniform allowance goes up from Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000, the equipment allowance from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 and the bicycle allowance from Rs 3,500 to Rs 5,000. For the first time the watchmen will get medical and accident related benefits under the Employees' State Insurance Scheme, and the cover extends to their families. They have also been brought under the Haryana Labour Welfare Fund, which makes them eligible for help with their children's education and marriage and other family needs. The benefits take effect at once and will add about Rs 27 crore a year to State expenditure. Saini directed that the revised honorarium be credited straight to bank accounts before the seventh of every month, and asked district and block officials to finish the ESI and Labour Welfare Fund registration without delay.
New honorarium:Rs 15,221 a monthEarlier honorarium:Rs 11,000 a monthExtra annual cost:about Rs 27 crore
Why it matters for exams: The Employees' State Insurance Scheme and State labour welfare funds are standard questions on social security for informal workers.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has inaugurated the memorial built in honour of the martyrs of the 1857 freedom struggle at Ambala Cantt in Haryana. The memorial was built at a cost of 800 crore rupees. It covers about 22 acres, and the names of more than 700 heroes of the 1857 struggle are inscribed on it in golden letters. The memorial uses modern technology to present the story of the freedom struggle to visitors. Union Minister Manohar Lal, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and Cabinet Minister Anil Vij were present at the inauguration. Shah said the ground at Ambala is where the freedom struggle began. The 1857 revolt, which the memorial commemorates, is also called the First War of Independence, and Ambala was one of the cantonments where it broke out.
Cost:800 crore rupeesArea:about 22 acresNames inscribed:more than 700
Why it matters for exams: The 1857 revolt and the cantonments where it began, Ambala among them, are core Modern History questions.
Hearing 145 writ petitions together, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has set out a four part standard it names the Root of Eligibility Test, to settle when a mistake in a recruitment application may be put right. Justice Harpreet Singh Brar gave the ruling for candidates who had got through the written stages and were then left out over errors in their online forms or in the papers they uploaded. The lead petitioner had sought the post of Primary Teacher in the Mewat cadre under a Haryana Staff Selection Commission advertisement. Four questions make up the standard. The first asks whether the person truly held the eligibility on the cut off date, since a gap in the paperwork alone should not sink someone who was in fact qualified. The second asks what leaves a mistake beyond repair, and the answer is a claim the candidate never entered in the form at all, or any misrepresentation or fraud. The third asks whether the recruiting agency did its own part, by announcing a real window to set the error right before it acted on the claim, and whether the candidate moved quickly once the error was known. The fourth settles the result: a mistake that can be set right restores the person to the category claimed, and where only the reservation claim collapses the person is still weighed on merit as an unreserved candidate unless a rule says otherwise. The court tied predictable outcomes to Article 14 and ordered that the guidelines govern future recruitment by both the Haryana Staff Selection Commission and the Haryana Public Service Commission.
Petitions decided:145Stages in the test:4
Why it matters for exams: The Root of Eligibility Test and Article 14's demand for predictable administrative action are directly examinable law points.
A long quarrel over electricity from the Bhakra Nangal and Beas projects has ended with the Supreme Court telling Punjab and Haryana to hand Himachal Pradesh 11,973 million units of electricity that it was owed. The bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana let the two States settle the dues in power rather than in money, made that arrangement binding in law, and widened the window for handing it over from fifteen years to twenty, the supply to come in consecutive lean winter seasons. For each tranche it receives, Himachal Pradesh must pay the Bhakra Beas Management Board the usual yearly operational charges. Punjab's objections were turned down as vague, and the court would not price the old dues at the operation and maintenance rate of 79 paise a unit. The roots of the quarrel lie in Section 78 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, under which rights and liabilities in these projects were split, and Himachal Pradesh had gone to court in 1996 asking for Rs 2,199.77 crore. An earlier ruling in 2011 had given Himachal 6 per cent of all Bhakra Nangal power from November 1, 1966, 5.752 per cent from Beas Unit I and almost 3 per cent from Beas Unit II, while Punjab was put at 51.8 per cent and Haryana at 37.5 per cent. The Centre had told the court in a 2013 affidavit that the shortfall up to October 2011 added up to 13,066 million units.
Power arrears ordered:11,973 million unitsDisbursement period:20 yearsPunjab and Haryana shares fixed in 2011:51.8 per cent and 37.5 per cent
Why it matters for exams: Section 78 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 and the Bhakra Beas Management Board are standing Polity and Geography facts.
Sultanpur National Park, also called the Sultanpur National Bird Sanctuary, stands in Gurgaon district of Haryana on the Gurgaon-Farukhnagar Road, 34 kilometers from the Delhi airport. The district administration records that the credit for the discovery of this bird sanctuary goes to a bird lover named Peter Jackson. There is an ancient lake inside the park. About one hundred species of birds come to this natural lake every year, and the lake is spread over about 265 acres of land. Some of them reach this huge natural lake from Siberia countries for reproduction. The nearest railway stations are Garhi Harsaru Junction, Farrukhnagar Station and Gurugram Railway Station, and the park is reached by road through Gurugram.
District:GurgaonLake spread over:265 acresDistance from the Delhi airport:34 kilometers
Why it matters for exams: Protected areas of Haryana are a standard State Focus question, and the district, the area of the lake and the person credited with the discovery are the durable facts here.
Hisar is a district of Haryana. Its district administration records that the city was founded by Firozshah Tughlaq in 1354 A.D. The name comes from Arabic and means Fort. The city was first called Hisar Firoza, the Fort of Firoz, until the word Firoza fell away. Construction began under the personal supervision of the ruler, and the boundary wall was built of stones brought from the hills of Narsai, with a deep ditch dug around it and a large tank inside the fort. The palace complex built there is known as Gujari Mahal and still stands, holding a royal residence, Shahi Darwaza, Diwan-e-Aam, a Baradari, a Hamam, a Mosque and a Pillar. Excavation at Agroha, Banawali and Kunal in these lands brought out pre-Harappan settlements. A pillar in Hisar fort belongs to the time of Emperor Ashoka and came originally from Agroha.
City founded:1354Meaning of the name:FortPalace complex:Gujari Mahal
Why it matters for exams: Hisar is one of the Delhi Sultanate foundations in Haryana, and its founder, the meaning of its name and the pre-Harappan sites around it are all asked.
Kurukshetra is a district of Haryana. Its district administration records that Kurukshetra is described in the first verse of the Shrimadbhagvadgita in the form of Dharmakshetra Kurukshetra. It is the land on which the battle of Mahabharata was fought, and where Lord Krishna gave Arjuna a knowledge of the philosophy of karma in the Jyotisar. In Hindu tradition Kurukshetra is a vast area spread over 48 kos that takes in many pilgrimage places, temples and sacred ponds tied to events of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. The name of Kurukshetra was named after King Kuru, who is said to have made great sacrifices for the prosperity of this land. The district page links the place closely to the rise of Aryan civilization and to the sacred Saraswati, and records that Manusmriti was written here by Rishi Manu while the Rigveda and the Samaveda were compiled by the wise Rishis.
Traditional extent:48 kosNamed after:King KuruPlace of the discourse:Jyotisar
Why it matters for exams: Kurukshetra is the standard Haryana heritage question, and the 48 kos extent, the name from King Kuru and Jyotisar as the place of the Gita discourse are the durable facts.
Panipat is a city in Haryana. It stands on National Highway, 90 km north of Delhi and 169 km to the south of Chandigarh. Three battles were fought near the city, in 1526, in 1556 and in 1761, and each of them turned the course of Indian history. In India the city is famous by the name City of Weavers. It is called the Textile City as well, and also the cast-off capital, being a global centre for recycling textiles. The district itself was carved out from the erstwhile Karnal district, merged back into Karnal and then made separate once more. The district has two sub-divisions, Panipat and Samalkha, which hold five tehsils, and four Vidhan Sabha constituencies, all of them part of the Karnal Lok Sabha constituency. According to the 2011 census the district has a literacy rate of 75.94%. The thermal power station at Panipat now has 8 units with an installation capacity of 1360 MW.
Distance north of Delhi:90 kmVidhan Sabha constituencies:fourInstallation capacity of the thermal power station:1360 MW
Why it matters for exams: Panipat carries both the three battles and a live administrative fact, and which Lok Sabha constituency its assembly seats fall in is the kind of detail a State paper asks.
Karnal is an agricultural-industrial district lying in the north-central part of Haryana. The district administration says the place was founded by Raja Karna, a central figure of the Mahabharata, and that the name comes from Karnalaya, where alaya means abode. The city has become synonymous with National Highway 44, popularly known as GT Karnal Road, and lies midway between Delhi and Chandigarh. Kurukshetra is to its northwest, Jind and Kaithal to its west and Panipat to its south, while the Yamuna separates the district from Uttar Pradesh on the east. Karnal has five sub-divisions, five tehsils and nine blocks. The district covers 2,471 sq. km. and so ranks as the eighth largest district in Haryana. The city stands at an elevation of 240 meters above sea level. The district is part of the Indo-Gangetic plains, is irrigated by a network of Yamuna canals, and the low-lying fertile plains next to the river are called Khadar.
Rank by area in Haryana:eighth largestElevation:240 metersBlocks:nine
Why it matters for exams: Karnal’s rank by area among the districts of Haryana, the National Highway that carries its name and the Yamuna boundary with Uttar Pradesh are the durable geography facts an examiner asks.
Rohtak is a district of Haryana. Its district administration gives more than one account of the name. The name Rohtak is believed to have evolved from Rohtashgarh, the name linked with ancient ruined sites near the present city, and tradition holds that Raja Rohtash founded the town. A second explanation ties the name to the Roherra tree, Tecomella undulata, called Rohitaka in Sanskrit, whose forests are believed to have covered the area once. The Mahabharata holds a further reference: Rohitaka is mentioned there in connection with a military campaign of Nakula, who was one of the Pandava brothers. Under Akbar, the emperor and his finance minister Todar Mal divided North India into administrative units, and the present Rohtak region formed part of the Suba of Delhi, falling within the Sarkars of Delhi and Hisar Firuqa. Because it lay close to Delhi the region was often granted as military jagirs to nobles.
Sanskrit name of the tree:RohitakaBotanical name:Tecomella undulataMughal province:Suba of Delhi
Why it matters for exams: Place-name origins and Mughal administrative divisions are both examinable, and Rohtak carries the Suba of Delhi, Todar Mal and a Mahabharata reference in one page.
In 1989 the Government of Haryana accorded Rewari the status of a district. Before that it was a sub-division and tehsil head quarter of district Mahendergarh. Jhajjar lies to its north, Mahendergarh to its west and Gurgaon to its east and north-east, while district Alwar of Rajasthan touches Rewari in the south-east. Because Rajasthan is adjacent, the district has dust storms in summer, and the rugged hilly terrain of Aravali ranges along with sandy dunes shapes the climate of the city. Rewari forms a part of the National Capital Region and has an average elevation of 245 metres. Its traditional industries are brass metalwork and the ornamental local shoes called Tilledar Jooti. Automobile and auto ancillary industries work in the Dharuhera and Bawal industrial areas.
Average elevation:245 metresEarlier parent district:MahendergarhTraditional craft:Tilledar Jooti
Why it matters for exams: Rewari joins the Aravali ranges, the National Capital Region and a named craft in one district, and the parent district it was separated from is a standard administrative question.