Haryana - Background
Haryana is administratively divided into 21 districts, 47 sub-divisions, 67 tehsils, 45 sub-tehsils and 116 blocks. Haryana has a total of 81 cities and towns and 6,759 villages. Haryana is the nation's seventeenth most populous state and the population of Haryana, is 25,353,081, according to the 2011 census. The population density is 573.4 people/km2. Haryana has a skewed sex ratio at 861.
There are two agro climatic zones in the state. The north western part is suitable for Rice, Wheat, Vegetable and temperate fruits and the south western part is suitable for high quality agricultural produce, tropical fruits, exotic vegetables and herbal and medicinal plants. Agriculture and related industries have been the backbone of the local economy. Haryana is an industrial state and has emerged as a base for the knowledge industry including IT and biotechnology. It is also a leading agricultural state of the country. Animal husbandry has been taken up as an integral component of diversified agriculture.
Haryana’s contribution to the main stream of Indian history and culture has been remarkable. A rendezvous of various people, it was here that they came,got mingled and contributed towards making of Indian culture. That is why the Vedic land of Haryana has been the cradle of ancient Indian culture and civilization, this is the land from where the knowledge of Indian philosophy and spiritualism flourished all over the country and on this land saints and sages recited the Vedic hymns.
Dr. Hari Ram Gupta, an eminent historian also corroborates this view. He says as “Heaven and earth seldom combined and God rarely agreed to create a better habitation for man than ancient Haryana. In the remotest past, its geographical situation was somewhat different. The climate of this region was cold and enjoyable. And this should account for the earliest habitation of man in this region. After scientific examination of these (some findings), Dr. Guj B Pilgrim concluded that one and half crore years ago, the early man lived in Pinjore region round about Chandigarh. This confirms the Indian traditions which this region as the matrix of creation and civilization. It is the site of northern altar where Brahama performed the pristine sacrifice from which creation arose.
But Haryana not only claims the honour to the cradle of man, it also served as the cradle of civilization. Indians saw the dawn of civilization in the regions of Indus Valley and that of Sarswati. Our recorded history begins with Aryans. Several Indian historians particularly Prof. Abinash chander Das and Dr. Radha Kumud Mukerji are of the view that the original home of Aryans was the Haryana region”.
Some of the important tourist places are: Blue Jay (Samalkha), Skylark (Panipat), Chakarvarty Lake and Oasis (Uchana), Parakeet (Pipli), Kingfisher (Ambala), Magpie (Faridabad), Dabchick (Hodel), Shama (Gurgaon), Jungle Babbler (Dharuhera), Gauriyye (Bahadurgarh), Myna (Rohtak), Blue Bird (Hisar), Red Bhishop (Panchkula) and Pinjore Gardens (Pinjore). Surajkund and Badkhal Lake near Delhi, Sultanpur bird sanctuary (Sultanpur, Gurgaon) and Damdama in Gurgaon and fascinating pocket of pines at Morni Hills are other attractions of tourist interest. The Surajkund Crafts Mela of international fame is held every year in the month of February.
Godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, aka Saint Dr. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan, who headed the powerful Dera Sacha Sauda sect with millions of followers worldwide, was patronised by political leaders and parties of Punjab and Haryana for nearly two decades due to his ability to shift votes of his followers.
An Indian court on 11 January 2019 convicted the disgraced but still-powerful sect leader of murdering a journalist after he exposed rampant sexual abuses by the guru. He was already serving a 20-year prison sentence for rape. The court on Friday found 51-year-old Singh and three of his close aides guilty of killing local newspaper journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati in 2002. When Singh was convicted in 2017 of raping two of his disciples, his followers went on the rampage leaving nearly 40 people dead.
Since 2015, Singh has also been on trial for castrating 400 of his followers, who alleged that they were promised spiritual gains. His Dera defended the sterilisation claiming it was done to “safeguard female followers from possible sexual advances”.
Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim's close aide Priyanka Taneja a.k.a. Honeypreet Kaur Insan, out on bail, attended the event to celebrate the birth anniversary of Dera's first Guru Shah Mastana. She was granted bail in a case of riot and violence that took place following Ram Rahim's arrest in Panchkula in 2017. Honeypreet alias Priyanka Taneja was arrested on October 3, 2018, and was lodged in Ambala Central Jail. Over 41 people were killed in the clashes. Honeypreet had moved her bail plea after a sessions court dropped the sedition charges against her on November 2. She had been in judicial custody since October 2017.
Honeypreet married Vishwas Gupta, a grandson of two-time Haryana (Gharounda) MLA Rulia Ram on the asking of the dera chief on February 14, 1999. But it was all apparently part of a sordid 'arrangement', shockingly revealed when Gupta petitioned the high court in October 2011. A third-generation Sacha Sauda adherent, Gupta told the court that his wife, who had been christened 'Honeypreet' and adopted by Gurmeet Singh, was in fact being "sexually exploited by the dera chief". He also alleged that after not being permitted to consummate his marriage for 11 long years, he faced death threats from Gurmeet Singh's henchmen after he saw the guru engaging in sex with his adopted daughter.
She was the only one who had living quarters inside Gurmeet Singh's infamous gufa (cave), while everyone else, including mother Naseeb Kaur, wife Harjeet Kaur and his real children lived in separate homes on the extensive Sacha Sauda premises. Honeypreet fully shared Gurmeet Singh's penchant for the bling lifestyle of ostentatious, over-the-top clothing, flashy cars and glitzy movies. Starting out in 2015, she has been in all his five movies, even co-directing the last two.
Haryana has the worst child sex ratio( 834) and sex ratio( 879) according to census 2011. Crime rate against women is very high in the state. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for 2016 has indicated that Haryana has acquired the top spot among all states in terms of gang rapes. Due to high rate of foeticide and resultant lack of females in Haryana there is widespread practice of trafficking women from the poorer region of India.
With a view to tackle the menace of stray bulls in the state, the state government finalized the procurement of 2 lakh sexed semen for artificial insemination of crossbred and indigenous cattle.
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