Robust Haryana braves challenges

Six months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi paved way for resurgence of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party, riding on the Modi-wave, scripted its maiden victory in Haryana.

The state, which had been a traditional battleground for Congress and home-grown Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), witnessed BJP's historic victory as it emerged, for the first time, as the single-largest party with a majority in the Assembly. BJP won 47 seats in the 90-member Assembly, restricting INLD to 19 and Congress to 15 seats. BJP had won just 4 seats in 2009.

The party then announced first-time MLA from Karnal and RSS pracharak, Manohar Lal Khattar, as the chief minister of a state that had not seen a non-Jat CM in the last two decades. While the victory was a clean sweep, the next three years lent a rough pitch to the maiden government.

Be it massive damage caused due to the Jat agitation or an outbreak of violence following the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim, the Haryana government came under fire for its inept handling of emergency situations. In three major incidents of civil violence in the last three years, at least 74 people were killed and the Army had to be called in. While CM Khattar faced backlash, infighting among the warring factions added to his woes.

Op Rampal: 6 killed

Barely a month after it took charge, the government faced its first challenge when the head of the Satlok Ashram in Hisar, Rampal, failed to appear before the Punjab and Haryana High Court after repeated summons and also failed to honour a non-bailable warrant for contempt of court. The court then directed the government to affect his arrest, which led to the launch of a 10-day operation.

The so-called Godman remained inside his 12-acre Ashram while thousands of his followers, armed with a huge cache of arms and ammunition, engaged in a violent stand-off with the security forces. The water and power supply to the Ashram were also snapped.

At least six persons, including women, were killed in the tense stand-off that ended on November 19, 2014, with Rampal's arrest and evacuation of thousands of his followers, mainly women and children. He was produced before the court a day later and then sent to jail. Apart from contempt of court, he was charged with sedition, arson, raging war against the state, rioting, and murder.

The state exchequer lost over Rs 15.43 crore in the operation, which cost Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, and Centre a total of Rs 26.6 crore.

Jat agitation: 30 lives lost

The government faced its biggest administrative failure when protests erupted among Jats, who constitute nearly 29 per cent of the state's population, in February 2016. The community was demanding reservation under the Other Backward Category (OBC).

The protests that escalated and spread across Haryana paralysed the state for nearly 10 days, during which property worth several thousand crores was gutted, with Railways itself summing its loss to Rs 55.9 crore. Even as arson and violence spread to various districts, the government failed to take requisite action on time. The Army had to be called in.

At least 30 people were killed and several hundred injured. It was also alleged that women were raped by the mob in Murthal during the agitation. The case stands trial in the High Court.

The Opposition hit out at CM Khattar for his failure in manoeuvring the situation, even as party's own ministers, including MP Rajkumar Saini, added fuel to the fire with his provocative, anti-Jat statements.

Reeling under pressure, the Haryana Assembly passed the Haryana Backward Classes Bill, 2016, within a month to provide reservation to Jats and four other communities in government jobs and education. But, the Punjab and Haryana High Court put a stay on the Bill. Even as Jats threaten to launch another protest, the demand for reservation remains pending.

Dera violence: 41 lives lost

If Jats left the state counting its losses, the self-proclaimed Godmen were no less a challenge. While Haryana was yet to recover from the damage inflicted on it due to the Jat agitation, it was hit by another wave of violence, when Gurmeet Ram Rahim, head of Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda, was held guilty for raping two women followers and sent to jail for 20 years on August 25.

This time, the government was able to arrest the Dera head after his conviction by Special CBI Court and put him behind the bars. But it failed to control the violence, which engulfed Panchkula and claimed 35 lives, with the youngest victim being a 16-year-old boy. Six persons were killed in Sirsa.

The Haryana Police, led by DGP B S Sandhu, and the government was slammed by the High Court, which castigated them for failing to implement its own prohibition orders under Section 144 of CrPC. The police watched as thousands of Dera followers swarmed Panchkula, camping on roads and parks, a week before the verdict.

History was repeated as the mob went on a rampage, torching vehicles, especially those of journalists, and vandalised government property. The government also faced allegations of facilitating removal of incriminating evidence from the Dera, much before the search operation began. It also came under fire when education minister Ram Bilas Sharma visited the Dera a few days before the judgment and donated Rs 51 lakh, which he later withdrew. The Dera had played a crucial role in shaping the party's victory in 2014.

The Dera head remains behind the bars while his other aids, booked for sedition, including Aditya Insan, remain on the run. The verdict in two other murder cases against the Dera head is also expected soon.

Improved fiscal health

At a time when its neighbouring Punjab is struggling to strengthen its crippled finances, Haryana has managed to bring fiscal discipline. The state government successfully brought down the revenue deficit from 1.9 per cent during the former Congress government to 0.94 per cent during the budget of 2017-18. The GDP also improved from 5.7 in 2014-15 to 8.7 in 2016-17, and might touch 9 per cent in 2017-18.

Haryana held its first-ever Global Investors' Summit and brought in investments worth Rs 80,000 crore. With its new enterprise promotion policy, the state jumped from 14th to 4th rank among all states in the Ease of Doing Business rankings prepared by the World Bank and the Department of Industrial policy and promotion.

Unlike its neighbouring Punjab, Haryana also set aside Rs 70 crore to provide subsidies to farmers on agricultural equipment, to prevent them from burning stubble and made provisions to ensure the subsidies were deposited in banks. The government also increased the compensation to farmers, in cases of crop loss, from Rs 1,000-1,200 per acre, apart from waiving tube-well bills of farmers in regions where the crop loss was 25-50 per cent.

Whether it was promoting cash-less transactions or linking various government subsidy schemes with Aadhar to weed out fake beneficiaries, the government took the lead. It announced that all government payments of more than Rs 5,000 would be made digitally.

E-governance

Be it strengthening its grievance redressal system through the launch of CM Window or introducing Aadhar-linked biometric attendance system in all offices, the government, which came to power with a promise of graft-free good governance, took several steps to bring reforms through e-governance. The government brought transparency through the launch of e-stamping and a centralised online system for integration of property registration and digitisation of land records in the state.

A web portal, Harsamay, was also launched by the Haryana Police to facilitate registration of FIRs. But the biggest e-reforms came in the education sector, with the launch of online transfer policy, which was later adopted by Punjab and UP government.

Women police stations

Taking a step ahead in its Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign, the government empowered women by setting up a network of Mahila police stations across the state, with one in each district. The first Mahila police station was inaugurated in Panchkula on August 28, 2015, on the eve of Raksha Bandhan. According to the government, this has helped increase the percentage of women in police from 6 to 8.5.

TASKS ACCOMPLISHED

• Open defecation-free state: Haryana became the fifth state in the country to be declared open defecation-free in June this year, after an intensive campaign that included barring people from contesting the Panchayat elections, if they did not have functional toilets at home. A grant of Rs 1 lakh was also announced for every Panchayat whose village was declared open defecation free.
   
• Women police stations: In order to empower women, a network of Mahila Police Stations was set up in the state, with one in each district. The first was set up in Panchkula on August 28, 2015, on the eve of Raksha Bandhan. According to the government, this has helped increase the percentage of women in police from 6 to 8.5.
   
• Online transfer policy: The step helped curb corruption in transfers of government teachers, as eligible teachers seeking transfers could apply online by submitting their choice of school, which would then be issued as per the necessary criterion. The system was replicated in Punjab.
   
• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao: The government hails it as an achievement, stating that the campaign helped the state improve the sex ratio from 850 to 922.
   
• E-governance: Be it strengthening its grievance redressal system through the launch of CM Window — an online portal in all districts — or Aadhar-linked biometric attendance system in all offices, e-Stamp, e-bills, the government took several steps to bring reforms through e-governance.
   
• Minimum education for Panchayat polls: The government laid down a law to ensure minimum education qualification to contest Panchayat polls — Class X for men, Class VIII for women, and Class V for Dalits. The revolutionary step encouraged the inclusion of more youth.

SETBACKS

1. Jat reservation: Even though the government has passed the Jat Reservation Bill, 2016, in the Assembly, it is yet to clear the legal test as the Punjab and Haryana High Court has put a stay on it. With the decision awaited and Jats adamant on seeking reservation, the issue remains a big challenge for the government.
    
2. Jobs for youth: The government was flayed for not fulfilling its promises to the youth, including an unemployment allowance of Rs 9,000 and the assurance of organising student elections in the state.
    
3. Pending inquiries: Be it Murthal gangrape, Jat agitation, Dera case investigation, or Junaid lynching case, the government has been under scrutiny for its investigation into many such cases. The cases are pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
    
4. Smog: The thick blanket of smog that envelops the northern states every year in October remains a key challenge. Stubble burning is rampant across the state, despite subsidies announced on additional agricultural equipment.
    
5. Education: Haryana has failed to improve the performance of students of government schools in the state, with declining pass percentage every year.
    
6. River water dispute with Punjab: The decades-old dispute over construction of the Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal with Punjab remains a teething concern, with the main Opposition party, INLD, set to rake the issue until the canal is constructed. The Apex Court has ruled in favour of Haryana.
    
7. Stray cattle: The government had announced to make the state stray-cattle free by August 2017, but with all cow-shelters full to capacity, it seems like a distant dream.