Haryana (HR) Infographics


About Haryana – an overview

Haryana came into existence in November 1966. Situated in the north of India, Haryana sends 10 members to the Lok Sabha and five to the Rajya Sabha. The Haryana Legislature is unicameral and consists of one house – the Haryana Legislative Assembly, comprising 90 members.  The last state Assembly election was held in 2009. The state is gearing up for another election this year.

The Indian National Congress (INC), the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) are among the major parties of the state.

Former Chief Ministers of Haryana

Name: Bhupinder Singh Hooda

Party: Indian National Congress
Tenure: From 2005 onwards
Profile
Born into a freedom-fighter family, Bhupinder Singh Hooda started his political career as a member of the Youth Congress. He then went on to become a Lok Sabha MP for four terms – 1991, 1996, 1998 and 2004. He was sworn in as the Chief Minister in 2005 and continues to hold this post at present.

Developments
The Hooda government has undertaken various works of development in the state. Today, the state can boast of prestigious educational institutions like the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). Besides, there are wide roads, manicured lawns and gardens, state-of-art stadiums and flyovers connecting seven cities via national and state highways.  Also, the Hooda government has done a lot to provide various incentives to sports personnel in the state to excel at the national and international events.

Recently, Hooda has announced several sops like waving off VAT on all pulses and removing the market fee on jaggery. He has also set up a committee that will act as a bridge between the traders and the government.  Besides this, he has been announcing a series of rural development plans that has the government running helter-skelter to arrange for funds.

Brickbats
There are allegations of Hooda’s involvement in 200 land scams, and a recruitment scam where he is supposed to have allotted 60 percent of the jobs to his family members. Besides these, he and his family have been accused of amassing wealth beyond their known sources of income. 

Name: Chaudhary Devi Lal

Party: Indian National Lok Dal (INLD)
Tenure: 1977-79 and 1987-89
Profile
Chaudhary Devil Lal, a freedom fighter, became a strong leader of farmers and played a pivotal role in the formation of Haryana state. In 1977, he became the Chief Minister of Haryana, representing the Janata Party. He later went on to form another party, the Lok Dal. He once again held the Chief Minister’s office from 1987-89. He was also the Deputy Prime Minister of India.

  Developments
He focussed on modernisation of agriculture and introduced many initiatives that benefited farmers. He too up rural development and was so famous among the farmers and rural people that they fondly called him ‘Tau’ – meaning, uncle.

Name: Bhajan Lal

Profile:
A farmer, Bhajan Lal began his political career by becoming a sarpanch and then went on to become the Chairman of Panchayat Samiti, Hisar and later the President of Congress Mandal, Hisar. It was in 1979 that he became the Chief Minister for the first time. He played an important role in Haryana politics and represented the non-Jats in the state. He was elected to the Haryana Assembly five times. He then moved on to become the Rajya Sabha member and served in the Rajiv Gandhi government, where he held portfolios like Agriculture and Environment and Forest.

Development
He is believed to have launched several developmental schemes for the people. He also worked towards empowering the poor.

Name: Bansi Lal

Party: Haryana Vikas Party 
Tenure: 1996-99
  Profile
A freedom fighter, Bansi Lal was a senior leader of the Congress and considered very close to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He served as the Defence Minister and also held the Transport and Railway portfolios. It was in 1996 that he broke away from Congress to form the Haryana Vikas Party. He held the post of Chief Minister four times – first in 1968, second in 1972, then in 1986 and finally in 1996. Bansi Lal’s son Surender Singh was also an MP whose wife Kiran Chaudhary and daughter Shruti Chaudhary are now Congress politicians.

Developments
He is believed to have brought electricity across Haryana and is considered to be the pioneer of highway tourism in the state. He is also known as the ‘iron man,’ who overcame various challenges that came in the way of the development of the state. Brickbats
He is criticised for his controversial role during the Emergency, imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975.

Name:  Om Prakash Chautala

Party: Indian National Lok Dal (INLD)
Tenure: July 1999 - March 2005
Profile
Son of Chaudhary Devi Lal, Om Prakash Chautala went on to become the Chief Minister of the state. He is the present chief of INLD.

Developments
In a National Election Study (NES) conducted in 2004, voters felt that Chautala government had done fairly well in terms of the development of the state. They also felt that the government had helped the farmers and undertaken development of roads.

Brickbats
But the voters feared Chautala and his government – they felt intimidated. This may be the reason why he was not voted to power in the elections that followed. Chautala has been entangled in the recruitment scam, where the court had held him guilty of illegally recruiting about 3000 teachers.

Emerging leaders of Haryana

  • Kuldeep Bishnoi Son of Bhajan Lal, Kuldeep Bishnoi is the president of Haryana Janhit Congress (BL), a party that he and his father had formed. In 2011, Bishnoi won the Hisar seat. In 2013, he pledged support for the BJP and backed prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. But for the upcoming state elections, he has entered into an alliance with Haryana Jan Chetna’s Venod Sharma.
  • Deepender Singh Hooda Son of Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Deepender has been elected as the Member of Parliament thrice. He became MP for the first time at a very young age of 27. Today, he is a trusted Congress leader and considered close to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi. He is expected to play an important role in the upcoming elections in Haryana.
  • Captain Abhimanyu Abhimanyu Singh was also the national spokesperson for the BJP. During the 2014 Parliamentary elections, he was the organisational in-charge of party affairs and had played an important role in helping BJP win 18 seats in western Uttar Pradesh. He is considered to be the most dynamic face of the BJP in Haryana and has been credited with conceptualising many innovative campaigns like Jal Adhikar Rally and Save Democracy Rally. In 2004, he contested against Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Rohtak and finished second. Similarly, in 2005 by-election, he contested against Deepender Hooda and again finished second. In 2008, he campaigned in Rajasthan and Delhi for the Vidhan Sabha elections and in 2012 for the Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections, playing an important role in getting together the SAD-BJP alliance.

Voters in Haryana
In a recent data released by the Chief Electoral Officer, Haryana, the total number of voters in the state has gone up to 1.61 crore in 2014. The male voters constitute 53.8 percent while the female voters account for 46.1 percent, a rise from the 45.44 percent recorded in 2009. Taking into account the fact that Haryana is a gender-biased state, the rise in women voters is certainly good news.

In a pre-poll survey conducted ahead of General Elections 2014, a large umber of voters are dissatisfied with the Hooda government.  Another survey conducted by Lokniti-CSDS showed that voters found price rise, corruption and unemployment as the three main voting issues.

Caste politics
Caste politics is widely prevalent in Haryana and plays a very important role in the regional and national politics. Dalits and scheduled castes comprise about 38 percent of the population and the rift between them and the upper class still continues. In a data available with Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, in 2012, the atrocities against Dalits declined in most of the states while in Haryana, they increased. This caste politics has given a fillip to a parallel administration called the Khap panchayats, known for their medieval forms of justice.

Crime rate
In a report released by the National Crime Records Bureau in 2013, Haryana has seen an increase in the crime rate in the past two years. As per the report, Haryana is number one in cyber crimes and frauds. The cyber crimes rose to 116 in 2012 from just 3 in 2011. In 2013, Haryana state police had registered 89 fraud cases, which is the highest among all the states and arrested the maximum number of cyber crime accused. There was also a rise in the cases registered under IT Act, which rose from 42 in 2011 to 66 in 2012.

Female foeticide
The state is notorious for female foeticide, resulting in sex ratio of 877 women per 1000 men. People in the state feel that girls are financial burden and this mindset refuses to change. Though there are laws prohibiting female foeticide or determining the gender before the baby is born, implementation is a huge challenge and police officers often tend to push such cases under the carpet. The state is already feeling the heat with young men unable to find brides.

Education in Haryana
The overall literacy rate in Haryana is pegged at 76.6 percent as per a survey conducted by the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID). About 9.7 percent were found to be educated till primary, 16.3 percent till middle class, 20.8 till high school, 10.8 till higher secondary, 6.9 till graduation and 1.6 till post-graduation.

Health and Sanitation
The decadal growth rate is pegged at 199 percent as per a data released by the National Health Mission. The fertility rate in 2011 was at 2.3, the maternal mortality rate at 153 and the infant mortality rate was at 48. The sex ratio stood at 877 as compared to 940 for the country.   As per the 2001 census, 52 percent people in the rural areas had television, 76 percent had radio but only 29 percent had toilets.  This meant the economic condition was not causing hindrance in building the toilets, but it was lack of awareness. Inadequate sanitation in the state was leading to health hazards which led to loss of income and heavy expenses on health. With the launch of the recent Total Sanitation Campaign, people were made aware about the importance of sanitation. They were told about the hazards of defecating in the open. The outcome of this campaign was that toilets were constructed without subsidy even by marginalised households and there was evident improvement in health and hygiene and financial saving in terms of reduction in health costs.

Women security and social security
Various schemes have been launched by the current Haryana government to check crimes and ensure safety of women, children and the underprivileged people. The measures initiated by the government aim at bringing perpetrators committing heinous crimes to quick justice. The police have been advised to file challans in all such criminal cases within 30 days.

Job and employment in Haryana
The CRRID survey revealed that the main occupation in Haryana was agriculture and its related activities. Here is how the occupation of the respondents in rural areas spread out:

OccupationPercentage
Farming12.7
Agricultural labourers9.3
Non Agricultural labourers9.4
Government services5.3
Retired2.1
Private service3.9
Students4.3
Unemployed2.7
Domestic work39
Own business10.5
Involved in other work0.9

Occupation of respondents in urban areas
OccupationPercentage
Farming8.2
Agricultural labourers2.6
Non Agricultural labourers9.1
Government services7.1
Retired3.5
Private service5.8
Students11
Unemployed2.4
Domestic work32.9
Own business17.3
Involved in other work1

Airports in Haryana
The airports in Haryana are Hisar Airport, Karnal Flying Club and Ambala Airforce Station.  Two more airports are under the pipeline in the districts of Hisar and Karnal, and are expected to be completed in three years once the work begins. 

Road and infrastructure
Haryana can boast of some excellent roadways connecting various districts and national highways linking it to other states.  The entire road network stretches to 23684 kilometres. The state has 29 national highways covering 1,461 kilometres and several state highways covering about 2494 kilometres. Recently, a Rs 2300 crore four-lane road project has been approved by the Hooda government that will link the state to Rajasthan.

  Economy
The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Haryana stood at USD 64.6 billion in 2012-13. In the production of food grains, the state ranked second and third largest in software export. In 2011-12, the IT and ITES export of the state stood at USD 5.2 billion. Haryana also leads in the production of cars and two-wheelers.  The state is also home to IT giants and corporate houses and has been promoting textile, handloom and food industries.

Poverty
The survey conducted by CRRID found that most of the people in rural areas were poor as compared to urban areas. The very poor segment in the rural areas was at 27.6 percent, poor at 19.3 percent, average at 34.2 percent, middle at 14.7 percent and rich at 4.3 percent.  While in the urban areas, the average category – neither very rich nor very poor was found to be large in numbers. In the urban area, very poor segment was at 16.2 percent, the poor at 18 percent, average at 39.2 percent, middle at 18.8 percent and rich at 7.6 percent.

  Cultural heritage
The cultural heritage of Haryana goes back to Vedic times and the people have preserved their traditions till today. Farming is the main occupation of the state. The people of Haryana are believed to be simple and have built the state through sheer hard work and perseverance. Today, the state is embracing the IT revolution and taking strides in the digital space. 
WBMN04.09.2014

Last Updated on September 16, 2014