Haryana govt suspends publication of 5 magazines

These include Krishi Samvad that showed a woman in a veil in its recent edition, with a caption saying ‘ghoonghat’ is identity and glory of Haryana

THE OTHER MAGAZINES ARE HARYANA SAMVAD, HARYANA REVIEW, UBHARDA HARYANA AND TAMIREHARYANA

: Irked over numerous complaints pertaining to the publication and circulation of five magazines brought out by the Haryana government, cultural affairs minister Kavita Jain has suspended their publication indefinitely.

These magazines, published and distributed free of cost by the state information, public relations and languages, include Krishi Samvad (Hindi) that sparked a controversy by showing a woman in a veil in a recent edition, with a caption saying ‘ghoonghat’ is the identity of Haryana woman.

The other magazines are Haryana Samvad, Haryana Review (English), Ubharda Haryana (Punjabi) and Tamir-e-Haryana (Urdu).

There were complaints about delayed distribution and nondtribution of these magazines.

A senior official in the chief minister’s office (CMO) told HT that there were allegations that even MLAs had not been getting the issues of these magazines.

“It was also alleged that the March issue of Haryana Samvad was circulated in June which had reports on Haryana tableaus at the Republic Day in Delhi and even the governor’s address during the budget session held in March,” he added.

Meanwhile, the veil issue was lapped up by opposition Congress leaders, who termed the BJP government “regressive with parochial mentality.”

However, the government insisted that the opposition leaders were distorting the issue as veil in Haryana was not a binding and had been a tradition as a mark of respect to elders.

“Also, the decision to temporarily suspend the publication had been taken before the veil issue made headlines. The decision was because of the complaints, mainly pertaining to quality of the matter these magazines published,” a senior functionary of the department said.

Kavita Jain denied that the publications were suspended for in the wake of the picture of the veiled woman.

“It is because of many complaints pertaining to their circulation and I would like to streamline the entire process,” the minister said.