Tuesday, September 7, 1999
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N E W S Tuesday, September 7, 1999 |
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SSB personnel deputed at
counting centre SAS NAGAR, Sept 6 — At least 16 personnel of the Special Services Bureau (SSB) have been deputed at the collection-cum-counting centre in Shivalik Public School, Phase VI, here. Apart from this four personnel of Punjab Police — an inspector, a sub-inspector and two assistant sub-inspector have been deployed at the centre. Giving details about the arrangements made for the counting of votes polled in the Kharar assembly segment of the Ropar parliamentary seat, the Assistant Returning Officer (ARO), Mr O.P.Popli, said around 100 employees would be deputed for counting. There would a counting supervisor and three counting officers on each of the 15 counting tables. The other staff would be engaged in bringing ballot boxes from the strong room to the counting tables and mixing the ballot papers. All the 205 ballot boxes have been kept in the strong room, he said. When asked about the permission to the political parties to pitch their tents outside the counting centre, Mr Popli said one person per each party could be allowed. But so far, no party had approached him in this regard, he added. The rehearsal of the counting staff will be held after the list of employees to be deployed is finalised. Giving details of yesterday's polling data, Mr Popli said of the total 1,98,441 votes in the Kharar assembly segment 87,892 voters exercised their franchise. Of the 80,353 votes in SAS Nagar town, only 27,005 votes were caste. Of these 15,505 were men and 11,600 were women. In Kharar township, of the total 22,407 votes as many as 10,800 votes ( 6151 - men and 4649 - women) were polled. In the urban areas of
the Kharar assembly segment, of the total 87,892 votes
only 37,805 votes were polled. The remaining 50,087 were
polled in the rural areas. |
EVMs kept under tight
security Chandigarh, Sept 6 — The police has made elaborate arrangements for the security of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) and other poll-related material stored in five buildings in the city. The counting of votes will take place on October 6. Mr C.S.R. Reddy, Senior Superintendent of Police, said all buildings had been properly sealed and put under the supervision of the respective Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs). Two sections of the CRPF, comprising about 20 men, had been detailed for the security of the buildings and would be under the charge of an Inspector from the local police. The latter would be doing eight-hour shifts. besides, representatives of various political parties were also present round the clock at the buildings concerned, the SSP said. the polling staff had last night deposited the EVMs in the strongrooms located at five counting centres — Government College for Girls, Sector 42, Government College, Sector 46, Government College of Education, Sector 20, Central Polytechnic, Sector 26, and Government College, Sector 11. PANCHKULA A total of 10,2420 persons cast their vote in the district during elections in Ambala Lok sabha constituency yesterday. While 51.59 per cent polling was reported from Kalka assembly segment, 42,852 women and 59,838 men cast their votes. Over 47 per cent polling was reported from the urban areas while 55.81 per cent votes were cast in rural areas. No polling took place in the remote village of Shergujran in Morni hills, with people boycotting the poll on account of no development work being done in their area, while 83 per cent polling was reported in Ganeshpur. Meanwhile, handing over of ballot boxes from different booths continued till past midnight, following which ballot boxes were sealed in the strong room at BEL factory in Sector 14 till October 6. Around 15 Haryana police personnel, led by an inspector, have been deployed at the venue to guard the boxes. These might be checked
once before the date of counting in the presence of all
three candidates, sources added. |
Neerja Bhanot Award for two CHANDIGARH, Sept 6 — The 1998-99 Neerja Bhanot Award, given in the memory of brave city girl Neerja Bhanot, the first and the only woman recipient of Ashok Chakra, who laid down her life to save hundreds on board the hijacked Pan Am aircraft at Karachi Airport in 1986, has been announced for Ms V. Gowramma and Ms Chandra G. Kanjilal. Neerja Bhanot's birth anniversary falls tomorrow. Neerja, a Senior Flight Purser on a Pan Am flight which was hijacked by four heavily armed hijackers, helped a number of passengers escape when these hijackers opened fire and set off explosives. She gave her life while shielding three children from a hail of bullets. It was in the memory of this brave woman that a trust was set up in order to identify and honour Indian women who though subjected to social injustice, overcame it with guts and helped other women in similar distress. Ms Chandra G. Kanjilal, one of the awardees this year, has set up a trust, Sri Sanghshema Trust, in 26 villages of Andhra Pradesh that helps women in distress and also educates them. A former air-hostess whose job was terminated after one year because she "resisted the typical behaviour of senior airline officials", Ms Chandra married a naval officer on her parent's insistence. Her marriage with an alcoholic husband, who would beat her up regularly, lasted 9 years and she bore him three children. After separating from her husband, Ms Chandra got a job in Madras but later shifted to Delhi in order to be close to her children who were with her husband. In Delhi, Ms Chandra, working in the hotel industry, was dismissed when she resisted her boss' overtures. The gutsy woman then took this hotel to the court, after which she set up a trust to help other needy women. The second awardee, Ms V. Gowramma (Gowri), from Bangalore, is another courageous woman who dealt with all social hardships in her life with guts and grits. Ms Gowri and her four-year old daughter were deserted by her husband who was a policeman. Not willing to accept this as her destiny, Ms Gowri was able to trace two women married to her husband and told them that they had been duped. This woman not only fought a nine-year long court case against her husband, but was also able to get him dismissed from the police force. A semi-literate, Ms Gowri, then got herself educated in the laws of women rights. Now, She works for a women's rights organisation called Vimochana at Bangalore where she counsels distressed women in filing their cases and accompanies them to police stations and courts. So far, she has handled more than 1,000 cases, including suspicious cases of reported suicides of women. The Bangalore Corps of Detective has now included her as one of its members. The jury for the 1998-99 awards was Justice Kuldip Singh (retd), Chairman of the jury committee, Ms Sarla Grewal and Prof M.M. Puri. The Neerja Bhanot Awards Ceremony will be held on September 9 at Tagore Theatre. The earlier Neerja
Awards heroines have been Bhanwari Devi, Satya Rani
Chadha, Flavia Agnes, Shanaaz Sheikh, Amrita Ahluwalia,
Purnima Sadhna, N. Radha Bai and Sadhna Pawar. |
Sahni takes over as DUI CHANDIGARH, Sept 6 — Prof Ashok Sahni, Head of the Geology department, took over as Dean University Instruction (DUI) of Panjab University here today. His appointment to this post was recently approved by the Syndicate for a period of one year. Professor Sahni is a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi; Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, and Fellow of the National Science Academy of India, Allahabad. Professor Sahni, who did his doctorate in geology from Minnesota, USA, has been teaching the graduate and postgraduate classes for the past 35 years. Winner of three gold medals for academic excellence at the university level, Professor Sahni has over 150 articles published in various science magazines of the world. He said that his priority would be to promote high-level research in various departments of the university. According to him, the university is renowned for its research and academic work. He will also strive
towards better student-teacher relationship on the campus
and encourage students to participate in cultural
activities. |
Seminar on technical curriculum
opens CHANDIGARH, Sept 6 — A two-day national seminar on 'Curriculum Challenges in Technical Education' commenced at the Technical Teachers' Training Institute here today. The seminar will take note of changing manpower requirements of industry and various sectors of employment in the light of automation/computerisation and opening up of the Indian economy and the role of technical engineers to face these challenges. In his inaugural address, Dr M.P. Kapoor, Director, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, said the country needed to make a departure from the technical education system given by the Britishers and develop a model of its own which suited the present day technical manpower requirements of the country. He emphasised on the need to make technical education more quality oriented, relevant and effective. Dr Kapoor said technical education should be practice oriented and for this, the present gap between theory and practice should be minimised. He said the present day curricula should aim at developing analytical and synthesising capabilities in students of different streams of technical education. This called for introducing changes in the curriculum. He also spoke about the lacunae in the education system. He said there was need to supplement the formal education system with non-formal and distance learning to increase the reach of the system. Mr Yash Pal Mahajan, Chairman, Board of Governors, TTTI, talked about the changes taking place in the Indian economy due to extensive use of information technology and automation. He stressed on the need to develop learning-to-learn skills, problem-solving skills, diagnostic skills and inter-personal skills in technicians to make them employable on completion of their studies. Dr A.S. Bansal, Vice-President, Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE), appealed to the teachers of these institutes to participate in ISTE activities and programmes. He pointed out that participation of polytechnic and engineering college teachers in ISTE activities in northern region was less compared to their counterparts in the south. Earlier, welcoming the participants, Dr S. Krishnamurthy, Principal, TTTI, highlighted the role of World Bank assisted project in bringing about qualitative and quantitative improvement in technical education in the country. He further said the third phase of the project would cover polytechnics which did not get assistance under phases I and II. In this phase, educational management information services for technical education in the country would also be strengthened. Dr L.N. Mittal, Professor, and Head and co-ordinator, Curriculum Development Centre, informed participants about the important topics slated for discussion. This included challenges in technical education in the next century, introduction of automation and computerisation in technical education programmes, curriculum structure and implementation and networking with industry, entrepreneurship and other aspects. More than 100 delegates, including directors of technical education of various states, chairmen of state boards of technical education, industrialists, faculty members of TTTIs, engineering colleges and polytechnics, curriculum designers, academicians and researchers, attended the seminar. Later, Mr N.S. Kalsi,
Director, Technical Education and Industrial Training,
Punjab, spoke about the challenges that the technical
education system was facing. These included keeping pace
with the rapidly changing world of technology, gaps
between industrial needs and curricula, availability,
standardisation and quality management, student
evaluation and impact of government policies. Eight
papers, covering various aspects of technical education,
were presented. Granting complete autonomy to the
institutes for effective implementation of curricula was
emphasised upon. |
Dharna by Home Guard volunteers Chandigarh, Sept 6 — Scores of Home Guard volunteers today staged a dharna in front of the Police Headquarters here,demanding employment for longer duration. About 100 volunteers assembled on a lawn in front of the building. Although the agitators did not raise any slogans or block the entrance to the building, they decried the small duration they are employed for and demanded that rules should be amended to suit their needs. The protesters said they had been employed a week prior to the poll and had been told not to report for duty from today. "Since we all belong to the weaker sections of the society and have been trained in the use of arms and for other police related work, we are ideal for employment." "We have been pressing for changes in the rules for the past many years and had also staged a mass rally a couple of years ago. The department had promised to send our representation to the Home Ministry, but nothing has been done so far ", said an agitator, who did not want to be named. "Many of us have been working in the belief that we would be absorbed in the police and as such have foregone other job opportunities. Many of us have crossed the age limit for employment elsewhere. We are facing hard times and have no expertise to make ends meet", said another protester. Mrs K Singh,Director- General (DG), Home Guards, who is also the IGP, said the people are recruited on a purely voluntary basis and this time the Election Commission had allowed them to use the services of the home guards during the elections. Accordingly, about 250 persons were recruited and they performed various poll and security related duties satisfactorily. He said the set-up of the Home Guards was such that persons are employed for smaller duration on a need basis or for special duties to augment the local force on a temporary basis. The DG, however, said they had not been discharged summarily as the department had about 250 vacancies and till other arrangements to fill the posts are initiated, the present lot had been directed to perform whatever duties are assigned to them. There is no provision to
absorb them in the local force but they are free,
provided they meet the requirements, to apply when
recruitment is carried out in the local force, he added. |
Prestigious award for CSIO CHANDIGARH, Sept 6 — The Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO) has been chosen for the prestigious Gian Chand Jain Memorial Award for excellent scientific research for the year 1999 for its outstanding contributions in the design,development and indigenisation of micro-electronics, opto-electronics, optical, robotics and process control instruments in India. The CSIO has developed a number of state-of-the-art instruments required for the manufacture of semi-conductor devices and micromachining. These instruments included molecular beam epitaxy, optical stepper, advanced dry etching equipment, electron beam evaporators, RF/DC sputtering, LSI/VLSI tester, X-ray lithography machine and surface characterisation tools. Apart from this, the CSIO is engaged in the development of various precision opto-electronics equipment for defence and analytical application, head up display for LCA Drishti, mini pan camera, holographic techniques and glow discharge atomic emission spectrometer. It had also developed a number of sensors and actuators for robotic and process control applications. The award will be conferred on Dr RP Bajpai, Director of the CSIO, on the occasion of the 10th Gian Chand Jain Memorial Lecture at Ambala on September 24. Dr CG Krishnadas Nair,
Chairman of the of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited,
Bangalore, will confer the award and deliver the lecture. |
Benefits for varsity teachers CHANDIGARH, Sept 6 — The Ministry of Human Resources and Development (HRD) has in a communication sent to the University Grants Commission (UGC) clarified that teachers in the reader/lecturer selection grade whose scales were fixed at Rs 14,940 on January 1, 1996, or with service ranging from 5 to 12 years, will get the benefit of bunching. Mr Jawahar Shrivastava, Deputy Secretary of the MoHRD has in a letter sent to the Registrar of various universities, state and union territory governments clarified that reader/lecturer selection grade with 5 years' service, drawing pay at sixth stage i.e. Rs 4,325 in the pre-revised scale of Rs 3700-5700, will now be fixed at Rs 14,940 in the revised scale of Rs 12,000-Rs 18,300. However, teachers drawing pay at sixth, seventh, eight and ninth stages will not be eligible for the benefit of bunching. Accordingly, in their case, the date of next increment in the revised scale will be the one on which they would have drawn increment, had they continued in the pre-revised scale. The letter further clarifies that teachers drawing pay at tenth, eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth stages in the pre-revised scale will become entitled to one increment in the revised pay scale with effect from January 1, 1996. Teachers drawing pay at 14th and the 15th stages of the pre-revised scale (Rs 3700-Rs 5700) will become entitled to two increments in the revised scale as on January 1, 1996. As teachers drawing pay from the 10th to the 15th stage will get the benefit of bunching, they will become entitled to next increment in the revised scale on completion of 12 months, from the date of stepping up of their pay viz. 12 months from January 1, 1996. Mr Charanjit Chawla,
former General Secretary of the Punjab and Chandigarh
College Teachers' Union (PCCTU) and member of the Panjab
University Senate, said hurdles created by the DPI
(colleges) of Punjab and Chandigarh had been cleared. He
hoped that the decision of the MoHRD would be implemented
immediately. |
Booth capturing alleged ZIRAKPUR, Sept 6 — Polling at two booths (Nos 8 and 8-A) in the Banur segment of the Patiala parliamentary constituency was suspended following allegations of booth capturing by Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Finance Minister levelled by Congress and the Sarav Hind Shiromani Akali Dal (SHSAD) workers here yesterday. The polling process could not be carried out at the polling booth set up in Government Primary School, Lohgarh, beyond 4.25 p.m. due to intervention by leaders of different political parties. The voters who were in queues in spite of heavy rain were restrained from casting their votes by the supporters of the Congress, the SAD and the SHSAD. According to eyewitnesses, workers and supporters of the SHSAD and the Congress started raising slogans against "bogus" voting by Akali workers. The agents of both parties asked the presiding officers to stop polling. In the meantime, Capt Kanwaljit Singh arrived at the polling station. After some discussion with the presiding officers, the polling process started again after five minutes. He directed the police to register a case against the agitators. As the minister was at the gate of the polling station, Mr Ravinder Singh Sohi, former Chairman of the Zila Parishad, Patiala, reached the polling station and asked the polling to be stopped. Then there was an argument between Capt Kanwaljit Singh and Mr Sohi who was accompanied by Congress and SHSAD workers. Mr Sher Singh Sidhu, Assistant Returning Officer of the Banur segment, reached the spot along with Mr H.S. Bhullar, DSP, and the presiding officers were asked to start polling again. But not even a single vote was cast. Mr Sohi alleged that the polling station had been captured by the minister and the presiding officers were hand in glove with Akali workers. They had not even maintained the proper record of the votes polled. Mr Amrik Singh Malikpur, a worker of the SHSAD, alleged that the Akali workers had beaten up his supporters in various villages. He also alleged that the police had arrested their four workers after implicating them in false cases. Akali workers, however, alleged that about 10 members forcibly entered the polling station by pushing back the security men and tried to cast bogus votes. They also tried to beat up Akali workers. The Congress and the SHSAD demanded repolling at this particular booth. Meanwhile, on the
directions of the election observer, the Dera Bassi
police has registered a case against the Shiromani Akali
Dal and the Congress for violating the code of conduct in
Chhat village. |
UGC nomination for PU Reader
CHANDIGARH, Sept 6 — The University Grants Commission has nominated Dr Sanjay Chaturvedi, reader in Political Science Department and deputy coordinator of the Centre for the Study of Geo-Politics, to participate in an Indo-Finland exchange programme. Beginning later this week, Dr Chaturvedi will deliver lectures at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Helsinki; the University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, and the Karelian Institute of the University of Joenssu. He will also be visiting
the Copenhagen Peace Research Institute, Denmark, where
he has been invited to work on comparing the discourses
on the arctic and Antarctic as relevant issues in the
sphere of international relations. |
57.31 pc voting in Morinda
segment KHARAR, Sept 6 — A total of 57.31 per cent voters used their franchise in the polling held yesterday in Morinda segment of the Ropar Lok Sabha constituency, according to Mr Amarjit Singh Dhindsa SDM Kharar-Cum-Assistant Returning Officer. He said the percentage of votes polled was 78 in Kainor village, 75 in Kulara village, 73 in Badodi, 75 in Khairpur village, and 67 in Jandpur village. He said that in Masol village which is situated in the hilly areas of Kharar, only eight voters used their franchise. In Mirzapur village where earlier news about boycott of the election had appeared in many papers, about 40 per cent polling was recorded. Mr Dhindsa said all
ballot boxes had been sealed in the building of Govt
Polytechnic, Khuni Majra (Kharar) under tight security
arrangements. He said the counting of votes would be done
here on October 6. Mr Dhindsa has thanked all employees
and his staff members for assisting him in conducting
fair and free poll. |
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Residents
'denied' voting right The President of the 504 MIG Flats (Sector 61) Residents Welfare Association, Mr Chanan Singh, in a statement issued here today alleged that although the people had filled form No 8-A during the process of the revision of electoral roll in April this year, yet the names of the majority of the voters did not figure in the lists. He said four members of his family could not exercise their right to franchise as their names were missing from the revised lists. Moreover, the voters of the complex were not allotted a booth in the sector. While residents had to go to Nehru Colony in Sector 52, a large number of voters were allotted a booth in the sector. He complained that despite repeated representations to the Chandigarh Administration, the sector did not figure in the official map of the city. Expulsion
illegal, say leaders Workshop
begins at PGI The workshop, according to Dr Indarjit Walia, Principal of the College, will not only describe concepts of latest teaching techniques with the use of educational technology, but will also develop suitable evaluation tools to be adopted in the educational programme, besides describing the principles to be considered for curriculum planning. The workshop being co-ordinated by Dr Saroj Sharma would also focus on the preparation of five-day curriculum for nursing training. On the first day of the workshop, a discussion was held on clinical and field teaching experience and regulations of Indian Nursing Council. In the following days, the workshop will include discussions and lectures on the role of low-cost teaching aids, difference between training and education, stress management and integration of service and education. Resource persons of the workshop include Dr Indarjit Walia, Mrs A.K. Ahluwalia, Mrs Satwant Baltej, Mrs Prem Verma and Mrs Swaran Tomar. Low
water pressure A press note alleged here today that residents of the upper floors had been receiving water at a low pressure, putting them to a lot of inconvenience. Repeated representations to the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh have failed to improve the situation, it added. Workshop
on access to information The workshop, being organised by the National Social Science Documentation Centre (NASSDOC), New Delhi, and the CRRID, was inaugurated by Mr T.K.A. Nair, Chairman of the Public Enterprises Selection Board. Mr Rashpal Malhotra, Director, CRRID, in his welcome address, stated that social sciences research in India was in the doldrums due to lack of information and data and non-documentation of the available data in the related fields. Mr Nair stressed on connectivity in government departments in data sharing. He also laid emphasis on generating its own data base which could enhance good governance. Mr K.G. Tyagi, Director, NASSDOC, stressed on the need for availability of right information for administrators and policy makers. He also asserted that information technology should be used as an opportunity and a challenge. Living
with stench of carcass According to Mr Sarabjeet Singh, a resident, the presence of a carcass of a large animal has resulted in a foul smell in the locality, forcing the residents to stay indoors. Another resident
complained that in spite of complaints to the civic
authorities, no attempt has been made to remove the body
of the animal from the trench. |
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