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High-level body to probe
falling research standards Chandigarh, December 20 The university at a Senate meeting recently has accepted that a routine PhD degree largely comprised work borrowed from already published works in the concerned field. The edition compiled from different sources is submitted for evaluation in a majority of the cases. The issue involves not merely students looking for easy alternates to tide over their need for a doctor’s degree but also involves the lackadaisical attitude of the teachers who guide research. The issue featured at the university Senate level meeting and no words were minced to accept the fact that the fault lay with both the teachers and the students. It may be remembered that the Botany Department of the university has featured in substandard research controversy repeatedly for the past couple of years. At least three teachers were accused of guiding substandard work. All were given a clean chit by the university committees to look into the matter. The matter related more to department politics, it was felt. The issue has, however, led to the Senate taking cognizance of the issue in a broader perspective and assuring a look into the case. Prof S.S. Kumar, a fellow of the university senate, said ” the university should show action on concerns at the falling standards of research. In a general perspective we cannot ignore the fact that at least two Vice Chancellors of different
universities have been accused of plagiarism which reflects on the falling standards in the academic circles. PU should take a lead and set certain parameters for quality work, at least in the future”. He said; “we don’t need any experts to point out the drawbacks in the existing system. This seems like an era of self-imposed eminence and has been aggravated by certain academies where honours can be bought. The university is contributing to the morbid scenario by pushing such issues under the carpet. Some examples of strong action against the guilty need to be set”. Prof Satya P Gautam, Department of Philosophy, said it was a time for introspection on part of the faculty to streamline the work by research scholars. Prof Bhuvan Chandel, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, said plagiarism should be made punishable for which even one example will serve as a deterrent for others. A senior research scholar said teachers will have to set the first example in revamping the system. Even before allowing a research they should go into the originality of the concept. Care should be taken while studying the dissertation of the thesis to ensure quality. |
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Interactive session of NSS functionaries Chandigarh, December 20 The NSS programme officers from all 33 senior secondary schools participated in the session where the various programmes and the role of NSS came in for discussion. The programme officer from CYP Asia Centre, Mr Rajan Velukar, introduced “EYES” programme, Educate Yourself Every Saturday, in schools for personality development. He briefed the gathering of the “home stay” programme under which NSS volunteers would be selected for a volunteer-exchange programme with the Mumbai unit of the NSS. Agreeing to impart first-aid training to NSS volunteers during the 10-day special camp, the District Training Superintendent of Indian Red Cross Society, Dr SK Nazeer, said they would also organise regular health check-up camps. The Project Director of the State AIDS Control Society, Dr NM Sharma, that they had developed a resource kit titled “Learning for life” and “Question and answer on AIDS”. All NSS programme officers requested for assistance in organising poster contests and rally on HIV/AIDS. The Veterinary Officer from the Society for prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Dr Raghu, said the agency can help the NSS by organising special check-up programmes, and in turn, NSS volunteers can also help in collecting food for stray animals. The president of the Environment Society, Dr SK Sharma, said students should be given exposure to the cultures of various parts of India. The Principal of the host school, Mr Karan Singh, appreciated the work being done by the NSS and showed a garden with saplings of medicinal plants on the campus maintained by them. The chief guest, District Education Officer, Ms Rajesh Chaudhary, was all praise for the work being done by NSS volunteers and said NSS inculcated good values and contributed to making good citizens. Earlier, the deputy programme adviser, NSS, Mr Satish Kumar Sawhney, welcomed the guests. |
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Scintillating performance by
Henderson school kids Kharar, December 20 The function started with a Christmas message, which was delivered by the Rev Chrisopher Edwin, Head, Department of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh. He said religion was being intellectualised and meant only for the powerful. But Jesus Christ felt that ordinary people and children received the message of God because they were innocent and responded to love and kindness. Acceptance of love was not restricted to any religion. It was a universal human quality and life could not proceed by hating, killing and oppressing each other. The world should be a place full of love, joy and kindness. Students of Classes I to III, dressed in pink sweaters and blue trousers, holding lit candles in their hands sang a song, “We have an opportunity to welcome
you”. This was followed by a number of children dressed as Santa Claus and fairies presenting a song, “Jesus’s love is wonderful”, which drew wide applause. Another item that was appreciated by the audience was the dance of the Thar desert, brought alive by students wearing colourful costumes and dancing to the tune of “Mera assi kali ka lehanga”. This was followed by an item where students sang Christmas carols. An episode from the English play, “Paradise Lost”, based on the epic of John Milton, was also enacted by students, stressing the point that we all should acknowledge that God is Supreme and happiness could be achieved by obeying him. A Hindi play, “Ma Se Piyara Kuch Bhi Nahin” was also staged, emphasising the role played by a mother for her children. The other items included bhangra, gidha and aerobics. Mr P. Sabu, Regional Officer of the CBSE at Chandigarh, who was introduced to the audience by Mr Naresh Donald, Principal, said independent thinking was more important than acquiring special knowledge. He appreciated the efforts of the school in putting up a wonderful show. Prizes were also distributed by him. Among the prize winners were six students who had topped the school in the CBSE examinations. While Preetkamal, Amit Samanth and Rajpreet Kaur stood first, second and third, respectively, in the Class X exams, Kiranpreet Kaur, Rizvi and Rahul Dhawan got the first three positions, respectively, in the Class XII examination (commerce group). |
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Xmas celebrations Chandigarh, December 20 Students sang carols and Santa Claus distributed gifts to the students. This was followed by a party where students sang and danced. Meanwhile, children came attired in fancy dresses and recited nursery rhymes at Sanjivani Preparatory School, Sector 11. A magic show was also held to entertain the children. The music and dance programme started with “Jingle bells”. In the school decorated with buntings, balloons and twinkling lights, Santa Claus distributed gifts from their bags. At St Thomas School, Sector 18, students celebrated
Christmas, annual day and sports day, with dances and a Christmas play where the birth of Jesus Christ was depicted. Santa Claus gave out gifts and encouraged the students who performed at the function. Students performed giddha, bhangra, Haryanavi dance while tiny-tots of kindergarten classes presented nursery rhymes. The Principal, Ms S Holkar, presented the school report highlighting the activities and achievements of the school. |
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Sports, cultural events mark annual function Chandigarh, December 20 The Director of kindergarten, Ms Simar Grewal, read out the annual report. The programme started with marchpast representing the four school houses. The spectators stood up to applaud as the tiny tots of play class and pre KG performed rhyme show and rainbow drill. A karate show was also presented by the a students. Kids from KG class, dressed up as sailors, presented the “sailors drill”. Students of Class I enacted all seasons. Aerobics and another drill using scarves, hoops and batons was presented by the students of Class V. The grand finale was bhangra. Races including, crawling frog, cap, sack and relay were also held. The programme was presided over by the Panjab University Registrar, Dr Paramjit Singh. |
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Baby show at school’s
annual function Zirakpur, December 20 The function started with Saraswati Vandana that was followed by a dance to a foot-tapping music by students of Pre-Nursery. Tiny tots presented a dance on a song ‘Nani teri morni’ which drew applause. A magic show, qawwali, bhangara and giddha were the main attractions of the show. Dr Jeevan Asha Grover, former District Ayurvedic and Unani officer, Patiala, who was the chief guest, appreciated the students. He also gave away prizes to the winners for their performance in academics and other co-curricular activities, said Mr Sunil Chadha, school director. Earlier, Mrs Kamal Chadha, read out the school annual report and listed the achievements of the institution. |
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Aggrieved parents to meet DPI Chandigarh, December 20 The students father, Mr Musharraf Ali, said they would approach the UT Education Department since the Principal, Mr R.D. Singh, had not been able to give a satisfactory reply or take action against the teacher accused of hitting his son. |
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Funny games
at school Kharar, December 20 More than 300 students, from class nursery to X, took part in the activities. Tiny tots took part in the frog race. This was followed by students taking part in the games like match stick collection, balloon blowing and bursting, emptying glasses of water with straw, twin chair race, thread and ball. The Director of the school, Mr J.S. Bedi, emphasised the importance of games and urged the students to take part in such activities wholeheartedly. |
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HIGH COURT Chandigarh, December 20 In a ruling on a petition seeking probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into “a murderous attack”, the Bench, comprising Mr Justice G.S. Singhvi and Mr Justice S.S. Nijjar, added: “More serious the allegations, heavier is the burden”.
Promotion plea dismissed A Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed a petition filed by Charanjit Singh — second-in-command with the Central Reserve Police Force. He was seeking directions to the Union of India and other respondents to promote him with effect from the date his immediate juniors were promoted. The Bench, comprising Mr Justice S.S. Nijjar and Mr Justice S.S. Grewal, ruled: “We find there is sufficient material in support of conclusion reached by the respondents... We find no reason to interfere. The writ petition is, hereby, dismissed”.
Notice of motion issued Acting on a petition filed by 20 city-based school teachers, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has restrained Chandigarh Administration from terminating their services. Pronouncing the orders on a petition filed by Rajni Tiwari and others against the Union of India, the Central Administrative Tribunal and Director, Public Instructions, along with another respondent, the Bench, comprising Mr Justice S.S. Nijjar and Mr Justice S.S. Grewal, also issued notice of motion for February 2, next year. |
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Court
issues notices Chandigarh, December 20 In their petition, the members had
alleged that the directions issued by the court on March 28 in the
matter had not been complied with. The case will now come up for
further hearing on April 20. |
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M.S. Randhawa yadgari mela begins Mohali, December 20 More than 20 singers took part in the folk song competition while five teams participated in the bhangra competition which was organised by the Punjabi Cultural and Welfare Society. Mashallah Khan, Nishtha Bains and Parkash Dilbar got the first, second and third positions, respectively, in the singing competition. DAV College, Sector 10, Chandigarh, bagged the first position in the bhangra competition while Government Ranbir College, Sangrur, and Panj Dariya Club, Mohali, bagged the second and third positions, respectively. Earlier during the day, a seminar on the contribution of Dr Randhawa in the development of Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiat was organised in which prominent scholars presented their views. Sharing some moments spent with Dr Randhawa, story writer Gulzar Singh Sandhu said the former worked for the benefit of every section of society. He got three sectors reserved for defence personnel when he was the Chief Commissioner at Chandigarh and the plots were allotted at concessional rates. He was the one who could get a part of the land of the Rose Garden in Chandigarh for setting up Kala Bhavan. He was a workaholic and valued merit. Dr Harcharan Singh, playwright, said Dr Randhawa wanted to set up an art council to encourage Punjabi culture on the lines of the British Art Council. He was the one who was ready to sacrifice his life for the sake of Punjabi culture. Dr S.S. Dosanjh, a former director of the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, said Dr Randhawa wanted to bring about an improvement in agriculture, horticulture, painting, literature, schools and colleges etc. When he got to know that the Sahit Academi at Ludhiana was in a bad shape, he got Rs 5 lakh sanctioned from the then Punjab Chief Minister which were spent on constructing an open air theatre, a seminar room and improving upon other aspects. Ms Iqbal Kaur and Ms Dorris Randhawa, daughter and daughter-in-law of Dr Randhawa, respectively, were honoured on the occasion. |
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Film Review HERE is a specialised advice for the MBBS doctors from our Munnabhai (Sanjay Dutt), a small time sensitive gangster, who is on the way to acquire the medical degree from a prestigious Mumbai college — the patient is much more than a subject of study. Bear up him with “Jhappi” (hug) and the cure is not far behind. But why is this successful gangster racking his brains in a medical college No, not to impress his girlfriend but his father (Sunil Dutt) who is an honourable man in his village. The college scenes offer humour in abundance. Munnabhai heals patients with his love and laughter. He learns little from dissecting the human body but teaches medicos to be humane. No wonder everyone in the campus picks up his tapori language. The budding doctor is ably assisted in his reformation spree by his entourage led by Circuit (Arshad Warsi) who is in cracking form. The heroine, Gracy Singh, provides the sobering effect. We have another interesting character — Prof Asthana, the college dean and father of heroine (Boman Irani) who propagates laughter therapy in his own whimsical way. Just ignore dramatic overtones and watch the movie with MBBS (“Miyan, biwi, bacchon samet”). Fun missing in “Fun2shh” Welcome to a bewildering tale of the 10th century where the three central characters of the movie — Vicky (Iqbal Khan) Ajay (Anu Sahni) and John (Paresh Rawal) are accidently transported
courtesy a historic crown. And now put your mind aside to digest the following sequences which are supposed to be comical. Even a good actor like Paresh Rawal could not do much as he is let down by the directionless script. Gulshan Grover and Kader Khan, too, meet a similar fate. The dialogues reek of staleness and soundtrack is hopeless. The chaos intensifies in the second half when the 10th and the 21st century appear together and all, characters, who are equally confused acquire double roles. At this point of time it is the exit door rather than the screen which beckons you. |
City women go for Vodka Tribune News Service From the swanky bars in clubs to the numerous restaurants, the fairer sex in the city enjoys being “on a high”. Though still drinking is more popular among women belonging to upper middle class and elite sections of society, what is amazing is the increasing number of young girls having a liking for alcohol and the social acceptance that has slowly come about. So women having liquor in the privacy of their home, or in private parties, is
passe. Just as having dhoka cola (liquor mixed in cold drink) is now a sure shot way of being labeled BTM
(behenji turned mod), walking around with a glass in hand, so that the liquor is just visible, is surely to get noticed and lead you to the top list of regular party goers in the city. However, cocktails like Bloody Mary, Screw Driver and Pina Colada are still hot favourites. Says Anita Singh (name changed), a school Principal-cum-child psychologist, who loves having a drink daily, “With life getting busier with each passing day and increasing stress in daily life, having a small drink helps you in relaxing. If going for a party, one drink is enough to get you in the party groove.” But what kind of alcoholic drinks are catching the fancy of the fairer sex in the city? With champagne being reserved for serving on special occasions and the concept of women having wine only not catching up as yet, increasing number of women in the city prefer the ‘real thing’. Enquiries made at various discotheques and clubs revealed that though gin, beer, tequila shots and scotch are still quite popular, it is the Russian Vodka that is most preferred by the city women — probably due to its water-like colour and the instant high it provides. From young girls to the middle-aged women, everyone seems to have taken a fancy to alcoholic drinks. While the flavoured alcohol by
Bacardi, in lemon, cranberry and orange, are popular among young women, the older lot prefers having their drink on the
rocks. Ria Aggarwal (name changed), a young city lawyer, says with more and more city women becoming career conscious and their families becoming more liberal, drinking within limits is now an accepted culture. She opines, “If men can have drinks without anybody batting an eyelid, what is wrong with women gulping down a few drinks. Anyway, unlike men, you would hardly find women getting
sozzled. And as long as anyone can hold his or her drinks, it is not a big issue.” |
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Students present musical extravaganza
Students of Strawberry Fields School participated in a musical extravaganza at the Nehru Bhavan, Sector 24, here on Saturday. The Punjab Governor-cum-UT Administrator, Justice O.P. Verma, was the guest of honour during “Strawberry Fields Sporty Musical Soiree”. The programme started at 3.15 p.m. As the afternoon sun managed to push aside a thick curtain of clouds, students dressed up in white marched up and down the ground as band of the Chandigarh Police played Colonel Bogey’s. The crowd craned their necks as “Santa Claus” came in a golf cart. After waving to the spectators, he hugged and picked up students before giving them gifts. Crowd stood up to applause as students, dressed up as car rallyist, negotiated the sharp turns and crossed hurdles to reach their destination. The 90-minute show was a visual delight, transporting the audience into the innocent world inhabited by children. Scottish tunes from Edinburgh served as ideal background music. The band played a series of tunes for the races titled “Turtle Trackers”, “Hat Hunters”, “Kangaroo Hoppers”, “Challenge Seekers” and “Car Rallyist”. For the presentations on “Jungle Jamboree”, “Colours of the Universe” and “Trees of Knowledge”, there were sweet renditions in British English. Two sequences presented by lower and upper KG students were choreographed by Shiamak Davar. “Planet Ketchup” — a funky version of hip-hop and fusion combining dance with gymnastics — gave a new look to the “Ketchup Song”. ‘The Spirit of India’, was stylised on a song from Adnan Sami’s repertoire. Creatively done up props added colour and novelty to the crisp, fast-paced show. Justice O.P. Verma said, “Progress of a nation depends on the upbringing of children. Every child in the country deserves best facilities. But it is a pity that these facilities could trickle down to only a few people”. Regarding sports, he said, “It is a tonic that helps tiny tots grow well physically, besides inculcating team leadership and sportsmanship in them. He also gave away the prizes to the winners. School director Atul Khanna also spoke on the occasion. OC  |
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It’s my life Deep Kataria (16) is a student of class XI of C.L. DAV Public School Sector 11, Panchkula. ‘‘I started singing at the age of 4 and playing on the harmonium on my own without any guidance. I performed on stage for the first time when I was eight.” I have competed in many inter-state and inter-school competitions in singing. I have also received many awards for singing ghazals, classical, bhajan etc. I have also sung on the radio many times. Although I have taken music as an additional subject in school, I have not taken any special training to sing. Professionally I want to be an engineer as it is very difficult to become a professional singer.’’ Deep received the Best Singer Award at the Yaad gar-e-Rafi society function in 2002 in the junior category. ‘‘I also got the Best Singer Award at Ambala Cantonment while competing at a national-level function organised by the Sangam Kala Group and they have given me a chance to sing at the Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi in February 2004. For my songs I get inspiration from Mohammad Rafi and Ghulam Ali but for singing I am encouraged and inspired by my family and my school principal V.P. Paul and my music teachers Ms Rama and Mrs Madhu. — As told to Chitleen Sethi |
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Elocution skills to the fore More than 800 students of Saint Soldiers International Convent School here participated in the elocution day on Saturday in Mohali. Speaking on the occasion, the school Principal V. Tiwana said every year an inter-class competition was organised in elocution and stress was laid on correct pronunciation and voice modulation. Tiny tots of the nursery classes regaled the audience with popular rhymes in English and Hindi. Students of Class I to Class V recited poems of renowned poets like Ogden Dash, Robert Browning, Vikram Seth, Robert Dahl, Harivansh Rai Bachchan and Maithlisharan Gupt. In another function students of DAV Public School Mohali celebrated Christmas before the school closes for winter vacation from Sunday. Mrs Jaya Bhardwaj, school Principal, presided over the function. Inter class competitions were organised as part of the celebrations. Among those who won prizes on the occasion included Surabhi, Shivani, Amrita, Shitij, Manpreet, Jaskaran, Harshita Kamaljinder, Shreya, Akshay and Nikita.
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