The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Farm officers’ workshop
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 6
A two-day agricultural officers’ workshop for rabi crops will be organised by the Directorate of Extension Education, PAU, from August 9 in Pal Auditorium. Dr Amrik Singh Sandhu, Director of Extension Education, said the university VC, Dr Kirpal Singh Aulakh, will inaugurate the workshop while Dr Ajmer Singh will give the introduction about rabi crops.

The PAU scientists will solve the problems faced by the farmers and suggest the solutions according to recommendations made by the research committee and these recommendations will be presented in the form of a book to be published by the Centre for Communication, Languages and Culture.

Dr Amrik Singh Sandhu said Dr Govinder Singh Nanda, Director of Research, will give the introduction about the new research technology and the new varieties of rabi crops. Dr Malwinder Singh Tiwana, Dean, College of Agriculture, will welcome the scientists.

Dr Sarjit Singh Gill, Additional Director of Extension Education, said registration will commence at 9 am outside the auditorium.

EDUCATION

Police stops protesters in their tracks
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 6
Members of the Unemployed Elementary Teachers Union were stopped by the police from proceeding to the house of Education Minister Harnam Dass Johar here today. The members of the union, who had come from various parts of the district, were preparing to march to the minister’s house to agitate in favour of their demands. They raised slogans against Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and later burnt an effigy of the government.

Mr Pawan Kumar Pamma, president of the union, said they had given a number of representations to the minister, who had assured them that they would be employed on a contract basis. He asserted that this was unacceptable to them as the union wanted the government to recruit them against permanent posts. He added that Mr Johar had appealed to them to come to the negotiating table.

He alleged that the offer of the union for talks in a cordial atmosphere had not been reciprocated by the government, following which it had to protest. He demanded that the government withdraw cases registered against members of the union on August 4. He warned that members of the union would sit on a two-day fast from August 8 if this demand was not met.

Japanese delegates visit PAU
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 6
Japanese economists under the leadership of Dr Seeiichi Fukui, during their visit to Punjab, visited PAU. They expressed concern over the rapid increase in the Indian population and slow development in the field of agricultural production, its processing and other fields supporting agriculture. This four-member team was from Asian Population and Development Association, Tokyo (Japan).

During the meeting with delegates, Dr Kirpal Singh Aulakh told them that the Punjab economy was mainly based on agriculture. The water level was going 52 cms down every year which affected the fertility of land and cropyield.

Pesticides, fungicides and weedicides were expensive while the prices for agricultural products were stagnant.

The PAU scientists are working hard to get rid of this economic crisis. He further said that the irrigation in Punjab depended on canal water and due to shortage of this of water, the number of submersible and centrifugal pumps was increasing. Dr Gurvinder Singh Nanda, Director of Research, and Dr A S Joshi, Professor and Head, Department of Economics were also present.

The delegates visited the Department of Economics and held a discussion with some scientists. Giving the information, Dr Amarjit Singh Bhullar told the visitors that the power supply was disturbed due to its diversion towards tubewells during the paddy season. This crop was responsible for polluting the atmosphere which affected the general hygiene.

Infrastructure development impresses Japanese
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, August 6
A team of experts from Japan, headed by Dr Seiichi Fukul, Professor, Agriculture Economics, Developing Economic, Kobe University, met Mr S. K. Sharma, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, here last night. The Japanese experts’ tour was conducted under the aegis of the Asian Population and Development Association in collaboration with the Indian Parliamentarians’ Association on Population and Development.

One of the members of the team, who was visiting the city for the second time, appreciated the improvement in the infrastructure facilities, particularly main roads, expansion in water supply, sewerage and streetlights. He, however, observed that the number of vehicles on the roads had tremendously gone up since his previous visit and the traffic problem had aggravated manifolds.

Mr Sharma apprised the experts about the main developmental projects in order to improve the civic conditions. The corporation had implemented a project of providing potable drinking water in all approved areas and it had also chalked out a comprehensive plan to extend this facility to all areas falling within the city limits.

Teej festival celebrated at Doraha college
Our Correspondent

Doraha, August 6
Punjabiat came alive at the festival of Teej organised at Guru Nanak National College, Doraha, today. The atmosphere added colour and variety to the festival. The college wore a bridal look with girls dressed at their best and performing typical Punjabi scenes on the stage. The swings gave a symbolic touch to the festival. The girls performing ‘kikli’ which made the hearts throb and the feet dance to their rhythmic movement.

The variety of stalls, including ornaments and cosmetic items as bangles, rings, parandas, earrings, mehandi etc made the function look more natural. Kheer poras, the speciality of the Teej festival was served in plenty. The Teej mela consisted of another typical feature of Punjabi culture. Various ancient and unique ornaments and articles including bagh, phulkari, charkha, pakkhiyan, nalahs, old utensils, bedsheets and crochet items were displayed in the exhibition especially organised on the occasion of Teej.

Various competitions, including rangoli competition, embroidery competition, mehandi competition, meddian competition, nala-making competition, crochet competition and knitting competition were conducted off the stage.

On the stage, the performance of the students was worth appreciating. ‘Folk songs’ were presented by Sharanjit Singh, Pawandeep Kaur, Rajvir Singh, Kamaljit Kaur, Mandeep Sharma, Kulwinder Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Veenu and Manpreet Kaur. Ghoris were presented by Manjinder Kaur, Manpreet Kaur, Harwinder Kaur, Satnam Kaur, Sunita and others. ‘Suhaag’ was sung by Sunita, ‘Tappa’ by Kiranpreet and party. Bhand performance was by Gurinder Singh and Manpreet Singh was among the highlights giddha also presented. Bibi Bhagwant Kaur, President, college management committee, was the chief guest.

Among those who graced the occasion were Prof Balwant Singh Pangali, general secretary, college management committee, Mrs Raj Rani, Principal, B.D. Budhiraja, Sanatan Dharam Kamla Lotia College, Ludhiana and Dean, Development Council, Panjab University, Chandigarh. ‘Giddian di rani’ Sarabjit Mangat, Mrs Purshotam Gill, Mrs Gosain, Mr Adarsh Pal Bector, Mrs Rajbir Kaur, Prof Gurvinder Kaur, and Prof R S Pali.

Kiran Preet Kaur was declared ‘Teean Di Rani’ and Sukhmani was ‘Giddian Di Rani’. In folk song competition, Rajvir Singh was declared first, Sharanjit Singh second and Satnam Kaur third. In giddha, Charata was declared first. In median competition, Ramandeep Kaur stood first, Sandeep Kaur second, and Sumandeep Kaur third. In mehandi competition, Ritu Sharma was first, Sonia second, and Gagandeep Kaur third. In embroidery competition, Sunita was declared first and Kamalpreet Kaur second. In nala knitting competition, Jaswinder Kaur was declared first and Kuldip Kaur second. In crochet knitting competition, Pardeep Kaur was declared first and Suman Preet Kaur was declared second. In the end, Sarabjit Mangat entertained the guests.

From Schools and Colleges
NSS volunteers plant saplings
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, August 6
NSS students of Master Tara Singh College along with the Principal, Dr Madanjit Kaur Sahota, programme officers, Inder Mohan Kaur and Gurvinder Kaur, carried out a programme for sapling plantation on the college premises with the motto ‘Save earth save world’.

All volunteers pledged to plant at least one sapling each at their homes and further nurse the sapling till its maturity and enjoy the beauty of the nature. Dr Sahota highlighted the menace of polluted environment where people were crying for pure water, air and food. “Tree plantation is the only hope to save mankind.” She emphasised the need of clean environment by planting more and more trees to combat the ever increasing environmental pollution.

Art and craft competition: In connection with the ongoing cultural week, the Bharat Vikas Parishad, Shivaji branch, organised an art and craft competition in Shanti Niketan Adarsh Vidyalaya on the Benjamin road here on Friday. Students from classes V to XI took part in the competition.

Mr Randhir Sharma, President, congratulated the prize winners. Mr I.V. Thaman, Mr Pawan Bansal, Mr Manmohan Bhatt, Mr Narinder Bangia, Mr Kewal Bansal, Mr Rajesh Nauhria and Mr Bimal Chhabra were present on the occasion.

Following were the results: +1 — Dimple Kapoor 1, Roshni Sharma 2 and Pawanjot 3; X (girls) — Shruti 1, Nancy Arora 2, Shipra Bansal 3; X (boys) — Karandeep 1, Harpreet 2 and Sunny 3; IX (Girls) — Ruhi 1, Shilpa 2, Tanu 3; IX (boys) — Amardeep 1, Deepak 2, Varinder 3; VIII (girls) — Preeti Bhatia 1, Jaspreet Kaur 2, Jeenat 3; VIII (a) — Vaneet 1, Prince 2, Bharat Bhushan 3; VIII (b) — Pardeep Shuman 1, Kewal Krishan 2; VII (a) — Puja 1, Deepak 2, Priya 3; VII (b) — Monika 1, Jasleen 2, Gurdeep 3; VI (a) — Jaspreet 1, Neha 2, Anmol 3; VI (b) — Neetu 1, Tanu Kapoor 2; V (a) — Rajat Bhatia 1, Nisha 2, Himani 3 and V (b) — Yashu Saini 1, Reema 2.

‘Rim jhim’ at Love Dale: Tiny tots of Love Dale celebrated ‘Rim jhim — the rain festival’ with a lot of fun. The kids were prepared for the function during the last fortnight. The teachers pasted clouds, rain drops and umbrellas on the colourful dresses of the children. The children recited poems expressing their joy that the rains had finally arrived. The finale was cutting of the cake and a thrilling dance party on song like ‘Dum dum diga diga’, ‘Ghode jaisee chaal, haathi jaisee dum’ and ‘Saun di jhadi’.

IGNOU courses: Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Regional Centre at Khanna has decided to accept the application forms for BA, B.Com., MA (English), MA (political science), MA (history), MA (Hindi), MTM, BTS and other programmes of its academic session of July, 2004, up to August 30, with a late fee of Rs. 200.

As per the information given by Dr U.C. Pandey, Regional Director of IGNOU for Punjab and Chandigarh, the decision to accept the applications with late fee would help a number of students who were not able to submit their application form due to non-declaration of their result. In a significant decision, it had also been decided to admit those students provisionally who were not able to submit proof of having qualified the eligibility requirement by due date. Applications of such students would be accepted based on an undertaking. However, they would be required to submit proof by September 30, 2004.

Dr Pandey said application forms could also be accepted in the downloadable form from Internet. The students who submitted the downloadable form of Internet would be required to submit application along with an additional amount of Rs 30. It was also informed that the regional centre would hold an interactive counselling programme in collaboration with All-India Radio on August 8 between 4 pm to 5 pm with the objective of orienting the students and general public about the teaching strategies of IGNOU.