Chandigarh, November 6
A group of students from Simon Fraser University Vancouver, Canada, visited the city as part of their field project today.

They spent the day understanding and appreciating Punjab’s rich culture.

The Department of Education, Panjab University, had laid out a series of events for the group, starting with a one-act play in Punjabi and Hindi with a commentary in English and an exhibition of collages on the various facets of the Indian woman.

“Since human emotions are universal, these students even when they were not able to understand bits of the play were moved. The play was about the life of an Indian girl child in a rural and urban setting,” said Ms Nandita.

During lunch, students were treated to a typical Punjabi lunch of “sarson ka saag” and “makki ki roti” complete with “shakkar” and ghee. “We want them to feel that they are in Punjab and expose them to all that is typically Punjabi,” added Ms R. Gupta, Head of the department.

The group, which has been in Chandigarh since October 1, will be here till the end of this month. Members of the groups are staying in houses of local residents and seeing for themselves the life in an Indian household.

“Its enjoyable and educative,” said Aleya who is doing her majors at the university. For Sarah, who wants to be a teacher, it is a learning experience. Andy says he has managed to learn the trick of negotiating with rickshaw-pullers in the city.

“Our students are here as part of the programme which includes a field trip to India,” explained Dr Don Northey, faculty member accompanying the students.

Later in the day, students of the Education Department involved the guests in activities which included kite flying, “stapu”, mehndi, rope-making and rangoli.

Chandigarh, November 6
As the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union (PCCTU), supported by the Principals Federation and Unions of Non-Teaching Employees, get ready for a rally in Sector 25 on November 8, studies of nearly 2.5 lakh students of 160-odd non-government colleges of Punjab and Chandigarh will be affected.

On November 8, after the rally, the executive members of PCCTU will court arrest. The PCCTU has announced a continued protest during the period of remand of its leaders.

The office-bearers of the PCCTU have decided to give a call for a 72-hour college bandh even if the leaders are not remanded. That effectively means no studies in colleges from November 8 to 11.

The PCCTU is demanding the implementation of the pension-gratuity scheme (1996), promised in the Congress poll manifesto of 2002 besides the lifting of the ban on recruitment, the implementation of decisions regarding rural HRA and the relaxation of refresher courses announced by Deputy Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal on January 25, parity for DPEs, and librarians and the release of arrears etc.

Dr Jagwant Singh, general secretary of the PCCTU, appealed to Capt Amarinder Singh to intervene to fulfil his promise.

He said he had written to the Chief Minister in August that certain forces would slow down the process to defeat his intentions.

He also said Punjab was 25 years behind the states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. After the implementation of the scheme by Assam in December 2005, Punjab was the only state which had not implemented the scheme. 

Chandigarh, November 6
The Chief Secretary of Goa, Mr J.P. Singh, who is an alumnus of Panjab University, will be in the city on Tuesday to market the 37th International Film Festival of India (IFFI 2006).

He will be accompanied by a young IAS officer, Ms Nandini Paliwal, who is currently posted as the Subdivisional Magistrate of Panjim.

Another alumnus of the university, Mr R.P. Singh, who belongs to the IAS cadre of Andhra Pradesh, is the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the Punjab & Sind Bank.

While Mr J.P. Singh belongs to the 1977 batch of the IAS, Ms Paliwal joined the civil service in 2003. Ms Paliwal is the Chief Executive Officer of the Entertainment Society of Goa, which will oversee the holding of the IFFI 2006.

Ms Paliwal is a graduate from Lucknow University and an MBA from Aligarh Muslim University. She worked in the travel industry before joining the civil service.

A gold medallist and graduate in mechanical engineering from the Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Mr. J.P Singh also holds a Masters degree in economics from Panjab University. He has held important positions in Delhi, Goa and Arunachal Pradesh as well as in the Central Government.

As the Collector of Goa from 1982 to 1985, he helped set up, advanced infrastructure facilities for the Heads of Commonwealth Governments’ meeting in 1983. He was the Development Commissioner of Daman and Diu when heavy industrialisation took place.

Mr J.P. Singh was the Project Director for the new Capital Township, Itanagar, in Arunachal Pradesh and subsequently for the Dwarka township as well as the Housing Commissioner of the Delhi Development Authority. Recently, as Industries Commissioner and the CMD of the Delhi State Industrial Development Corporation, he was actively associated with the design and implementation of the relocation project for shifting 16,000 industries to about 4,000 acres on the periphery of Delhi.

During his stint in the Union Government he was the Deputy Secretary-cum-Director in the Ministry of Steel. He was also in charge of policy formulation in respect of the raw materials sector. He remained a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Steel and was looking after the Steel Development Wing where issues relating to international trade, safeguards and other WTO matters were being examined and policies formulated.

Chandigarh, November 6
Kendriya Vidyalaya II, 3BRD, celebrated the 537th birthday of Guru Nanak Dev with great fervour here today. Mrs Manjit Kaur conducted the proceedings of a ‘shabad’ recital. Mrs Updesh Kaur, Headmistress, highlighted the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev in a small lecture to students. TNS

Chandigarh, November 6
“Chronology is one of the least important aspects of history,” said Dr P.L. Mehra, renowned historian, in an interview to The Tribune today. Stating that the focus of history writing and teaching in India had been the lives and times of its rulers, Dr Mehra highlighted the need for a change.

“History is a discipline which broadens your horizons. If we do not tell the coming generations about how we have evolved and what our country was, we will be paying a heavy price. Telling them which ruler followed whom is not important, but telling them how people lived in those times is important. We are so obsessed with the rulers that we never consciously try to understand the social, economic and cultural development of our country,” he said.

Professor Mehra, former Head of the Department of History, Panjab University, where he taught for over two decades, has come up with his latest work on the Indo-Chinese relations titled “Essays in Frontier History: India, China and the Disputed Border” published by Oxford University Press. It was released this evening by Gen V.P. Malik (retd).

“Instead of focusing so much on political history why cannot we focus on social, cultural and frontier history. We share our borders with so many countries but there is no focused teaching of such a vital issue. Similarly while we are teaching American and European history in the university, there are no courses that teach the history of any of our neighbours” he said.

Professor Mehra has authored over 10 books. His first book, “The Young Husband Expedition (to Lhasa)”, an interpretation based on his doctorate thesis was published in 1968. An expert on India’a land frontiers and relations with Tibet and China, “his latest volume comes at a time when India and China are constructively engaged in furthering strategic bilateral ties. Comprising nearly a 12 essays, it focuses on the long simmering boundary dispute between Asia’s two major powers” states the OUP press note.

“It is a collection of essays in which an effort has been made to bring to light the opinion of those persons who have been in the thick of things during the Sino-Indian war of 1962 and also the opinion held by Chinese scholars on the issue” said Professor Mehra adding that it was imperative to look at historical facts in the context. “Pandit Nehru could not bear the defeat that India suffered at the hands of the Chinese in 1962 and generations after him had in some way held him responsible for the fiasco. But if we look at the facts carefully and appreciate the constraints he was working with and the situation he found himself in, we will be able to see the truth better,” he said.

“The Indo-China war did not benefit China in any way but it served as a wake-up call to India, leading to a situation that we are now a powerful nation militarily. But if India wants to make its position strong in the global scenario, it needs to strengthen itself economically," he said.

A resident of Sector 11, Dr Mehra is a household name for students of Indo- Chinese relations and also for hundreds of library-goers at Dwarka Das Library, Sector 15, Panjab University and the CSDS, New Delhi. Here huge almirahas in the history section are filled with books and journals donated by him.