Chandigarh, January 4
Panjab University Vice-Chancellor Prof R.C. Sobti yesterday constituted a fact- finding committee to look into the alleged fudging of facts by a faculty member of the University Business School for securing better ratings for the UBS.

The committee headed by the dean university instructions Prof Veer Singh has been asked to file a report within three days. The members of the committee include some university senators.

Sources added that the VC called for an emergent meeting with the UBS Chairman Prof S.C. Vaidya and some other faculty members besides syndics this morning when the report of the alleged fudgeing was flashed by various newspapers.

Sources said that no communication is sent to the rating agencies directly by the faculty members. As a result if the data was fudged, the chairman who signs the final communication had to be in the know of things if not actively involved. 

Sources added that the fact that the data was fudged was known to almost all the faculty members and was a topic of discussion during faculty meetings within the department. However, the issue was brushed aside by some of the senior faculty members who believed that data has to be fudged in order to get good ratings. 

Interestingly, on more than one occasion, the data provided by the UBS surpassed in quality the data provided by the various IIMs for rating. In one of the faculty meetings, it was even brought to the notice of the head of the department that the intellectual capital rating of UBS is better than IIM, Ahmedabad, recalled a faculty member.

Patiala, January 4
Mr Swarn Singh Boparai, Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University, has launched an inquiry into the disappearance of the daughter of a university employee residing on the local campus. 

Though Mr Boparai has constituted a four-member inquiry team headed by Dr Sucha Singh Gill, Dean, Academic Affairs, the employee, who is working as a senior assistant at Punjabi University, has not complained to the police for action against those who allegedly took his daughter away from his house for three days. 

Dr Baldev Singh Sandhu, Director Public Relations, Punjabi University, while confirming that an inquiry had been initiated, said this had been done to avoid recurrence of such incidents.

He added that the inquiry had been launched on the complaint of the aggrieved employee. 

Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that the girl was a former student of the university. She reportedly went to Amritsar on December 26 with some people. She was kept in Amritsar by one woman, Vishawpreet.

From Amritsar, she was taken to Dehra Dun. From Dehra Dun, she was brought to Fathegarh Sahib where she was allegedly made unconscious by the people who had taken her away.

She was then dropped at Khanna town on December 28. From Khanna, she came back home on the university campus the same day.

Official sources said though it could not be confirmed under what circumstances the girl was taken away, the girl had told the inquiry committee that she was not physically assaulted but was harassed only.

Ludhiana, January 4
A class decoration competition was held in relation to Parkash Utsav Guru Gobind Singh at Baba Isher Singh (N) Sen Sec Public School BRS Nagar Ludhiana here today. Students from class I to class XII participated in the competition. Classes were decorated with quotations taken from Guru Sahib's Gurbani, photographs and flowers.

School principal Aneeta Kundra made the judgement. Students were asked questions regarding Guru Gobind Singh’s life. They participated with a lot of zeal and enthusiasm. Best classes were awarded prizes.

Ludhiana, January 4 
The paper of Dr Baldev Singh Aulakh, Professor and Head, Department of Urology, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital here, has been selected for the national-level Dr M.G. Bhide Memorial Award. The paper is titled 'Incidence and treatment of erectile dysfunction after prostate removal'. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 10,000 and a scroll.

The award will be presented to Dr Aulakh by Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar in Patna on the occasion of the 81st annual conference of the Indian Medical Association-IMACON 2006.

Dr Aulakh had recently won the election to the post of vice-president of the DMC Teachers Association. He also had the distinction of performing more than 6,000 urological procedures and over 700 kidney transplants.

A champion for the noble cause of organ donation, he had successfully organised the National Games and SAARC Olympics for transplant patients in the city in October.

Ludhiana, January 4
Dr Neetu Prakash, lecturer, Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women (GNW), Model Town, presented a paper at the 29th All India Accounting Conference and International Seminar on Accounting Education and Research at New Delhi recently.

The conference-cum-seminar was jointly organised by the Indian Accounting Association, Delhi Chapter, Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University and Department of Commerce, Delhi University. The paper titled ‘Applicability of AS 17 (Segment Reporting): A survey of Indian companies' was based on the identification of annual reports of 95 companies. The study showed that segment-reporting practices of Indian companies have taken a new turn after the implementation of AS-17.

Ludhiana, January 4
The Executive of the literary body Punjabi Culture Study Circle International (PCSCI) today released its New Year’s greeting card and the PCSCI Newsletter.

Prof Niranjan Tasneem, noted academic and litterateur, released the card dedicated to Sufi poet Waris Shah.

The multi-lingual card conveys the message: “Those who perform righteous deeds live forever, says Waris Shah”.

In his remarks, Professor Tasneem said the philosophy and ideology of great Sufi saints and poets were highly relevant today in the face of degradation in cultural values and ethics.

Dr Manu Sharma Sohal highlighted that the PCSCI had a tradition to dedicate the New Year card to some great litterateur.

Cards had been dedicated to poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi (2003), Sufi poet Baba Sheikh Farid (2004), Guru Nanak Dev (2005) and Baba Bulle Shah (2006), observed Dr Jagtar Dhiman.

Noted photo-artist S.T.P.S. Sandhu appreciated the efforts of the PCSCI in spreading the moral values and ideals of celebrated poets through literary greeting cards and newsletters.

The cards were distributed among those present at the meeting.

Ludhiana, January 4
The Sangam Kala Group, which operates on national level, has been active in popularising talent of amateur singers. With the objective in mind, a singing talent hunt competition will be organised by the group on January 7 and 14 at Pandey Auditorium, Nehru Siddhant Kendra.

In a press statement today, group president Radhika Jaitwant said the group had more than 45 chapters. 

The Ludhiana chapter, being an integral part of the organisation, had been conducting programmes for the past four years to identify the singing talent in this region.

“More than 80 registrations have been made so far. We are expecting to receive more in the coming days. One audition will be held on January 7 and 30 to 35 short-listed candidates will take part in the second audition on January 14. The programme will be sponsored by Nehru Siddhant Trust,” said Ms Jaitwani.

The finalists in the competition will participate at a national-level competition to be held at Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi, on February 17.