Ludhiana February 6
Everybody needs some extra knowledge than regular academic studies. To enhance the knowledge of students, an extension lecture was organised by P G Department of Economics of Kamla Lohtia S.D. College here today.

Eminent educationist and Padama Bhushan awardee Dr. S.S. Johl, Director and former Chairman of Agriculture Price Commission, Govt of India was the resource person.

Dr S.S. Johl addressed the students on "Diversification of agriculture". He highlighted the various aspects of agriculture diversification such as balanced cropping pattern with the change of existing one aimed at improving the soil health and agro economic system. With the globalisation in market, crop diversification was the need of the hour to increase the total productivity.

He stressed on the fact that India was in need of second Green Revolution which was entirely based on diversification. In this light, it was very important to explore the various pros and cons associated with diversification.

Prof. Mohd. Saleem, Head of Economics Department, welcomed the Guest. Principal. 

Mandi Gobindgarh, February 6
The ongoing joint campus placement drive at the RIMT Institute of Management and Computer Technology, got a momentum when three companies- Religare, Malwa Industries, Ludhiana and Yes Bank-visited the campus. More than 200 students from the reputed management institutes of the region participated in the drive.

According to Dr B.S. Bhatia, director of the institute, a selection team from the zonal office of Religare here, which is a division of Ranbaxy India, visited the campus and conducted group discussion and interviews under the supervision of the zonal head, Mr Gursharan Bajaj.

The company picked up four students- Charu Tyagi, Kapil Abrol, Bilawal Singh, Rohin Malhotra from the RIMT-IMCT and Guriqbal Singh from the RIMT-IET. The students have been offered a basic salary of Rs 1.2 lakh.

The second company to visit the campus was Malwa Industries, Ludhiana.Students from the PCTE, the Baddowal Mata Gujri College of Management, Fatehgarh Sahib, the Punjab Schools of Management Studies, Punjabi Universities Campus, Patiala, and the Lovely Institute of Management, Jalandhar, were present.

Anurag Tomar, student of the RIMT-IMCT, was selected at the gross salary of Rs 1.80 lakh per annum. Three other students,including one each from the RIMT, Lovely Institute and the PCTE were shortlisted. Final interviews will be held at the Ludhiana corporate office of the company.

The third company that visited the campus was Yes Bank. Their team shortlisted six students-Sandeep Saini, Rohin, Mayank, Kamaldeep, Amit Sharma, Dalbir Singh. The final interviews will be held on February 8 and 9. The salary package of the shortlisted students will be Rs 2 lakh per annum. Prof N.K. Maheshwary, the placement coordinator, added that Standard Chartered Bank and the Centurian Bank of Punjab will be the next companies to visit the campus for the placement drive.

Ludhiana, February 6
More than 800 patients were examined and medicines were given to them free of cost at a medical and diabetes check-up camp organised by the district branch of the National Integrated Medical Association (NIMA) in collaboration with Manav Kalyan Sanstha in Shivpuri locality here today. In addition, 180 persons were given free spectacles and another 200 were tested for blood-sugar level.

Interacting with the patients at the camp, Dr Gupta said due to lack of knowledge, people usually took headache as a disease while it was only a symptom of some other problem in the body. Most of young students, middle-aged women and elderly people were suffering from refraction problems.

Towards better eye care, Dr Gupta advised the youngsters to avoid excessive TV viewing and right posture while sitting before the TV or PC monitor since wrong postures led to various painful conditions related to spine.

In the course of screening for diabetes, those found with higher level of blood glucose were given free medicines while those suspected with pre-diabetic status, (blood-sugar levels between 125-145mg per cent) were selected for further confirmatory tests like 'Glucose Tolerance Test' (GTT). which would be conducted free of cost on February 18.

Ludhiana, February 6
Hurricane innings by Devinder Singh and Vikram helped GTB National College, Dakha, to demolish Gobindgarh Public College, Alour, by 114 runs in the final of the Panjab University Cricket Championship (Division B) played at G T B National College, Dakha, near here yesterday. GTB College won the title for the sixth consecutive year.

Put into bat, GTB National College hoisted a big total of 249 runs for the loss of eight wickets in the stipulated 40 overs. Devinder Singh, Vikram and Sukhdev Singh displayed swashbuckling batting. Devinder Singh made 60 laced with three sixes and seven boundaries while Vikram's contribution of 57 runs was studded with six hits to the fence. Sukhdev Singh and Charanjeet contributed 41 and 30 runs, respectively.

For Gobindgarh Public College, Navdeep Singh was the main wicket taker. He conceded 39 runs and consumed four wickets. Harman, Harpreet Singh, Jagjit Singh and Mandeep scalped one victim each.

In reply, Gobindgarh Public College could muster 135 runs in 27.1 overs. The main scores were Jagjit Singh and Karamjit Singh who chipped in with 27 and 26 runs, respectively while Ajay contributed 15 runs.

For GTB National College, Deepak was the pick of the bowlers, grabbing four wickets for 36 runs. Vikram captured two wickets for 18 runs while Devinder Singh and Ravi Inder Singh took one wicket each.

Dr Balbir Singh, Principal of GTB National College congratulated the team members on winning the trophy for a record sixth time. Mr Sher Singh Sekhon, President, management committee of the college, Prof, Suraj Parkash Sharma, Prof Harvinder Singh, Prof Gurpreet Kaur and Prof Harjasdeep Singh were present at the prize distribution function.

Mandi Gobindgarh, February 6
The winning team of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Jalalpur, Mandi Gobindgarh, which took part in national table soccer championship, held from February 2 to February 4 at DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8-C, Chandigarh, was given a warm welcome today.

Thirty players of the school participated in this championship. The school won seven gold, 10 silver and 16 bronze medals. The players included Gaganpreet Singh, Randeep Singh, Gurwinder Singh, Vivek Sood, Jaspreet Singh, Hardial Singh, Yogesh, Gurpreet Singh, Talvir Singh, Hardeep Singh, Ashish Pathak, Abhishek,Tarandeep Kaur, Karandeep Singh, Jaspreet Singh, Lovejot Singh, Pulkit Nand, Sukhwant Singh, Bhanu Kaushal, Amitpal Singh, Pawandeep Singh, Talwinder Singh, Lovepreet Singh, Jagraj Singh, Gurwinder Singh, Udayapratap Singh, Arshdeep Singh , Karan Bhanda, Jaspreet Singh and Gurkirat Singh.

Team coach Aamardeep Singh Bakhshi, was also honoured at the function held on the school campus today by the Principal Anju Bhatia.

Ludhiana, February 6
The second day of the 3-day cultural bonanza 'Ectopia-2007' at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital here featured several absorbing segments like Motor Mouth (just a minute talk), Crossfire (debate-English), faculty antakshri and T-hirt slogan writing competitions.

Today, the major crowd-puller was the 'just a minute' contest in which students had to speak on a topic for one minute. Dr Harish Matta conducted the event. Kanika Narang (batch 2005) bagged the first position, followed by Mukul (batch 2002), who stood second and Davinder Pal (batch 2005) and Narinder( batch 2003) sharing the third prize. Dr J. Whig, Dr Poonam Singh, Dr R.K. Soni and Dr Aman Dua were the judges.

In the debate competition, the topic was 'Internet: A boon for the development of youth.' The first position was bagged by Divya (batch 2006), followed by Mukul (batch 2002) and Bhavya (batch 2005). Dr Gautam Ahluwalia, Dr N.S. Khaira and Dr Alka Dogra were among the judges for the event.

The faculty antakshri also remained the most happening event of the day, which witnessed five teams contending for top honours.

In the instrumental music contest held late last evening, Avreen and Mehtaab S. Bal (batch 2006) were declared first for their scintillating performance on group orchestra, while Mukul, Nitti, Pankaj, Rohit and Varun (batch 2002) were adjudged second. Karan and Manveer (batch 2005) were placed on third position. Dr Ashok Gupta, Dr Jasdeep Singh, Dr Chiranjeev Gill and Dr P.S Nain were the judges for the contest.

Till now, the 2003 batch, with 119 points, was ahead of other batches. The 2002 and 2006 batches, with 90 and 72 points each, were in the second and third spot.

The following are the other results:

T-shirt slogan writing - 1. Darsh (batch 2002), 2. Harmeet (batch 2003), 3. Gurkirat (batch 2003).

Group song - 1. Batch 2003 (Surneet, Harleen, Shikha, Amarpreet, Gesu, Shivnaveen, Pawani, Gurkirat, Binder Chandni, Jaskiran), 2. Batch 2006 (Rimni, Ekta, Sheena, Divya, Sharda, Manisha, Priya, Bharti).

Solo Dance (Boys) - 1. Narinder Kanwal (Batch 2003), 2. Sushant Rahl (Batch 2003), 3. Sunil (Batch 2006).

Solo Dance (Girls) - 1. Shilpi Jain (Batch 2002), 2. Sakshi Kapila (Batch 2002), 3. Sangeeta (Batch 2003).

Mandi Gobindgarh, February 6
The Indo-Nepal Table Soccer International Championship was held in Nepal (Viratnagar ) from December 29-30,2006.

Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Jalalpur, participated in this championship in different age groups and the Indian team got the over all first position.

The students of Sacred Heart school won two gold, four silver and nine bronze medals in different age groups as stated by Principal Anju Bhatia and Mr Amardeep Bakhshi, sports teacher, in a press note issued here today. The school had participated in the National Table Soccer championship on February 2, Chandigarh.