Ludhiana, February 15
"Convince people with your intellect, boldness and humbleness.” Stating this while delivering a guest lecture on interview skills to students of MBA and MCA at Gujranwala Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology, Prof Harbhajan Singh Deol, a former member of the PPSC and Minorities Commission, said interview was an art and “what matters is how you put forward your points to convince the other person. It could be convincing your parents, bargaining with a shopkeeper or expressing your viewpoint.”

Prof Deol gave helpful tips to students on involvement in terms of physical and mental abilities, appealing personality, positive body language, answering optimally, not beating about the bush and adding humour to the conversation when required. He said indepth knowledge of one’s subject, and detailed profile of the organisation and its social composition were equally important.

A plethora of examples and anecdotes were quoted by the guest to make the lecture more interesting. In the end, a session on mock interviews was conducted, which helped the students to understand the nitty-gritty of an interview.

The Director of the institute, Prof Kuldip Singh, and the coordinator, Mr G.S. Dua, were also present who thanked and honoured the guest for sharing his valuable thoughts with the students.

Ludhiana, February 15
The picturesque campus of Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women provided the perfect backdrop for Fragrance 2007, a colourful inter-college festival which was held here today. It featured a variety of competitions ranging from folk music, fine arts and home science items to brain teasers such as quiz and computer-based items. The flowers in full bloom helped to dispel the gloom brought about by inclement weather over the past few days and students from various colleges in and around Ludhiana were in high spirits. Most of the items were woven around the central theme of flowers. As noted poet William Wordsworth aptly remarked: "To me the meanest flower that blows, can give thoughts that often lie too deep for tears.”

The chief guest of the function was Dr K.S.Aulakh, Vice-Chancellor of PAU. Dr Manju Chawla, Principal of the college, delivered the welcome address. The function started with the ceremonial lighting of the lamp by noted Punjabi singer Sardul Sikandar, Sabarkoti and Mr Feroz Khan. They were also the judges of the folk music competition. Later they enthralled the audience with their foot tapping numbers. The folk music competitions were a musical treat with Rupinder Kaur of GCW being adjudged first and Namrata Sharma of MTS College standing third. The second position was shared by two contestants, Gulrez Akhtar of the host college and Amit Sharma of GGNKC for Boys. The folk music orchestra of the host college entertained the audience and kept everyone spellbound. They had secured the first position both at the zonal and inter-zonal youth festival held last year.

The chief guest, Dr Aulakh, distributed the prizes to all the winners. He also honoured the judges of the various competitions on behalf of the college authorities. Dr Aulakh in his presidential address said that the declining standard of education in India, which was once home to reputed universities like Nalanda, was a matter of grave concern. He spoke on the need to eradicate shameful practice of female foeticide and an unhealthy spirit of competition prevailing in society. The need of the hour, he said, was value-based education.

Ludhiana, February 15
To promote the art of knitting the Vardhman Group has started organising a series of competitions at the school level.

Knitting is re-establishing itself in people's everyday lives as more and more people are getting aware of its miraculous benefits. Relief from stress, lowering of blood pressure, improving heart condition and resolving insomnia are some of them. It is also one of the ways to express oneself and associate with others.

Taking this idea forward, school-level competitions are being organised by Vardhman. The winners of the intra- school competitions participate at the zonal level. In Ludhiana zone over 500 students from 42 schools participated in the zonal round of “Aao Bune Knitting Contest” at Guru Nanak Bhavan Auditorium here recently.

Some of the participating schools were Guru Nanak Public School, DAV School, BCM,KVM, Sacred Heart School (Sarabha Nagar and BRS Nagar), BVM, Government Girls Senior Secondary School (Bharat Nagar Chowk), Government Girls Senior Secondary School (Jawahar Nagar), Ryan International School, St Joseph School and Shri Guru Hargobind Public School.

Winners of 42 intra-school level competitions participated in this zonal event. They competed in five categories. During the contest students knitted beautiful patterns, caps and miniatures purses and bags with the yarn provided by the company. Senior officials from Vardhman Spinning and General Mills, including Mr V.K. Goyal, chief executive officer, and Mr Mahesh Arora, CGM, marketing, were present on the occasion.

Mr Goyal said, “The contest is not just a competition but is an endeavor of Vardhman Group to make a healthy and independent tomorrow. And there can be no other better way to do so than promote knitting as it has many benefits.

Ludhiana, February 15
The NSS unit of GCW, Ludhiana, led by Ms Parveen, Lecturer in Sanskrit, Ms Harjeet, Lecturer in Hindi, and Ms Sukhwinder Kaur, Lecturer in commerce, organised a one-day camp at Jhande village here today.

Around 130 NSS volunteers participated. The main motive of the NSS unit to organise the camp was to adopt the village for three years to make the village a model one by making it free from all social evils like female foeticide, drug addiction, etc.

Dr Kuldeep Dhir, Professor, Department of Extension Education, PAU, enlightened the students regarding AIDS. Ms Harjeet Kaur, Program Officer, NSS, GCW, addressed residents of Jhande village and asked for the whole hearted cooperation for making the village free from all social evils.

The sarpanch of Jhande village also accompanied the NSS unit to Om
Shanti Bhavan.

Ludhiana, February 15
A mega event, India-International Industrial Expo and Conference (IIIEC-2007) is being organised at Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College campus from February 23 to 25. This is the first event of its kind to be held in GNDEC. The event will provide a platform for new applications, progress in research and to exchange ideas and knowledge.

Dr Harish Arora, CEO, Paramount Exhibitors, the main organisers of the event, has conveyed that 30 industrial associations like Apex Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Industries Association of Chandigarh, Environment Society of Pollution Control and Management, Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings, Ludhiana Electoplaters Association, Chamber of Chandigarh Industries, Auto Parts Manufacturers Association, Northern India Chamber of Commerce and Industries, and CICU are sponsoring the event.

Around 300 industrial houses such as MAZAK, Electronica, ABBA, Eastman, Henkel, L&T etc from all over India and abroad will participate by displaying their state of the art machinery and other products. According to Dr H.K. Grewal, Principal, GNDEC, the conference will be held along with the exhibition in which eminent experts have been invited from various reputed institutes and industries of the region. Machinery and machine tools, plastics, printing, environment, electronics, instrumentation, fire and safety, automobiles and auto components are the broad fields in which the deliberations and presentations would be held. Dr Grewal further said that this event would be beneficial for academic as well as industrial concerns in a big way.

Ludhiana, February 15
A CME on tuberculosis update was jointly organised by the District Tuberculosis Society and Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) here last evening. Among the keynote speakers at the CME were Dr Rajeshwari Ramachandran, Deputy Director and Dr Balambal, Assistant Director, Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC) Chennai.

Extending a warm welcome to the dignitaries and participants, Dr Jagdeep Whig, Vice-Principal, DMCH, introduced the subject, followed by an address by Dr Daljit Singh, Principal, DMCH.

During the session, the speakers focused on the global epidemic with emphasis on the problem in India. They also raised concerns regarding the rampant spread of tuberculosis in all its forms in the community and in particular, its unholy alliance with HIV and AIDS, which was posing a bigger threat to people in developing countries.

Based on evidence-based strategy of DOTS programmes, the experts furnished informative and comprehensive data on the incidence of TB, as also its further complications, obtained from research done in TRC, Chennai. The speakers stressed the need to adopt RNTCP and its protocols strictly to combat the growing scourge of MDR-TB and HIV-TB.

The lectures at the CME were followed by an interactive panel session, chaired by Dr Jaikishan, Chairman, State Task Force Committee. Various problems related to day-to-day management of the disease were discussed by the faculty members, who cleared their doubts regarding RNTCP programme. The speakers also emphasized that DOTS (RNTCP) was the best way to treat tuberculosis-pulmonary as well as extra pulmonary.

Stating that India was facing the burden of more than one-third of TB cases worldwide, Dr Jaikishan said private practitioners were generally the first point of contact for a considerable number of patients and hence they should support and encourage effective TB control.

Meanwhile, speaking at a CME on tuberculosis update at Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH), Dr John Pramod, Director of the institution, remarked that apart from AIDS and hepatitis, tuberculosis might also hit South Asia in a more devastating way if not dealt with properly and arrested effectively. He said keeping on its priority agenda the health needs of the South Asian nations, the World Health Organization had earmarked funds for services to identify and treat tuberculosis. The WHO was also funding the projects related 10 research projects, especially tuberculosis.

Eminent experts from TRC, Chennai, and the Chairman of State Task Force were the key speakers at the CME, who mentioned that the WHO had recommended to the clinical practitioners to keep themselves updated with the latest knowhow. It is for the first time that the CMCH has started this novel CME where the attendance fetched 3 credit points to the participants.