The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

BCom IT Paper
Students cry foul
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 12
BCom final-year students of Panjab University have alleged anomaly in the income tax question paper. The students alleged that the evening session paper of the direct tax laws was set as per assessment year 2005-2006 whereas it should have been set in accordance with the assessment year 2006-2007. They also claimed that in section B of the paper for the question regarding computation of capital gains an index of the current year had to be given. But in this particular question, instead of index of the relevant (2005-2006) year, the figure was given for the year 2003-2004.

Also some of the questions were same as that of the year 2005. Dr A.C. Vaid, principal of GGDSD College, Sector 32, where around 140 students are appearing for the exams, said, “I was not in the college at that time but I have got a representation from the students regarding the same.” After consulting the concerned teachers, Dr Vaid has signed the representation to be put up by the students to the university authorities. He suggested that it would be in the interest of the students if the authorities take a re-examination in this case.

Around 1,500 students are taking the examinations this year from city colleges.

Taking a serious note of the issue, he blamed it on the lack of competency of paper setters.

He remarked that the paper setters responsible for such a debacle should be barred from all university responsibilities. “It’s a resultant of politicising and lobbying,” he said.

Book publishers told to offer discounts
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 12
A meeting on recommendation of text books for government model and non-model schools of UT Chandigarh was held under the chairmanship of director public instruction (S), Chandigarh administration, here today. It was attended by conveners of all subjects.

Publishers whose books had been shortlisted were invite to the meeting. This had been done to ensure the sale of good quality books in respect of paper, printing, multi-colored illustration and binding, etc.

During his address, the DPI (S) asked successful publishers to pledge a security of Rs 50,000 each in favour of the education department, Chandigarh administration, for a minimum period of 30 days to ensure regular supply of books without causing any inconvenience to general public.

The DPI(S) also impressed upon the publishers to lower the prices of books by offering discounts on the maximum retail price under the prevalent market practice.

For this, they were asked to highlight the reduced prices after discounts on the title page of each textbook.

They were also asked to paste a sticker with 3D hologram of the publishers on each of the books, mentioning the class for which it had been prescribed.

A sample of each prescribed book had to be signed and kept for reference, they were told.

The publishers later gave their approval to the security pledge and offered 12.5 per cent discount to students and another 12.5 per cent discount to the department on bulk purchase on the revised maximum retail price.

12 animators vie for national award
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 12
Two teams of 12 animators from across the city have entered their short animation films for one of the country’s biggest animation competitions called ‘The 24fps Animation Awards 2007’ to be held at Mumbai on April 27.

Puneet, Maninder, Shivan, Purshottam, Pamil, Tarun, Amitabh Sircar, Karthik Sarin, Anuj Kundra, Suraj Bhanu, Sharantpreet, and Manish Gupta, all students of Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC), Chandigarh, were divided into two teams each: Animact, and Byteus.

While Animact made a gag on Rajasthani local hero ‘Naaturam’, Byteus made a commercial for a beer-flavoured milk. Interestingly, both the teams have been working for the last six months, along with their faculty members Sachin Bhatnagar and Chintan Sareen.

The competition is in its fourth year with a different theme each time. The theme this year was ‘Humour’ and 55 teams of professionals and students from all over the country are competing in various categories. The films feature a cinematic style presentation with lots of visual effects and gadgets.

In addition to the two teams above, four students from the institute - Neha, Ambuj, Navtej and Trankit have also submitted their individually created animation films in the individual films category.

PU NOTES
UN invite for professor
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 12
Dr Vijay Rattan, professor of public administration, Panjab University, Chandigarh, and a renowned expert in the fields of development policy and administration, e-governance and Information Technology, has received an invitation from the United Nations to participate in the 7th Global Forum to be held in Vienna, Austria, according to an official communication received here today.

Guido Bertucci, director, division for public administration and development management, department of economics and social affairs, United Nations, New York, has invited Dr Rattan to take part in the forum on “Reinventing government” from June 26 to 29.

The forum will focus on “Building trust in government” and is expected to enjoy the participation of around 2,000 personalities, including heads of state and government, ministers, parliamentarians, senior officials, civil society representatives and the private sector.

“Since 1999, the Global Forum has facilitated the exchange of successful strategies for improving governance, strengthening state capacities, and earning the trust of citizens,” and Dr Bertucci has said in a communication.

The forum aims at contributing directly to the achievement of the millennium development goals with the aim of cutting extreme poverty and hunger in half by 2015.

Paper presentation

The department of Asian studies, University of Texas, Austin, US, has invited Pankaj Mala Sharma, professor of music, and dean, fine arts faculty, Panjab University, to present a paper on “Significance of music in Vedic recitation” in the fourth International Vedic Workshop, a conference focussing on the Veda and the Vedic tradition.

The workshop will be held on “The Vedas in culture and history”.

A communication to this effect has been received from Patrick Olivelle, Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker chair in the humanities chair, department of Asian Studies, University of Texas.

The conference will include papers that explore the inner workings of the Veda, the relation of the Vedic tradition to the religious, social, and political history of the Vedic period, and the response to the Veda in post-Vedic India.

The conference will take place from May 24 to 27 on the university campus.

From Schools
Silver jubilee celebrations

As a part of its silver jubilee celebrations, St Stephen’s School, Sector 45, had its presentation ceremony in the school auditorium, here, on Wednesday.

Lt Gen Daljit Singh PVSM, AVSM, VSM, GOC in C, Western Command, was the chief guest on the occasion. Among other dignitaries present were Mohini Daljit Singh and Brig D.C. Katoch, VSM, DDG, NCC. The ceremony began with lighting of a lamp by the chief guest followed by the hymn sung by Judaline Thomas, coordinator, cultural activities. Thereafter, the school history was read out which brought the memories of the glorious past of the school alive.

Later, the Army officer handed over the school flag to school captain Nirbhay Goel and congratulated the school on completing 25 years. He asked the students to develop the skill of listening to the inner self and also advised them to develop the sense of tolerance and understanding. In the end, he applauded principal Harold Carver and the teaching faculty of St Stephen’s for bringing high standards of education to the City Beautiful.

Students presented a cultural programme which was presided over by Brig D.C. Katoch, VSM, DDG, NCC. He advised the students not to forget their culture and respect their inner self and the view points of others. The students enthralled everyone with their performances.

The cultural morning started with the Indian orchestra and vocal music invoking Lord Ganesha. ‘Wings of Fire’ spoke about the achievements of the President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Azad. Hindi play ‘Bali ka Bakra’ taught a lesson of patriotism with a touch of humour. The show came to an end with a farewell dance carrying a message that the show must go on. — TNS

Baisakhi celebrations

Tania Gulati of Tagore House won the first position in the Class III-IV category in an inter-house painting competition held during the Baisakhi celebrations at Shishu Niketan Public School, Sector 43, Chandigarh, on Wednesday. The second place was bagged by Mayank of Patel House.

In the Class V-VI group, Himani Thakur of Patel House won the first position while the second place was bagged by Mehak of Laxmi Bai House. In the Class VII onwards category, Chamanpreet Singh of Laxmi Bai House got the first prize whereas the second prize was given to Salil of Patel House.

“We celebrated Baisakhi with its traditional zeal and fervour. The school’s nursery block bore the looks of a traditional village of Punjab. Freshly harvested wheat stalk and ‘pidhis’ were used to depict our tradition,” said school headmistress Savita Sharma. The children were also apprised of important events such as inception of Khalsa panth, Jallianwala Bagh incident, birthday of Dr Ambedkar and Bihu festival of Assam. — TNS

School leaders appointed

Amarbir and Ananta have been elected the head boy and the head girl, respectively of Saupin’s School, Sector 32-A, Chandigarh, at an annual installation ceremony on Wednesday.

The school council handed over the torch of leadership to the newly elected school captains. They took an oath to perform their duties and responsibilities with honesty, sincerity and dedication and promised to strive to bring honour to the school.

The oath ceremony was followed by an announcement of the winners of the R.F. Saupin’s Scholarship. Anmol of Class VI, Gunjan of Class VII, Viplua of Class VIII and Jasroop of Class IX were the proud achievers of this award. — TNS

From Colleges
Students bring laurels

Chandigarh: Students of electronics and communication engineering (ECE) and information technology (IT) of the Swami Vivekanand Institute of Engineering and Technology (SVIET), Ramnagar, Banur, have brought laurels to the institute as some of its students secured the third, and ninth positions in the B.Tech examinations conducted by Punjab Technical University (PTU), Jalandhar, held in December 2006. Jaspreet Saini, student of the first semester (electronics and communication), scored 561 out of 650 marks and got the third position in the overall PTU examination. Neeraj Sharma got the third position in the PTU merit list scoring 739 out of 850 marks in the fifth semester of electronics and communication while Taranjeet Kaur got 727 out of 850 marks in the same examination and was ranked at the ninth position. Another student Harpreet got 638 of 750 marks in information technology (fifth semester) and was ranked ninth in the PTU merit list. — TNS

National debate finals

The Panjab University Campus Students’ Council and the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE) on Thursday organised prelims of the national debate competition. More than 50 teams from GND University, UIET and NIPER participated. Each team comprised two members and each speaker was allotted two minutes. Seven teams have been shortlisted for the finals Friday at Physics Auditorium of Panjab University. PU vice-chancellor Prof R.C. Sobti will inaugurate the event. — TNS

CULTURE

Parachinari artistes entertain
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, April 12
As a part of the Baisakhi celebrations, the department of Chandigarh tourism in association with the Environment Society of India organised a programme of folk dances by the Chamba-based Parachinar cultural troupe at Sukhna lake, here, today. Originally hailing from a tribal area of Darra-E-Kuram bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, the non-muslim community with Pashto being their local language migrated to India after 1948, claims the troupe leader Satpal Singh Jaswal. Over 5,000 of them got settled at Chamba in Himachal Pradesh while an equal number opted for the Delhi, Shimla Faridabad and Meerut areas. Parachinaris are known for the preservation of their pristine culture despite all odds.

Attired in Pothohari white costumes with black jackets and colourful scarves all 15 young dancers commenced with a Pashto circle dance number ‘Gurbishtaha’. People scattered here and there slowly approached the main venue to interact while they doled out another dance with a vocal support from team leader Satpal. While Ranjit Singh was on dhol, Harbans Gulati played harmonium. They presented another traditional Pashto romantic song ‘Sar Vyaye Limbaghina’. Senior officers from the tourism department sat through the programme.

S.K. Sharma, president, Environment Society of India, disclosed that the performance would be repeated at the Commonwealth Youth Programme Association Centre at 11pm and at the Kalagram Complex at 6 pm tomorrow. All music lovers are welcome.