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Assessment of grant
utilisation Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 21 Inspection teams, consisting of four persons each, including principal of renowned government school and officials from the education department, conducted survey of the schools.
DPI (S) S.K. Setia said: “The purpose of the inspection is to see if the schools are utilising the funds they have received from the administration properly and if students are getting requisite facilities. We will also inspect private schools of the city. This exercise is necessary to streamline their functioning in a fair manner.” The schools included SD Senior Secondary School- 24, Dev Samaj School- 21, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Senior Secondary School-35, Guru Nanak Khalsa High School-30 B and DAV Public School-8. The officials followed a checklist while assessing the various aspects of the school. They inspected the security aspects - how well school was guarded; whether it was walled or not; its accessibility to fire brigade; fire hydrants and adequate water reservoir - parking space, roadworthiness of buses with first-aid kits, their capacity, authorisation of drivers, etc. They also prepared a report of the record of the grant received and spent, bank accounts for maintaining the record, number of teachers engaged, their recruitment process, their qualification with documents on record, teachers on roll, their salary statements, the classes assigned, the time table of the school, copy of balance sheet, bylaws, constitution of income expenditure statements, number of students and pupil-teacher ratio (PTR), the physical presence of the teacher, if on leave, their leave applications, etc. According to officials, barring two schools - DAV-8 and SD School-24 - the inspection revealed positive results. “DAV-8 has teaching staff in excess, while SD School failed to produce relevant records or documents we asked for. They also could not give any valid reason for it,” they said. Setia said: “The grant-in-aid for these aided schools would be stopped with immediate effect if they were found not maintaining specific infrastructure in the school. School authorities should cooperate with the department under any circumstances.”
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Innovation must for tourism growth: Gen
Chandigarh, April 21
He was inaugurating an international conference on “Innovative Tourism” organised by ICFAI Business School at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan here today. General Rodrigues said a campaign, “My Chandigarh”, to enhance the level of interest among tourists and visitors to enjoy the splendour of tourist spots in the city had been launched. He said emphasis was being laid on the promotion of different areas of tourism through special packages in specific fields of interests. He added that a theme song for Chandigarh, keeping in view its unique features and distinctive identity, was also being composed. Helen Economo Amundsen, consulate general of Canada in Chandigarh, while delivering a keynote address, highlighted the tourism potential in Canada and scope of association in different tourism-related fields. Kenneth Lim, director, Singapore tourism board, presented the highlights of tourism services and its place in global arena. Vivek Atray, director tourism, gave an account of the series of initiatives being undertaken by the administration for the promotion of tourism in the UT. Prof Bhagat Ram, chairman of organising committee, welcomed the guests. Swami Brahmeshananda, secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Aashram, Chandigarh, chaired the first technical session. In the second technical session, J.S. Walia, chief conservator of forest, Shimla, explained the concept of eco-tourism. Dr Sanjeeva Pandey, senior adviser (natural resource management), Winrock International India, New Delhi, gave details about the national park adventure series on eco-tourism and explained how the park in Himachal Pradesh was helping in the eco-tourism. In the next session, R.N. Prasher, senior vice-president, National Adventure Club (India), and financial commissioner and principal secretary, power and irrigation, Government of Haryana, elaborated on adventure tourism.
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Earth Day celebrations
CHANDIGARH: On the occasion of Earth Day, a lecture-cum-workshop on “Conserving the forests and aquatic ecosystems” was organised at Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary by Government College for Girls, Sector 11, Chandigarh, on Saturday. Rajbir Singh, deputy conservator forests (central), presided over the programme. He talked about the need of careful policy formulation and skillful administration for the conservation, protection and management of sustainable environment for posterity. He also familiarised the audience with the plans and aims of the ministry of environment and forests and stressed upon need of environmental awareness among people that could be met through outreach programmes and workshops. About 80 participants attended the programme. They also undertook a guided trip while trekking the nature at Nepli forest. Principal of the college Promila Kaushal inaugurated the programme by planting medicinal plants. The programme, organised by Prakriti, an environment society, was sponsored by the department of environment in assistance with the department of forests and wildlife, UT administration. PATIALA: Principal, staff and students of DAV Public Senior Secondary School celebrated Earth Day on the school premises on Saturday. Students of Classes X and XII spoke on various issues concerning the earth and suggested ways to solve problems of Ozone layer depletion, environment pollution and global warming. About 118 students from Classes VI to XII participated in an on-the-spot painting competition on topics like environment and pollution. — TNS
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Students enthral
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 21 The function commenced with Saraswati vandana and a group song by students. Thereafter, students performed a play saying no to drugs and also gave folk dance performances. The function ended with prize distribution. — TNS
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Amrita’s Cat-walk
Chandigarh, April 21 The projects will be handled by Flying Cats and Annamalai
University. Anita Gupta, centre director of the three schools, said she had joined hands with Flying Cats to provide personality development training to aspirants. The equipment used in the parlour, where the schools are housed, is state-of-the-art, she said. The centre will offer one-year diploma course in beauty and hair
design certified by the university. Polished Cats will cater to people from all age groups, while English Cats will provide training in spoken English and French. She also talked about certificate courses in grooming and personality development and English communication skills from Annamalai University, which will be offered at the centre in Mohali.
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Lecture on Indian policies
Chandigarh, April 21 Khan spoke on why India had opted for liberalisation in 1991 when the central government’s fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP touched an all-time high of 8.4 per cent. He also discussed the policy changes since 1991.
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Backlog: Alternative dispute redressal holds the key
Chandigarh, April 21 This was stated by an array of legal luminaries, including Supreme Court judges, during a seminar on “ADR: Arbitration, mediation and conciliation”, organised by the International Centre for Alternate Dispute Resolution, here today. Justice D.K. Jain of the Supreme said it was high time to stop discussing the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and start implementing it before “we reach point of no return”. He emphasised that mediators or arbitrators should be persons of high integrity and creativity, as is the case in Western countries, and should not exploit the system to their advantage. Justice H.S. Bedi, also an apex court judge, echoed Justice Jain’s views and revealed that given the backlog, it would take another 200 years to clear it. He said though the ADR was a decent option to ease the workload off the judiciary, the system would work only if manned by persons of high values. Recalling his ‘bad’ experience with the ADR system in the Bombay High Court, he lamented the exploitation of the system by some unscrupulous arbitrators in the court where stakes usually ran in thousands of crores unlike Punjab or Haryana High Court where only few lakhs were usually involved. Expressing concern over the backlog and burden over the judiciary, he said nearly 2.7 lakh cases were pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court where each judge had to handle 900 cases per year. However, Justice Ashok Bhan, Supreme Court judge, was not particularly enthusiastic about the arbitration and showed preference for mediation. He said as an arbitrator could enforce an award that in turn could be challenged in the higher courts, the arbitration was not a cost-effective or speedy way to resolve a dispute. Instead, a mediator, who followed a consensual approach in conflict resolution, was a better choice. The Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Vijender Jain, too expressed his desire to have a permanent centre of dispute resolution in Chandigarh.
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Woman officer faces
GCM
Chandigarh, April 21 Highly placed sources reveal that a GCM, which had tried the CO of an air defence regiment on charges of sexual assault, had written a memorandum to the authorities, stating that the officers had lied on oath, while deposing before the court during the trial. The GCM, in its memorandum, had directed that the officers should be tried by an appropriate GCM. It is learnt that the memorandum has been forwarded to the Army Headquarters for necessary action and it has already been put up to the Additional Director-General, Discipline and Vigilance, after being processed. A decision on whether to hold a trial is expected shortly, sources added. A GCM, presided by Brig J.S. Rawat, had earlier acquitted the CO, Col D. Mitra of all 12 charges levelled against him in a case pertaining to sexual assault on a women officer under his command. However, the convening authority ordered the court to revise its findings and, thereafter, he was awarded a reprimand for allegedly using improper language in the officers’ mess. The sources reveal that the names of officers, who figure in the memorandum, include Lt Iman, who had raised the allegations against her commanding officer, Capt Gaurav Pathak, Capt R.S Pundir, Capt K. Khanoria and Capt Harish Sharma. The Army, meanwhile, has also issued orders to convene the trial of a Major, who was co-accused with the CO in the case. The sources said Colonel Pardeep Kumar, Deputy Commander of an artillery brigade, had been detailed as the GCM’s presiding officer with Maj A.S. Panwar as the judge advocate. The court also includes a woman officer, Maj Monica Sharma, as a member. The GCM is scheduled to assemble at Tibri on May 1.
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Sex ratio improving, claims admn
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 21 The Punjab and Haryana High Court had expressed its concern over the low sex ratio in the city and had directed the administration to take effective and extraordinary steps. The fact that there were 773 females for 1000 males in Chandigarh came to the notice of the High Court during the hearing of a PIL. The administration said a survey conducted by the UT health department, Chandigarh administration, has shown remarkable improvement in the ratio. The survey conducted in colony no. 5 found that the sex ratio of Chandigarh slums is improving, claimed the spokesman of administration. In 2001, the sex ratio for 0-6 years was 845 in Chandigarh Union Territory, said the spokesman. On the basis of the ongoing survey, the sex ratio for 0-1 year children was found to be 973 females per 1000 males, while the children between age group of 1 and 3 years was 990 females per 1000 males. In the children between 3 and 6 years, the figure was 949. A total of 3,430 children in the families residing in 1,747 houses were surveyed, said the spokesman. The ongoing survey initiated on April 11 following instructions from UT home secretary Krishna Mohan will be completed in April. After that, the administration would assess other colonies and sectors in a phased manner, added the spokesman.
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Remand for mother, son
Tribune News Service
Lalru, April 21 Acting on a complaint of Balkar Singh and Surjit Singh, the Lalru police has registered a case under Sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC against Rattan Kaur and her son Manohar Singh on February 20. The duo had allegedly taken token money from the complainants for the sale of a piece of land. However, later, they tried to sell the same land to another party. Police sources said the duo surrendered before a Rajpura court on April 19. They were produced in a court at Rajpura today by the police and were remanded in police custody, the sources added.
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No consensus on senior advocate issue
Chandigarh, April 21 Sources said since no consensus could be reached, it was decided to take up the issue in the next meeting and address it through voting. The lawyer getting a majority of votes would be designated as a senior advocate, they added. Incidentally, some of the prominent applicants seeking the designation of senior advocate were the Punjab and Haryana Bar Council president, Anmol Rattan Sidhu, and a senior standing counsel for the Government of India, Daya Chaudhry. Importantly, seven lawyers were designated as senior advocates last month.
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Ustad Neelay Khan casts Sufiana spell
Chandigarh, April 21 Neelay Khan brought alive the mysticism of Baba Bullah through ‘Kamliwale se parda', ‘Ye charkha naulakha' and `Tere pyar wich saanu nachna pya'. Besides the tempting `Mohabat ki
raahon mein aakar to dekho', the group weaved a spell with the timeless poetic creations of Shiv Batalavi and Surjit Patar. Neelay Khan modulated his voice and style to
capture the element of pathos in Batalavi's `Hayen in mayen mera geetan de naina
vich' and `mainu taan mere dosta mere gham ne marya'. Neelay Khan was at his best while rendering a classic from Surjit Patar's `Koi daliyan chon langhya hawa banke'. `Manak Ali, Mohd Iqbal and Vineet lent vocal support along with Baban Saha ( guitar) Mehmood (tabla) and Iqbal (harmonium). Ripudam, Tarannum and Kiran Thakur presented dances. Prof Ravinder Sharma conducted an art workshop for school children at
the lower Plaza while students of Government College of Arts did sketching and painting. Former principal of
Government College of Arts Prof Prem Singh released the fifth music album of Ustad Neelay Khan titled `Sabir luta rahen hain, sadka'. Carnival president Manki Deep honoured the artistes.
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Assamese artistes captivate
Chandigarh, April 21 The celebrations began with a Saraswati vandana by slum children. The traditional Bihu dance performance by a 15-member troupe from Assam was the attraction of the event. Prior to this, a ghazal recital by a local artiste Vinod Sood accompanied by Debashish on the tabla was appreciated by all. ‘Dholbadan’ by two young brothers — Pranab Jyoti Gogoi and Navajyoti Gogoi — from Shivasagar, Assam, went well with the audience. Earlier, a painting competition was also organised for the children below 10 years in which Charu bagged the first prize while Palak Kaushal stood second. |
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