Ludhiana June 27
Dr NS Malhi, director of extension education, PAU, has suggested the farmers to use only recommended dose of DAP fertilizer in the cotton crop. He said that the plant clinic at PAU had witnessed some farmers complaining of drying cotton crop. The stem skin of the plant was rotten and had turned black in colour.

Explaining the root cause for it, Dr Malhi said that it can be due to the misuse of DAP. If the concentration of phosphorous in soil was medium, that is 5 to 9 kg per acre, and recommended dose of phosphatic fertilizer was used for wheat in that soil, then there was no need to apply DAP or superphosphate for cotton in the same field. However, in case of deficiency of phosphorous in soil, 27 kg of DAP could have been used while sowing.

Sharing an interesting fact he said, phosphorous was such a nutrient that gets accumulated in top soil and does not percolate deeper in field. Therefore, such fertilizers should always be applied closer to the roots else they remain in the top layer of soil.

He also advised farmers against the use of non-scientific practices that did no good to their crop, time and money.

Doraha, June 27
N.S.S volunteers here were given an opportunity to learn about social problems and environment, besides the way to good health, as the 10-day special camp at G.N.N.College, Doraha, entered its sixth day yesterday.

Dr Gurdeep Singh, an expert in alternative therapies, taught the volunteers about various social, health and environmental issues and also talked about their solutions at the camp.

Volunteers were enlightened about the need to keep the surroundings clean and were apprised of various communicable diseases like AIDS, TB etc and their symptoms. Stressing upon the need to develop good food habits, Dr Gurdeep gave useful tips on what a balanced diet should be like and its importance in our lives.

Volunteers were also taught some yoga exercises and their health- related queries were also answered by Dr Gurdeep.

Stressing upon the need for women to awaken and realise her importance and role in the society, Jaswant Singh Gill, director of the college, motivated volunteers to put in their best efforts to solve the problems of women in the 
society.

Dr Narinder Singh Sidhu, principal of the college, enlightened the volunteers about the importance and conservation of environment. He stressed upon the need to maintain ecological balance and to start off by putting in individual efforts.

Enlightening the volunteers regarding the ill-effects of polythene, he motivated them to avoid its use and to use paper or cloth bag instead.

Ludhiana June 27
Representatives of the Association of the Punjab School Education Board Affiliated Schools met Punjab School Education Board chairman H. S. Sidhu in Mohali under the presidentship of Rajinder Sharma recently.

The delegation told the chairman that the middle-standard students had to give exam in eight subjects. The additional two subjects were burden on immature Class VIII students. They requested the chairman to withdraw these two additional subjects. They requested him to add the internal assessment during the final examination as the board was not doing so. The delegation also discussed that the pass percentage for Class VIII should be lowered from 33 per cent to 25 per cent.

The chairman gave a patient hearing and told the delegation that henceforth schools would be taking the test of additional subjects and not the board. The reduction of internal assessment and passing percentage marks to 25 per cent for the middle standard will be reconsidered, he added.

The delegation also told the chairman that the books for the new sessions were not available at books stores. Even after two months students have not got books of many subjects, they added. “The chairman has assured that the books will be made available to students at the earliest”, said Rajinder Sharma.

Ludhiana, June 27
Educational institutions, including schools, colleges and universities have been asked to discourage the consumption of junk food following recommendations of the Union Health Ministry to the Union Human Resource Development Ministry.

Union Health Ministry, in a communication to the Human Resource Development Ministry, had sought appropriate measures to check this increasing trend in all universities and other educational institutions.

A copy of the communication, sent to Punjab Agricultural University, says “there is a world wide concern over the increasing consumption of these junk foods and drinks which provide only energy and not nutrients. This trend is not good from public health point of view as consumption of such foods can cause chronic diseases like obesity, hypertension diabetes, cancer etc.”

The minister had impressed upon the educational institutions to make people aware of the harmful effects of junk food and carbonated drinks. He had also asked the institutions to discourage sale of foods like carbonated drinks, pizzas, burgers, hot dogs etc. in college and school canteens.

The communication also sought a total ban on the consumption and sale of tobacco products in the college/university campus. 

Ludhiana, June 27
Students of MA I (English) of Master Tara Singh Memorial College for Women have brought laurels to the college by showing excellent results in the Panjab University annual examinations.

Meenakshi stood first in the college by scoring 64.25 per cent marks closely followed by another student Shivani with 62 per cent marks. Twelve students out of 25 had scored more than 55 per cent marks.