Doraha, September 7
The 21 teachers of aided colleges of Punjab and Chandigarh who were arrested two days ago and were in judicial custody were released from the Burail jail today.

The teachers were holding a protest rally at Chandigarh when the police arrested them.

Dr Kuldeep Singh, general secretary of the PCCTU, said that since they have not received any positive nod from the government as yet, they shall be continuing with their strike in the coming days. He told this correspondent,” We have been trying to build up constant pressure on the Govt by holding rallies and organising dharnas in the colleges related to Punjab and Chandigarh at regular intervals. We have tried to press upon the govt for the fulfillment of our long pending demands, including the restoration of full grants to the colleges, implementation of pension-cum-gratuity scheme, house rent allowance for the teachers of rural colleges, pay-parity for the DPE’s and librarians etc.”Dr Singh further said that various govts have from time to time have assured them positively and in many cases gone to the extent of even declaring and implementing their long-pending demands in letter, but sadly enough not even a single one out of them have bothered to implement them truly.

He added that a two-period strike shall be observed on September 8, three-period strike on September 10, four-period strike on September 11 and a mass rally shall be held at Chandigarh on September 12.

The teachers working in colleges, affiliated to Panjab University, Punjabi University and GNDU, have been holding rallies for two periods in front of principal’s office at regular intervals. Again on September 19 and September 26, teachers from various parts of the state shall court arrest in order to press upon the govt regarding their demands.

It may sound anachronistic that even today teachers are held in high esteem in our country. When a student defends his faulty pronunciation, or something else, on the authority of his teacher (My teacher said so), it becomes difficult to show him the dictionary. Such a step would dismantle the edifice of good faith in the infallibility of teachers.

Ethics have taken a back seat in the social conduct and behaviour. But this can never be the case, if a teacher is true to his salt. A conscientious teacher knows that he has on his shoulders the mantle of Aristotle, Vashisht Muni, Vidya Sagar, Dr S. Radhakrishnan et al.

In the early years of my teaching career, I considered myself above board in every respect. Once I needed a permit to buy hard coke from the depot, during ration days in 1962, for a function at our place. I approached the sanctioning authority with an application on a plain paper. He had a glance at the paper in front of him and looked up.

"It has not been attested by so and so"

"What's the need?"

"It's the requirement as anybody can come with such an application."

"But I am a college teacher. Do you think I can do something wrong?"

The sanctioning authority looked up at me with disbelief but, on second thoughts, signed the application. I came out of the office with my head held high. I had, unwittingly, put the whole teaching community at stake by avoiding my second visit after verification. Later I became conscious of laying undue tall claims on behalf of the teachers, as all was not well on that front too.

Even two or three teachers in a staff of 100 could vitiate the atmosphere in an institution. On the top of it, they could pat themselves on the back for exercising their authority, of course for wrong purposes.

On my personal experience I can now say that the students, in the last two or three decades, have come under the influence of some undeserving teachers. Generally the students have scant regard for the teachers who do not favour them or pander to material gains by helping them. But, on the whole, the scenario is not that gloomy or depressing. The teacher-taught relationship is still on solid ground as well as on an even keel.

In my opinion, the teaching community can regain its lost glory if it mends its fences without any further loss of time. There is no doubt that the heart of this community is sound and it does not need surgery of any kind. Only its dietary habits need be changed. The students, on their own, still have high regards for the teachers. They would fall in line to garland the ones who are truly above board. Moving ahead with a backward glance at the moral values and spiritual beliefs would stem the rot in the system. Then all the days of the year would be celebrated as Teacher’s Day.

— N.S.Tasneem

Ludhiana, September 7
The Old Students Association of the Khalsa College for Women, Civil Lines, honoured the university position holders at a function here today. The college have 38 position holders in various classes of graduation and post graduation. Special appreciation was given to Priya Gupta of MSc IT (second year) who stood first in the university for five consecutive years.

The principal, Dr Varinder Kaur Thind, who is also the president of the association said just like Arjuna they had kept their goal in mind and concentrated on it. It is not that others cannot do it, you all had the ability to excel in various fields.

Punjabi literary meet at KCW: The Punjabi department of the Khalsa College for Women organised a Punjabi literary meet here on Thursday, in which more than 50 students participated. The meet comprised of colourful extravaganza, including folk songs and skits. The principal, Dr Varinder Kaur Thind, applauded the efforts of teachers and students. She further added that organising such culture based events add to our awareness of rich Punjabi cultural heritage.

Blood Donation: A blood donation and awareness programme was held in the Government College for Women premises here today. Thirty-five students volunteered the camp.

The Rotaract Club and the Red Cross society, in collaboration with the NCC and NSS units, organised the programme. Prabhjot Kaur, the principal of the college, presided over by the programme. Vijay Obed, president of the Rotary club 3070(north), and Sunil Bansal, secretary of the Rotary Club, were present on the occasion.

Blood donation was followed by the installation ceremony of the members of the Red Cross society. Vijay Obed acknowledged the efforts of the students and teachers and the principal encouraged more and more students to donate blood.

Quiz competition: The Mathematics Society of Guru Nanak Girls College, Model Town, Ludhiana, organised an inter-lass mathematics quiz competition here on Friday, with a view to arouse keen interest in the subject among the students. The quiz was held under the supervision of Amarpreet Kaur, head of the mathematics department.

Five teams, consisting of five students each, participated in the quiz. Four rounds of questions were put up. Newton team was declared first and its’ members were Kamaljeet, Palvi, Supreet, Karamveer Kaur and Garima.

Einstein team stood second Abel team was declared third.

Ludhiana, September 7
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has asked the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) to pay Rs 5, 000 as compensation to a dairy owner for harassing him by sending the bills pertaining to another consumer.

A.S. Narula president of the forum and Puja Dewan, member of the forum pronounced the verdict, while deciding the complaint filed a dairy owner, Tota Ram of Tajpur road.

The complainant had filed the case with the claim that in July 2006, the PSEB sent him a bill of Rs 17, 140 in which Rs 16, 658 were shown as arrears. But he did not leave any due payment as arrears. He was regularly paying the bills.

He approached the officials of the PSEB to know the exact cause for debiting sundry charges in his account. He was not given any satisfactory answer. Rather, he was threatened that in case he failed to deposit the bill, his electricity connection would be disconnected.

For having no fault of his, he suffered a lot of harassment at the hands of the officials of the PSEB. So, the bill is quashed and he be awarded compensation, added the consumer.

On the other hand, the officials of PSEB pleaded that due to inadvertence, the consumer was not issued correct bills. His bills were sent to another consumer, Madan Lal. When the said consumer, moved a representation the department checked the matter, JE Ranjit Singh inquired into the matter by visiting the spot.

After scrutinising the accounts, it transpired that the bills of Tota Ram were erroneously sent to another consumer and the bills of the said consumer were sent to the complainant. Thereafter, the accounts were overhauled. The actual consumption charges pertaining to Tota Ram were re-debited in his account and he was asked to pay the same.

After appreciating the evidence on record, the consumer forum found that the bill sent to the present consumer after overhauling the accounts was correct. So, he was liable to pay the same. But the forum held that it amounts to deficiency in services on the part of board. 

Ludhiana, September 7
Following the trend on television, members of the Sri Adinaath Junior Mahila Mandal had organised an annual meeting of the mandal at a hotel here today. The function showcased the talents of the ladies , mostly housewives. Eight teams of two members each participated in the ‘Laughter Challenge’ organised for the ladies of the mandals. The participants were judged on the basis of originality, response of the audience, their expressions and costumes. The ladies came up with sterling performances .

The winners of the contest were Ranju and Seerat Jain, while the second prize was shared by Bharti and Meenakshi Jain. The third prize was won by Rupali and Bindu Jain. Four members, namely, Nishu, Rimple, Alka and Nidhi Jain received consolation prizes.