Chandigarh, September 16
With an aim to provide quality education to poor but brilliant students, some eminent educationists and noted academicians have joined hands to form the Kalpana Chawla Memorial Educational Trust.

Announcing the formation of the trust at a press conference today, chairman Prof S.C. Gupta said the Trust would carry out many activities, ranging from talent hunt to looking for suitable options and providing the students the necessary funding at all levels of their academic pursuits. The trust aims at providing a comprehensive package to the students who are not resourceful enough but clearly stand out in academics.

“Our trust envisages funding of the entire talent scouting exercise, coaching for entrance examinations and funding of the post admission expenditure till passing out of the students in sciences streams, comprising medical and non-medical students”, Prof Gupta said.

Highlighting the need for such a trust, its general secretary Prof Vipan Kaushal said Kalpana Chawla was and would always remain an icon for young students with academic dreams, a reason to name the trust after her.

“Economic assistance to poor but intelligent science students of Class XI and XII for pursuing professional courses would be the trust’s concept. Besides, free coaching would be provided to all such identified students,” Prof Kaushal added.

Elaborating upon the plans, Prof Gupta said the trust would also form a ‘Book Bank’ wherein a huge collection of old books donated by students would be compiled for the benefit of needy students.

The trust would also conduct career counselling programmes at schools and colleges to guide them, besides working upon their soft skills, added Gupta

Mohali, September 16
The University of Missouri-Rolla, US, would provide dual degree to the students of Chandigarh Business School, Landran. This degree programme was offered by Brenda Bouse (director) and Debbie Schatz from the University of Missouri-Rolla.

Under the said agreement, the University of Missouri would offer dual degree to the students of Post-graduate Diploma in Business Management where the students may complete their degree by studying their first two semesters in Chandigarh Business School, Landran and completing the next two semesters of the programme at the University of Missouri-Rolla.

“Keeping in mind the international scenario for placements, the process to finalise the syllabus for this dual degree programme has already begun,” said Satnam Singh Sandhu (chairman) and Rashpal Singh Dhaliwal, president, Chandigarh Group of Colleges. They added that the students of B-Tech and computer applications would be offered various PG programmes in USA after the completion of their degrees here.

Schatz said the university has a placement record of more than 96 per cent for its pass outs in the US.

Chandigarh, September 16
As many as five teachers from various schools of Chandigarh and Mohali were honoured in the field of academics, culture and sports by the Lions Club Chandigarh Supreme on the Teacher’s Day function held, here today.

The teachers were: Neema Bodh, Shishu Niketan Public School, Sector 43, Chandigarh; Neena Rodrigues, Manav Mangal Smart School, Phase X, Mohali; Puja Madhok, Saupin’s School, Sector 70, Mohali; Usha Garg, Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 20, Chandigarh; and Pushkarwan Angrish, Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 45, Chandigarh.

Mayor Harjinder Kaur was the chief guest on the occasion. “Our endeavour is to recognise the contributions of teachers who play a very vital role in building the society. There is a dire need to strengthen the education system”, said Lions Club president Tejinder Singh Saini.

Chandigarh, September 16
Lesson planning was the focus of the sixth English language Training (ELT) workshop organised today by the British Library as part of its organisational membership programme.

Objectives of this workshop included discussion on different attitudes towards lesson and course planning and current practice to examine the advantages and disadvantages of planning lessons and courses.

Principles of planning, exploration of the possible elements of lesson plan and examination of how best to write lesson aims were some of the other aspects discussed during the workshop, conducted by Komal Singh, a freelance ELT professional. Vice-principal of Yadvindra Public School, Mohali, Komal is trained in her subject by the University of Cambridge and the British Council. She has a wide range of work experience spanning over two decades in the English 
language.

She mainly stressed the need of listing aims of a lesson. “Aims”, she said, “provide focus for the lesson, give a clear starting point with which to decide the activities to be done during the lesson and provide means of measuring success of the lesson. They should be clear and specific and indicate the content and scope of the lesson.”

Mohali, September 16
As many as 16 students of Rayat Institute of Engineering and Information Technology, Railmajra, have made it to the big league with impressive placements as associate software engineers with Accenture, a leading management consultancy and technology service provider with worldwide presence.

All the selected B.Tech students from the institute, who are yet to pass out in 2008, have been selected with a package worth Rs 3.1 lakh per annum. This was announced through a press statement issued, here today.

Vice-chairman, Rayat and Bahra Group of Institutes, Gurvinder Singh Bahra said prior to these placements, 75 more students pursuing B.Tech had already received their appointment calls with top-notch companies like US Technology, Infosys, Perot System, L&T Limited, I-Flex Solutions, among others.

Chandigarh, September 16
Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-I directed ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company to pay Rs 5,000 as compensation for harassment to complainant Rajesh Mittal here yesterday.

The respondents, ICICI Lombard, was also ordered by the forum to pay Rs 2.5 lakh with interest at 8 per cent per annum from the October 4, 2006, that was the date of accident of the vehicle.

Rajesh had bought a Santro Xing car for Rs 2,78,998 and got it insured from the respondent. The complainant met with an accident on September 3, 2006, for which the cost of repair was calculated to be Rs 2.5 lakh.

Rajesh was told that the claim could not be released as it did not fall under this category.

Later, Rajesh was told by the insurance firm that they would charge Rs 250 per day as storage charges from September 11, 2006. However, the claim was settled to Rs 2.5 lakh for which he received a confirmation letter on November 9, 2006, but the amount was not released.

However, he was informed by the insurance agency that the parking charges and estimation for repair of car could not be released as the cost of vehicle had depreciated.

ICICI Lombard said they had issued a letter specifying that the company would pay for everything but the complainant should be responding to their letter within five days.

The respondents alleged that Rajesh did not reply to their letter in the specified time due to which the amount was not released.

The forum pointed out that there was no denying the fact that the vehicle was insured and the firm should pay the charges of repair of the vehicle.

Chandigarh, September 16
“The urge to create something special is always born out of involvement with life, and instead of the conventional lavishly produced films, the low budget films - with a novelty of content and treatment - like ‘Tara Rum’, ‘Bheja Fry’, ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’ created a spell,” said Kirron Kher.

‘Mummyji’, a family movie that offers subtle humor, relates to every family and the life in all its varied manifestations, the accomplished actor said. Talking to TNS, Kher remarked that it is not necessary that the beautiful heroines are also the best actors, as she said ‘all that glitters is not gold’.

Talking about the film awards, she opined that except for the Screen Film awards, she gave credit only to international awards. Her next ventures include ‘Om Shanti Om’ and three untitled projects.

The film, ‘Mummyji’, set against the urban Punjabi backdrop, is a fine blend of tradition and modernity and has been mostly shot in Chandigarh and its vicinity, said the well-known journalist and now scriptwriter-producer-director, Pammy Somal, who was in the city along with the movie’s star cast.

The other actors who participated in the interaction included Manav Vij, Sachin Sharma, Viraf Patel, Michel Joseph, Freddi Daruwala and debutants Nimisha Goswami, Urwashi Gandhi and Simran Vaid.

The versatile actor Hindi and Punjabi films actor, Kanwaljit, maintained that the Punjabi film industry stands rejuvenated due the persistent efforts of the legendary cinematographer, Manmohan Singh. His next ventures include serials ‘Agaaz’, ‘Jigar Maa Badi Aag Hai’, and an English film ‘Wishes’ being shot in London.

Raised and educated at Saharanpur, Kanwaljit, writing under the pen name of Sahil, admires the poetic prominence of Ghalib and Faiz. He signs off with: ‘Ye kya mukaam Sahil, ye kaisi kaifiyat hai, teri arzoo toh hai, magar justju nahin hai’.

Chandigarh, September 16
With the spurt of reality shows on various TV channels, a majority of the viewers feel attached or associated with these telecasts. After some popular music talent hunt competitions like the ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Voice of India and Indian Idol, Sahara Filmy too has entered into the fray with ‘Bathroom Singer’.

“A few episodes old, the show is a class apart with a refreshingly original concept,” claimed the dazzling star performer and playback singer Shibani Kashyap, one of the jury members on the show.

In town for the show’s promotion, she said ‘Bathroom Singer’ breaks the monotony of singing contests on the TV. “One of the participants is 88 years old but with a young voice and the right zeal,” she said.

Besides Shibani, the other judges are Ravi Kishan and anchor Gaurav Gera.

Riding on the popularity of her albums like ‘Nazakat’ and ‘Nagmagee’, the Delhi-based crooner had graduated to be a playback singer and her latest offering is the title track of Sanjay Dutt’s film ‘Zinda’. Her forthcoming films include ‘Woodstock Villa’, ‘Sunday’, ‘Dus Kahaniyan’ and ‘Alibaug’.

Chandigarh, September 16
The All India Artists’ Association Shimla, Mumbai and Chandigarh, a socio-cultural organisation, held a colourful bonanza of Indian classical dances to mark the annual award ceremony of Balraj Sahni National awards at the Tagore Theatre, yesterday.

Bollywood actor Prem Chopra graced the ceremony as the chief guest and presented the awards to 13 distinguished persons of eminence in their respective fields. Earlier, association president and veteran thespian Sudershan Gaud, old associate of Balraj Sahni, welcomed the chief guest.

The awards were conferred on octogenarian littérateur Dr Sansar Chandra and C.R. Moudgil (director, Haryana Punajbi Sahit Akademy). Those honoured during the function were: Ramendra Jakhu, K.K. Khandelwal, Vivek Atrey, Yogender Gupta, Surender Dhiman and Archana Phul.

Besides, the awards for excellence in Indian classical and folk dance, the Gopi Krishna National Award was bagged by Payal Akademy, Baroda and Utkul Yuva Sanskritik, Cuttak. Guru Ritish Babu, Rasshi Dave, Devanshi Mishra, Shewta Nayyar Kustimbali and Baby K Nihralka were awarded for individual performances. Niharka cast a spell with an adroit display of nimble footwork and rhythmic patterns.

Prem Chopra lauded the efforts of the association for their committed endeavour, while noted Bollywood actor Rohitsav Gaud anchored the programme with admirable competence.