The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

12 regular posts for Art College cleared
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 22
Master’s of Fine Art (MFA) at Government College of Art, Sector 10, has finally got its much-needed impetus. After dithering for three years, the union ministry of human resource development (HRD) has sanctioned 12 regular posts for the college. The posts - four for professors and eight for assistant professors - were urgently needed to streamline the functioning of the postgraduate course which has been suffering due to adhocism. They were also required under the guidelines of the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

The course was started in 2004 and has, since then, attracted huge talent from the northern region. Regularisation of posts will boost the course which was till now being managed by lecturers appointed on a contract basis. Absence of regular posts to run the course had led to severe bickering at the college, posing serious administrative problems for the college administration.

Status quo over the issue had brewed so much indiscipline on the campus that Punjab Governor and UT administrator S.F. Rodrigues (retd) had to personally intervene and recommend the regularisation of posts to union HRD minister Arjun Singh.

In his letter to the minister last year, UT administrator sought latter’s personal intervention in the matter. He wrote: “In anticipation of the approval of these posts, classes have already started and are being managed by assistant professors/lecturers approved on contract basis. However, this ad hoc arrangement, if allowed to prevail over the years, is bound to create administrative and legal problems. Therefore, approval for the creation of these posts is very necessary in the interest of the students and for academic excellence.” The expert committee of the AICTE had earlier found the introduction of these courses viable at Chandigarh.

Now that the posts for MFA courses in painting, sculpture, applied art and graphics have been regularised, decks have been cleared for framing of the recruitment rules following which the UPSC will fill up the much-needed posts.

Jubilant Art College principal Brahm Prakash today told The Tribune: “Finally we can concentrate on learning. The ministry has done the institute a great favour by crushing the root of evil. Adhocism had marred the college atmosphere and bickering had become commonplace. Students’ welfare was being compromised. We can now ensure high standards of academic excellence at our MFA classes, as has been our tradition.”

Myanmar team gets training in e-governance
Tribune News Service

Mohali, November 22
In a first of its kind sharing between Myanmar and India, a group of 25 top government officials from Myanmar completed a three-month course on e- governance organised at the Centre for the Development of Advanced Computing (CAC) here today.

The delegation, chosen from various ministries of that country, spent 12 weeks, the longest-ever, for the course which was aimed at making the officials adept at e-governance.

Talking to The Tribune, head of the delegation Htay Win said the course was very useful and they were confident they would be able to put it to good use.

The delegation was staying at Chandigarh and visited Golden Temple in Amritsar and the Pushpa Gujral Science city in Jalandhar. “On our way back we would be visiting Bodh Gaya,” said Htay Win.

“This is the longest duration of course we have organised here for foreigners,” said Deepak Rana, coordinator of the course.

The delegation members praised the Punjabi attitude and hospitality, adding that they had bought Indian clothes as gifts for their family members.

Refusing to talk about the Myanmar government, the group members said it was not authorised to speak about the government.

Avinash, Ramanjot win design competition
Tribune News Service

Mohali, November 22
The Knitwear Design and Technology Department of the Northern India Institute of Fashion Technology (NIIFT) here held a design competition for the final year students in association with Indian Yarns Ltd, a synthetic yarn manufacturing company.

The entire class of 30 students participated in the design competition. The award for the best collection was a tie between Avinash Kumar and Ramanjot Singh, who share the cash prize of Rs 5,000 and the second prize was also a tie between Davinder Kaur and Saurabh Gulati, who shared the cash award of Rs 3,000. The director of the company, Manu Indrayan, expressed happiness with the works done by the students and handed over the award money amidst much fanfare.

The head of the department, Dr Prabhdip Brar, said, “This industrial project came in at a time when the students are in the final semester and ready to take such kind of challenges.”

Hostel inmates want quality food
Hold hour-long protest, raise slogans
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 22
Residents of boys’ Hostel No. 1 at Panjab University protested against the poor quality food in the mess this evening.

They locked the canteen and the mess for about an hour and raised slogans against the authorities.

The students were also protesting against the early closure of the common room as also the table tennis room.

The dean, Dr Naval Kishore, and hostel warden D.B. Rishi assured the protesters that their problems would be solved.

Dr Naval Kishore said a meeting of the students’ council and mess contractors had been called on November 26.

UK varsities come calling
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 22
Representatives of five leading universities from the United Kingdom visited Chandigarh today to provide opportunities to the Indian students to advance their careers through world-class higher education.

The delegation also called on Dr R.C. Sobti, VC, Panjab University, India in the morning to explore the possibilities of split-site PhD or external registration, joint research, joint programme delivery and staff development. At a press conference, the representatives of all five universities introduced their universities and courses that are offered there.

Ceri Whitham, customer relations manager of the University of East Anglia, said the UEA enjoy worldwide recognition for its academic achievements in arts, humanities, health, science and social science and attracted students from over 100 countries.

Competitions for out-of-school kids conclude
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 22
While Cluster No. 19 bagged the first place in tug-of-war, Ravi emerged the winner in the spoon race on the concluding day of the two-day competitions organised for the out-of-school kids at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 23, today. The competition was organised by the Sarva Shiksha Abhayan. DPI (Schools) S.K. Setia gave away prizes to the winners.

Results: Spoon race (boys): 1 Ravi, 2 Monu, 3 Krishna; girls: 1 Sudhiya, 2 Jyoti, 3 Laxmi; frog race (boys): 1 Kanahiya, 2 Arvind, 3 Arman; girls: 1 Vimla, 2 Preeti, 3 Kiran; tug-of-war: Cluster No. 19 b Cluster No. 20 by 2-1.

NHRC moved against Centre, Punjab
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 22
A human rights activist has filed a petition against the Union of India, State of Punjab and DGP before the National Human Rights Commission.

He has asked the commission to ascertain the factual status of the killings during terrorism in Punjab. He requested the commission to appoint a special reporter, only then the real picture would come out regarding how the people are suffering due to the biased and callous attitude of Central and state governments.

The petition further suggested that a commission would be appointed to ascertain the actual number of killings during terrorism and the quantum of relief given to terrorism-affected people in Punjab. For this purpose, the help can be taken from NGOs like the Shaheed Parivar Fund which has disbursed crores of rupees to terrorist victims.

4 ICICI agents get judicial remand
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 22
A local court today remanded all four recovery agents of ICICI Bank, who allegedly forcibly took away a car belonging to a Panchkula man, to judicial custody.

Sources in the police said the investigating officer did not ask for a police remand as there was nothing to recover. The vehicle used in the crime and one which was taken away had been recovered, yesterday.

The police arrested two collection managers of ICICI Bank, Rahul of Pinjore and Jasjit Singh of Sector 33, a recovery agent Amarjit Singh and an agency boy Ravinder Singh on a complaint lodged by Dhiraj Sharma of Sector 28 Panchkula. Dhiraj alleged that the agents had taken away his Scorpio from him at Sector 45, 46, 49 and 50 traffic lights point.

A case under sections 382 and 34 of the IPC has been registered.

Czech artistes bedazzle
S.D. Sharma

Panchkula, November 22
Euphoric fervour permeated the ambience at Bhavan Vidyalaya-15 as the audience, mainly the intrusive students, got bedazzled with the scintillating music and sega dance performances by 30 acclaimed artistes of Czech Republic and Reunion Islands, France. The event titled 'Language of Love' was jointly organised by Bhavan Vidayalya and the department of public relations and cultural affairs, Chandigarh, in collaboration with the Ghugroo Musical Organisation and Amartex here today.

Association Group Folklorique ‘Canne D'eau’ from the Reunion Islands, opened up with a welcome song ‘Ote La Reunion’ by lead singer and director Nathalie. She doled out 'Madina song' before the dancers took the centre stage to catch the romance, exuberance and ecstasy of old French dances like 'polka', 'square', 'maloya' and 'slave'. However, the influence of the most popular dance tradition ‘sega’ was apparent.

Later, 'Mimi Fortuna', the ensemble from Brno, Czech Republic, presented a dance drama 'To be or not to be' directed by Hana Smikova. The captivating spectacle, featuring accomplished actor dancers, traced the history of Czech Republic, reflecting the cultural renaissance.

Talking to The Tribune, Nathalie said the composite culture of Reunion Islands was a veritable mix of cultural traditions of India, Africa, Madagascar, French and also of China as people from these countries settled there centuries ago. “However, the Indian classical arts are a craze with us,” she added pointing towards an artiste Yohamne, who has learnt Bharatnatyam at Kalakshetra and London.

“The objective of our tour is to present our traditions and discovering the Reunion's and Indian dances,” said Nathalie.

Earlier, principal Shashi Bannerji welcomed the chief guest.

Kulwant Singh, former chief secretary, Haryana, honoured the artistes. Later, the repeat show was held at the Kalagram complex under the aegis of Amartex and NZCC.

‘Clay modelling has no unnecessary frills’
Tribune News Service

Mohali, November 22
Noted Doordarshan TV Producer Harjit Singh, who has a passion for animation, organised a two-day workshop for the animation students of Mad Arts, Jaspal Bhatti Film School.

Mad Arts is the only institute in north India that has included clay modelling in its curriculum. Compared to cell animation which is 2D, clay modelling animation is the basic 3D animation. Most Hollywood animation films work their stories based on clay modelling.

Addressing the students, Harjit Singh said the aim of clay modelling animation was to achieve artistic vision through simplicity. Clay modelling animation helped to portray ideas with bare minimum things. This was just like a little child who was always attracted to simple basic toys instead of very complicated ones. To focus on the main character with no unnecessary frills and distractions was the most important message of clay modelling.

Harjit Singh was assisted by Surjit Kumar, a well- known artist. Together they created many characters and enacted a story using these characters. The whole concept, which is called stop motion, will be developed into a film by the animation students of Mad Arts, Jaspal Bhatti Film School.