Jalandhar, January 31
Chief parliamentary secretary, technical education and industrial training Bikramjit Singh Khalsa, on a visit to the Punjab Technical University, said new skill centres would be set up in the state, one is each tehsil, for imparting short-term certificate courses in carpentry, hotel reservation, computer applications, masonry and welding.

He said 15 to 20 centres would be set up in the first phase and the numbers would increase gradually. He pointed out that the teachers would be appointed contractually for the purpose.

The chief parliamentary secretary said Rs 38 crore would be spent on ITI and polytechnics in the next few years for infrastructure development. He said nearly 500 fresh recruitments for staff had been done and another 250 posts would be filled soon.

Although it was his maiden visit to the university since he joined as the chief parliamentary secretary almost nine months back, he had no qualms about it. “The officials here keep in touch with me regularly and I am able to retrieve any information from them at any time telephonically. So somehow I did not have to come here,” he said.

He went ahead making it clear that it was not a special visit. “I was just on my way back home from Amritsar after the ceremonial joining in of Sukhbir Badal as the SAD president when I thought of coming down here,” he said without the slightest hint of hesitation.

Discussing PTU, all he had to say was, “It is soon going to shift to a new building. We are waiting for a date from the Chief Minister to attend the opening ceremony.”

When asked if he had seen the building even once, the BE (civil engineering) passout from Guru Nanak Engineering College, Ludhiana, replied, “No, not as yet”.

More than taking interest in any technical discussion, Khalsa enjoyed debating on political issues. He said he was a supporter on the issue of Sukhbir Badal becoming the Chief Minister.

He discussed his MLA elections and the fight against former PPCC president Shamsher Singh Dullo from the Khanna seat and even talked about the political career of his father Basant Singh Khalsa.

Jalandhar, January 31
Rubber guns had been his favourite toys since he was barely six years old. His childhood fascination transformed into a passion.

A class X student of Ambika Modern School, Ajitesh Kaushal now boasts of winning two gold medals in the junior category at the recently held international air competitions at Hungary and Germany.

He secured the first position in the air pistol 10-metre event in Hungary. Owing to this achievement, he was included in the first eight players in the senior category.

He secured the sixth position in the final event. He shared space with ace Indian shooters like Samresh Jung who were part of the squad.

A son of SP Rakesh Kaushal, Ajitesh was selected in the Indian junior shooting squad on the basis of his performance at the national event organised at Ahmedabad last month by the National Rifle Association of India.

He also won gold medals at the state and national championships.

Ajitesh said he started practising since he was in class VII. “On my first day of practice at the PAP shooting range, I managed to hit 60 per cent of my targets and DSP (training) Sular Ram told my father that it was perhaps the best that anyone had delivered on the first day,” said a visibly happy Ajitesh.

“Sular Ram told my father to ensure that I made it to the practice session daily without fail. Since that day, I have been regularly practising for more than two hours at the range,” he added.

Rakesh Kaushal said his son had a great inclination for sports. “He has played table tennis, cricket, badminton and lawn tennis. But he has been best at shooting. This talent of his was in fact explored by my wife Anu.”

“It was Ajitesh’s birthday and he insisted that his friends should play the game of bursting of balloons with toy guns. He managed to win the first prize in the game,” he said.

“After the party was over, my son asked my gunmen to play the game with him too. My wife saw this happen and was surprised to see Ajitesh performing better than the gunmen. She insisted that he be encouraged to indulge in the sport. Whenever he accompanied me to the office, he enjoyed seeing my weapons and asking about their models,” Rakesh said.

When asked about his future plans, Ajitesh said he was concentrating on his studies for the time being. “I will participate in any event but only after my board examinations are over because I won’t be able to bear the dual pressure. I aim to excel in shooting but my main target is to be a police officer like my father”, he quipped.

Jalandhar, January 31
The second-year students of journalism and mass communication of regional campus, Ladhewali, Jalandhar, recently attended a five-day “video production” workshop at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. The workshop was held from January 6 to 11.

As many as 15 student participated in the workshop during which the students learnt the technical skills of handling cameras and also attended theoretical classes on direction and production.

Says Eha Rampal, a student from the department, “On the last day of the workshop we made a documentary on the panel discussion by experts titled ‘Media and social responsibility’. Apart from this, we also learnt about the types of make-up from K. Mohan, a lecturer from the television department.”

Head of the department Kamlesh Singh Duggal said, “The workshop has helped the students professionally as they did a lot of practical work there. Though the workshop was of a short duration, it was a completely different learning experience for the students.” He added that this time Guru Nanak Dev University vice-chancellor Jai Roop Singh sanctioned Rs 75,000 for the department. He said the university had decided to provide Rs 1 lakh from the annual budget of the university for the FTII visit. “We have also spoken to the FTII authorities to increase the duration of the workshop from five to 15 days,” he said.