Expert lecture

An ICPR-sponsored periodical lecture was organised by the Philosophy and Psychology Association of Government Rajindra College, Bathinda. After the lamp lighting ceremony, Dr Gurjit Singh Mann, Head of the department of philosophy, welcomed the speakers, delegates from various institutions and the faculty of the college. Dr Mann said there were two sources of strength for every person, one was the faith in God and the other was cultural roots of a person and both of these were guiding forces of moral values. The keynote speaker, Dr Romana, spoke on the topic ‘Moral values in contemporary times”. On the basis of his experiences, he said although moral values were part of enculturation, they were being modified by the corporate world for their profit. The corporate world through advertisements and media targets the unconscious mind of the people and modifies the moral values, he said. Principal Dr Sukhraj Singh motivated students and said the work and achievements of the philosophy department helped in getting funds from ICPR every year. The second speaker of the occasion, Dr Harish Sharma, discussed the problem of drug addiction among the youth. Drugs are chemical substances which can alter the nervous system and have psychological impact on the person. Elaborating on the types of drugs and their effects, Dr Harish Sharma cautioned the youth to stay away from the use of such drugs for the wellbeing of their self, family and country at large. After this students who stood first and second in the subject of philosophy and psychology in the university exam held in 2015-16 were presented with merit certificate and mementoes. Prof Seema Gupta, Head of the department of psychology advised students to make use of each opportunity and learn from the experience. Vice Principal Sukhdev Singh presented the vote of thanks. Dr Gurdeep Singh, Prof Nishma Rani, Prof Harinder Kumar, Gagandeep Garg and Rajkumar actively participated in the organisation of the function.

Students motivated to save water

Baba Farid College, Bathinda, organised a special programme on World Water Day to spread awareness about the importance of saving water. The chief guest of the event was Himmat Singh, CEO, NCC 20 Punjab Battalion, Bathinda. He guided and motivated students to save water. He explained the significance of celebrating World Water Day and said, “The way we are wasting our natural resources every now and then is extremely terrible. We’ll have to pay high for this in coming days.” Apart from this, the Department of Agriculture of Baba Farid College organised a poster presentation competition in which 65 students of various departments participated. The themes of the competition were – ‘A drop harvested is crop harvested; ‘Harvest the rain and reap the gains’ and ‘Save water to secure your future’. Sukhwinder Singh and Yadwinder Singh, students of B.Sc (Agriculture, semester VIII) got the first position, Charu and Manvi of B.Sc (Agriculture, semester II) got the second position while Prabhjot, Karan and Bhupinder of the same class got the third position. The Red Ribbon Club of Baba Farid College also organised speech and poem recitation competitions. Also, On the occasion of World Water Day, the NSS unit of BFC organised a rally in which 70 NSS students took part. Chairman of Baba Farid Group of Institutions Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal appealed to everyone not to waste natural resources and to stop making excessive use of water. 

World Water Day

The 24th World Water Day was celebrated by the NCC wing of Giani Zail Singh Campus College of Engineering and Technology in Bathinda on Wednesday. The NCC cadets, under the supervision of Dr Rajiv Varshney, ANO, were present during the function. Dr RK Bansal, Dean, Student Welfare, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University, asked students to take steps towards prevention of water contamination. “Today, about 950 million people around the world have no access to safe water,” he said. Speaking on the theme ‘Why waste water’, he gave a clarion call to all present to evolve and adopt improved water treatment techniques so as to make water reusable for irrigation and industrial cooling-based applications. Dr Gursharan Singh, Director, also spoke on the harmful effects of contaminated water and associated diseases. The keynote address was given by Dr Sanjiv Aggarwal, Professor of civil engineering and an alumnus of PEC, Chandigarh and IIT Roorkee. He cited various case studies to enforce the need of judicious utilisation of water resources. He deliberated on various available sources of fresh water and expressed his fears that by 2025, the availability of safe water would be a big challenge to India as per one of the studies. Dr Savina Bansal, Dean (Research and Development), Dr Sandeep Kansal, Professor and Head, applied physics and Dr Amitoj Singh were also present. A documentary exhibiting various activities related to waste water was also screened on the occasion.

Road safety

The SSD College of Professional Studies, Bhokhra, organised a road safety awareness programme on its campus wherein HC Hakam Singh of the State Traffic Educational Cell gave information regarding traffic rules and safety measures. He talked about the present figures of road and railway accidents in India and insisted on strict adherence to traffic rules. He said a person should be calm before driving any vehicle to avoid any accident. Anger and restlessness are major causes of accidents. He also talked about railway traffic rules for the safety of one and all and also gave some examples of railway accidents. College Principal Dr Rajesh Singla thanked the guest for the valuable lecture and advised students to share the knowledge of traffic rules with friends, family and public to make everyone aware about safety techniques on road. —TNS