Biochem Dept research on cancer
By Sanjeev Singh Bariana
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 17 — Pioneering research work on cancer goes on quietly at the Department of Bio chemistry in Panjab University here.

Results of the research team engaged in the work have brought to light the interference of metals like nickel and chromium in causing cancer. The techniques make use of fundamental and practical aspects. Papers on the subject mainly concern industrial workers who handle these metals.

Prof H.M. Dani, while giving details of the research work, said the incidence of the disease had gone up from 3.5 per cent to 35 per cent during this century alone. How these metals cause cancer are studied and results published for future action. There was an addition of about 1000 chemicals every year while the world already has one lakh in-use chemicals approximately.

Research scholars Sneh Ahuja, Parminder Kaur, Suchitra Sharma and B.S. Khongwir in the recent past have come up with successful results in their works. The most important results have been published on loss of high molecular weight proteins in liver microscomes of rats, assay of carcinogenic elements in tobacco and other aspects of related fields.

Jasbir Singh, a research scholar, who shifted to Germany, developed a simple technique which could tell whether the sample under study could cause cancer. India featured among the highest cases of oral cancer in the world. Pan masalas also form part of this study. His main work concentrates around the development of a technique to detect presence of cancer causitives.

Chemicals have been identified as major causitives of cancer. Studies have also underlined the role of promoters in causing the disease. A balance between the solid and the liquid fats was paramount, Professor Dani said. Yellow and green vegetables were the most important natural preventives.

Dr Dani said people should be constantly changing their pastes and soaps because over-exposure to a probable causitive could be hazardous.

A student has been sent to Germany to complete his research work but the results have been submitted in PU. A number of projects in the department are sponsored by the University Grants Commission, the Indian Council of Medical Research, the Central Research Institute and Department of Biotechnology.

Professor Dani says nearly all projects are carried out at the university level and since animals are medically suitable for research work, hospitals could be ignored.

NDA promise finds favour
Barring foreign-born from high office
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 17—As the country gears up for another round of election, the manifesto of the National Democratic Alliance promises to enact a legislation whereby the eligibility criteria for high offices of the state legislature, executive and judiciary are held by "naturally born Indian citizens''. TNS spoke to a cross section of people, most of whom seemed positively inclined about the enactment of this legislation.

Prof RC Bansal, an academician, says,``For foreigners, concepts and norms here are completely different than those prevalent in their country. They can never realise the magnitude of our needs and wants. Also, our rich cultural heritage is bound to be beyond their understanding. Losing it will amount to losing our identity. Foreigners can't have insight into the lives of average Indians ".

Speaking of the USA, he adds that nobody except an American as head of state is acceptable to them and the same should go for us. However, he is of the opinion that foreigners who have lived for over 40 years in India be allowed to come up to a certain level and the government must be free to fix this limit.

Mrs Nargis Gurdial Singh, a PCS, contends,``I am very inclined towards the enactment of such a legislation. I am in favour of the legislation because I am an Indian. The love and devotion to govern a country is paramount if an Indian is in the seat of power. Besides, we have enough capable "natural born" Indian leaders to choose from. If an "outsider" is chosen as head, it will send wrong signals to the international community and create an impression of dearth of leadership in our country.''

"Appointment of Indians to high posts is a morale booster for all those aiming to make it big. In spite of India being a land of equal opportunities and known for taking people of all origins in its fold, appointing foreigners at high posts only goes to speak poorly of us while reflecting a hangover of foreign domination. It would speak volumes of our inability to produce leaders despite potential,'' says Mr S S Sidhu, an advocate.

Mr KK Sharma, Vice President of a local bank, has divergent views on the issue. He elaborates,``It is certainly not fair to exclude foreigners from being appointed at high posts only because they are not natural born citizens of the country. The fact remains that these people have made a conscious decision to choose this country as their homeland and we must respect their decision".

He also added that India has always absorbed the cultures of races like the Afghans, the Muslims and the Huns, which had come with the sole intention of plundering India.``So why bar all those who are not natural born and have decided to stay put in our country. The selection should only be based on competence and nothing else".

A businessman, Mr Bhupinder Sabharwal, vouches for what Mr Sharma says.``There is no harm in giving power and position to a foreigner who has adopted our country. Being an Indian should not be a criteria for eligibility. In fact we should be looking for qualities of honesty, dedication and political acumen in handling situations instead of being stuck on Indianness. "Are our corrupt politicians and officials more acceptable to the public than dedicated outsiders?'' he questions.

Problems galore at Gymkhana Club
From Gautam Dheer
From Our Correspondent

PANCHKULA, Aug 17 —The Gymkhana Club in Sector 6 here has a long list of problems unattended so far by the management.

The club, which is relatively young , has the largest membership in the district.it has not been able to cash in on it and its problems have compounded over the years . The club cries for an adequate parking area . On weekends, vehicles, nearly five times what the area can hold are parked in and around the club premises . Such is the chaos in the parking lots that most of the cars have to be parked far away from the club and left unattended. Several members of the club have complained about this.

The club is without an indoor dining or multipurpose hall .Food is served to members and their guests in the lawns . During rains , particularly after a heavy downpour it becomes difficult to sit out in the waterlogged lawns. Wet chairs , tables , humid conditions in the open and insects further add to the predicament of the members .

Stray dogs in the dining lawns is a common sight. There has been criticism of the catering service in the club Complaints about the deteriorating food service have been brought to the notice of the management.And when members have to pay for mess bills in advance, they feel humiliated . Mr Jagmohan Singh , a member, said it was unfair to demand money for mess bills in advance. "Many times we have felt embarrassed before our guests on being asked to pay before we place our order".There is also no facility for members to sign on bills for credit payment , he added

The squash court of the club has been neglected for long . The front inner wall of the court requires immediate attention as the plaster has peeled off the surface at many points, making play almost impossible . entry to the court is always cluttered with junk in the absence of an adequate store room .Many senior members of the club have pointed this out to the management but the situation has not improved .

The club has suffered losses in the absence of a warehouse . Goods worth almost lakhs ,dumped in the dilapidated basement, have been ruined .

The weekend tombola is no more a delight .There is no permanent announcer to conduct the game .Recently a tombola nite ended in an uproar . The club management could not arrange for a mike for the announcer . The event had to be postponed for a week . Need for a multipurpose room is felt badly,particularly on a rainy evening.

There is no functional representation of the permanent members in the executive committee of the club. Intimation of meetings and their decisions are never notified to the members.The club office- bearers are not elected.

The swimming pool is also not maintained to the satisfaction of the members , admits the Honorary Secretary of the club . " We have introduced a system wherein the club staff would now personally maintain the pool . Earlier the work was done by contract workers on a weekly basis and would cost the club around Rs 10,000/-a month and that too without any satisfactory results."

There is no effective system to check the entry of non- members . It does not have a separate play room ,especially for children below 10 years nor a reading room for members. Most members feel the club should have more creative entertainment activities.

Wing Commander B.S. Garewal, Manager-cum-Honorary Secretary of the Gymkhana Club who has been recently appointed, says that the problems are on the priority list of the management and will be solved soon.

IQ test for village kids planned
By Sonoo Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 17— In a bid to create awareness about mental illnesses in children and the need to deal realistically with the same, the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, plans to launch a drive to educate people in the adjoining villages of the city. Starting from August 29, this drive will be in collaboration with the Government Institute of Mentally Retarded, Sector 32.

The first two villages to be targeted under this drive would be Dadu Majra and Kajheri, where the staff of the institute would also carry out on-the-spot intelligence quotient (IQ) tests for children, in order to screen any suspected cases.

According to Prof B S Chavan, Head, Psychiatry Department, GMCH, Sector 32, the objective of the one-day camps would also be to provide information to the parents about the schools where these 'special children' can get education and about the benefits provided to the families of mentally retarded children by the government.

Interestingly, there exists a Central Government concession scheme for the mentally retarded children and their families, which provides for concession in railways, in education, which includes not only reimbursement of tuition fee of mentally retarded children but also books, stationery, uniform and transport allowance. The scheme also states that the parents of a mentally retarded child is allowed to claim a tax deduction of Rs 20,000, provided that this amount has been deposited in any approved scheme of the LIC or UTI.

Experts in the field of mental illness, however, say that since certain parents are not even ready to take cognizance of the child's mental health, such schemes have failed to attract many takers. These experts also opine that in any given population the percentage of mental retardation in children is about 2.6 per cent. Therefore, in Chandigarh there would supposedly be around 12,000 mentally retarded children, out of which only about 2,000 such children have been identified and who are in touch with the various institutes that provide education, both formal and informal, for them.

According to Prof Chavan, these camps would also enable them to look into the reasons why a large number of families are still not utilising the services available for mentally retarded children.

While a calendar of events are still being drawn for this project for the various villages, the institute has already drawn the plan for another ambitious project for the mentally retarded children — called 'home based training'.

This project is aimed at reaching out to those mentally retarded children who are unable to attend any of the special schools in the city. 'Home based training' would have the special educators and teachers visiting such children twice every week.

Steps to boost vocational courses
By Poonam Batth
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 17 — The University Grants Commission (UGC) has suggested steps to strengthen the scheme of vocalisation of education at the first degree level in colleges affiliated to Panjab University. As many as 30 colleges in Panjab and Chandigarh presently offer these courses.

In a communique addressed to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof M.M. Puri, the UGC Joint Secretary, Dr Tilak R. Kem has expressed concern at the high rate of drop-out of students in these courses and a virtual decline in enrolment figures during the final year.

He has also pointed out certain other observations made by the monitoring teams, which had been sent by the UGC to check the implementation of these schemes in various colleges. The teams found that the response to certain courses was rather poor and in some cases the number of students in a course in the third year ranged between 5 and 10. Following this it has been suggested that if a course does not attract more than 10 students up to the final stage, the same should be discontinued.

Taking serious view of the prevailing situation, the UGC has suggested that at least 30-35 students, who have a commitment for the subject are admitted to the course. The admission to a vocational subject on the basis of percentage of marks obtained in the qualifying examination should be dispensed with. The colleges should instead be asked to interview the students and base their selection on the appraisal of their interest and commitment for the course.

The monitoring teams had also highlighted the fact that the boards of studies running vocational subjects in most of these institutions, particularly in areas outside Chandigarh, do not have experts to teach these subjects. As a result, the thrust while deciding the course contents is more on the general academic areas than the vocational aspect of the respective subject.

The UGC has also suggested that the experts in the respective vocational subjects should be involved in the process of framing the course content appropriate to these courses. The communique further states that the university should not hesitate to invite certain experts from other universities, if the same is not available from within.

To streamline the grading system in these courses, the university has been directed to draw examiners from among those who teach the respective vocational subject in the university departments or from neighbouring institutions since they not only have a better understanding of the subject, but also know the level of grading in a particular course. Even the supervisors/ industrial tutors, who are to be associated in the process of evaluating the practical/laboratory/field work and imparting hands on experience in these subjects should be carefully selected.

It has also been suggested that the duration of examination of the vocational subjects should be on a par with the conventional subjects, which have equal weightage in terms of marks.

Dr Deepak Manmohan Singh, Dean, College Development Council, said that he would shortly take up these suggestions with the colleges which offer these courses so as to make vocational education more effective and fruitful.

The principals of few colleges attribute an increase in the drop-out rate to the indiscriminate offering of these courses to some of the colleges during the past two years without checking the viability aspect. The situation is particularly bad in some colleges where students withdraw due to the authorities' inability to make proper placement arrangements for training and subsequently jobs, said one of the principals. The selection of colleges for starting these UGC-sponsored courses should be made carefully for some colleges opt for these courses only to avail huge grants.

Home gardening tips

* Make sure, the fruit plants you select are vigorous and healthy with known parentage. This will ensure bumper crop of good quality.

* Check that the plants are budded or grafted on the recommended rootstock, are free from insect, pest and diseases.

* See that the plants that you buy are not older than two years.

* The plants should have a good amount of earthball and root system intact.

* While planting, see that the plant should be at the same level as it stood in the nursery.

* Press the soil around the plant with your feet at the time of planting.

* Safeguard your new plants against white ants by application of chlorpyriphos at one millilitre to a litre of water as first water. A bucketfull of this will be sufficient to keep the insects at bay.

— SATISH NARULA