AGRICULTURE

New varieties released
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Feb 16 — The Research Evaluation Committee of Punjab Agricultural University has recommended seven new varieties for general cultivation in the state. These varieties include one each of grape, ber, garlic, three varieties of gladiolus and one variety of chrysanthemum.

This information was given by Dr M.S. Bajwa, Director of Research, PAU, during the opening of a two-day workshop of horticulture officers of the state at PAU today. Dr Bajwa said that the motive of the university was to develop high-yielding varieties of different crops to provide food security to the country but now the thrust was on hybrid seed technologies in order to develop varieties which have better tolerance, better quality and fit into multiple cropping systems.

The newly developed varieties include flame seedless variety of grape, which is an early variety and ripens in the second week of June. The vines are vigorous and bear regular crop. A three-year-old vine produces 25 kg of grapes. The berries produced are round, light purple and in loose clusters.

The wallaiti variety of ber is an early maturing variety and the fruit ripens by end of March. Yield ranges between 110 and 120 kg fruit per tree. The variety is also moderately susceptible to powdery mildew.

The new variety of garlic, G-282 gives a bulb yield of 7 tonnes per hectare thereby out yielding the check variety Punjab garlic-1 by a margin of 21 per cent. Its leaves are light green and narrow and moderately resistant to purple blotch.

The Nova lux variety of gladiolus is highly resistant to fusarial wilt. With yellow florets ruffled with deep yellow throat take 114 days for flowering after planting. Eurovision variety of gladioli produces red-coloured flowers and is again resistant to fusarial wilt. White prosperity produces white-coloured flowers and takes 119 days for flowering.

The new variety of chrysanthemum, Punjab Gold, is suitable for pot culture and plant height is 22.9 cm. It takes 76.5 days for flowering and red flower buds turn yellow on opening. This variety is quite resistant to Septoria leaf spot.

EDUCATION

Teachers’ union plea to principals
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Feb 16 — The Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union (PCCTU) has appealed to all principals of non-government colleges of Punjab to send information regarding the amount of CPF to the DPI (Colleges) and ensure timely processing of the pension-cum-gratuity case.

Giving this information, Professor K.B.S. Sodhi, president of the union, said that only 31 colleges had sent the required information to the DPI till yesterday. He has sought the cooperation of the managements, principals, teaching and non-teaching staff in this regard. He has urged all concerned to give top priority to the case as the budget session of Vidhan Sabha, Punjab, would commence shortly.

Professor Sodhi also said that from Ludhiana, only seven colleges had sent the required information, which included SDP College for Women, Devki Devi Jain College, Gujranwala Guru Nanak College, Guru Nanak National College, Doraha, Malwa College, Samrala, A.S. College, Khanna, Guru Hargobind College, Gurusar Sudhar.

Meanwhile, a cheque of Rs 51,000 has been presented by the union to the DPI as the first installment of their contribution to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. Besides, a request has been made to all the members of the union to contribute one day’s salary towards the fund.

4 PAU scientists honoured
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Feb 16 — Four scientists from Punjab Agricultural University have been awarded “Team Award” at a convention of the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers organised at Bhubaneshwar recently.

The scientists are Professor V.K. Sehgal, Senior Research Engineer and Head of the Department of Processing and Agricultural structures, College of Agricultural Engineering, and his research team comprising Dr Shashi Paul, Dr V.K. Thapar, Dr Maninder Arora and Dr P.K. Chhuneja.

They have been awarded for their research contributions in the field of post-harvest technology. The team was instrumental in developing several technologies and processes which have been adopted by farmers and entrepreneurs for value addition and reduction in post-harvest losses.

Some important technologies developed by them include agro-processing complexes, use of agricultural waste and byproducts by microbial treatment, effluent treatment in a rice mill using aerobic bio filter, honey extraction, establishing quick and convenient method to assess the degree of rice polish, use of biogas for safe storage of foodgrains and use of edible coatings for extending marketing period of perishable items.

CULTURE

Creative writers of Ludhiana
By Asha Ahuja

LUDHIANA, Feb 16 — One would be amazed at the surfeit of literary talent in the industrial city of Ludhiana. Dr Faqir Chand Shukla who comes from the tiny village of Khizra in Ropar district has won many national awards for his literary writings. Dr Shukla has had a chequered career and is at present working as a Professor in the Food and Nutrition Department of PAU. He received the Lekhak Award of Rs 1 lakh, a citation, a shawl and a medal, from the Punjab Languages Department for popularising science through his literary works.

He recalls his school days in his village when he looked at the names of authors on books and longed to see his own name on books. Today he has authored as many as 21 books and each of his books has won some award or the other. Last year he won the Millennium Award at the World Hindi Conference for his contribution to Hindi literature. He has won two national awards for his books on food and nutrition in Punjabi titled, ‘Sasta Bhojan’ and ‘Vadhiya Bhojan’ and another national award for children’s literature for his collection of short stories.

He enjoys writing plays which make people aware of the environment. ‘Dharti Saadi Maa’ and ‘Zara Sambhal Ke’ deal with the problems of pollution and the ozone layer. In ‘Janamdin’ he brings out the importance of tree plantation. His works have been translated into Bangla, Malayalam, Telugu, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada and Urdu. His source of inspiration was his wife, Sneh Prabha, who was snatched by the cruel hands of death two years ago, leaving Dr Shukla in deep grief.

Karamjit Singh Aujla was an artist. In an accident involving potassium cyanide, he lost his eyesight and remained blind for about seven months. After a series of operations, he regained 25 per cent of his eye sight. Now he has turned his creative talent to writing.

He started writing in 1988 and has since authored almost a book a year. His latest book ‘Unch Neech’ has been well received by readers. His other books are ‘Mud Ja Pind Apane’, ‘Kafir ate Farishte’ and ‘Chata Ate Satva Dariya’ ‘Apniyan Dee Udeek’ has been made into a TV serial.

Through his writings, he has been trying to highlight social and corrupt practices and make the people aware of the problems. One of his books, ‘Chauta ate Satvan Dariya’ has been made into a film and is slated for release in May. He is at present working on his eleventh book. His book, ‘Samay Samay da Rang’ has won him an award from the Punjab Languages Department.

Raj Dular Singh will receive the Shiromani Bal Lekhak Puruskar of Rs 1 lakh, a citation, a medal and a shawl on February 26. Raj Dular is suffering from renal trouble and it will be difficult for him to travel to Patiala to receive the award but his spirits are high. He has been writing children’s books in Punjabi for the last 45 years.

“I do not write fairy tales,” he says. He narrates the truths of life in an easy language for children. He has penned the lyrics of a Punjabi film which is due to be released soon.

He retired seven years ago, and in these seven years he has written seven books which the Government of Punjab is publishing. Five of them are for children and the other two contain poems and gazals. His book ‘Kkand Ka Gol Gappa’ with illustrations has been published by the Panjab University Text Book Board, Chandigarh. The Punjab Academy of the Delhi Government has published his book ‘Kawan Kawan Dhol Baja’.