The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

AGRICULTURE

Mass queen bee rearing stressed
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 10
Mass queen bee rearing can be more profitable for the farmers, besides being a method of diversification in bee-keeping. This was highlighted at a three-day specialised training course on mass queen bee rearing and royal jelly production, which concluded at Department of Entomology, Punjab Agricultural University, here today.

As many as 33 bee keepers from the state participated in the training course. They were acquainted with the latest techniques of mass queen bee rearing for commercial purposes, selection of colonies, stocks for pedigree queen bee production, maintaining queen bee banks and package bee technologies.

The Head of the Department of Entomology, while guiding the participants, said the production of queen bees in a large number was an important technology as a queen bee was sold for more than Rs 100. He said if a farmer was able to produce 200 queen bees per year, it meant that he would raise his income to Rs 20,000 per year.

He added that the production of royal jelly, a kind of honey prepared for the queen bee, was a step ahead in bee-keeping. He further said this jelly was being used as an ingredient in a number of anti-ageing creams. He stated that China was producing around 1800 tonnes of royal jelly every year.

The farmers were given training in the technology used for production, extraction, filtration, storage and processing of royal jelly. The director of Extension Education at the university apprised the bee-keepers about the need for quality consideration of the honey. He emphasised the need for diversification of bee-keeping and self-sustained agribusiness, including sale of honey, through the internet.

Black bug attacks sugarcane
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 10
Sugarcane growers in the state are having sleepless nights as a dreaded pests Sugarcane Black Bug, has attacked their crop this year also.

Commonly known as ‘Kali Bhundi’ or ‘Kala Khatmal’ the pest has again appeared in the region due to the practice of growing ratoon crop of sugarcane against the direction of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU).

According to officials of the Department of Extension Education and scientists of PAU, the farmers have started contacting them for the control of the pest. To analyse the incidence of the pest many scientists are visiting various villages also.

A scientist from the Department of Entomology said the pest was prevalent in the entire sugarcane belt of the state. Farmers from almost all districts, including Ludhiana, Sangrur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Nawanshahr, Fazilka and Faridkot were affected.

Dr Darshan Singh, Head, Department of Entomology, said the pest was a sucker and attacked the crop in May. He said its incidence was building up due to the favourable dry climatic conditions prevailing in the state.

He said the incidence was likely to increase further and may cause substantial damage to the crop, if remained unchecked. He said nymphs or youngsters of black bug which suck the sap from the young growing leaves and leaf sheaths were seen in clusters.

He said the adults also suck the sap from the young leaves and leaf sheaths and lower the vitality of the plant. The experts advised the farmers to examine the ratoon crop of sugarcane regularly for infestation of black bug. They further said the crop could be protected by using 350 ml of thiodan, 35EC (endosulphan), or 225ml of sumithion/ folithion/ accothion 50 EC (fenitrothion) or 350 ml of dursban/lethal 20 EC (chlorpyriphos) in 400 litres of water per acre with manually operated sprayer to prevent further multiplication and spread of the pest.

EDUCATION

School for deaf cries for attention
Our Correspondent

The hearing impaired children learning lessons from a teacher at the Red Cross Deaf and Dumb School for Children.

Ludhiana, May 10
To be born with a physical disability is a misfortune both for the parents and the children but in India it turns into a tragedy for the child as well as the parents. The main reason for this is the lack of educational and other opportunities needed to make them independent in life. The schools meant for such children either lack trained teachers who can be of substantial help to them and can equip them to face life or there is a paucity of funds for proper education. It is sad that in entire Punjab not a single school is being run for such children.

The Red Cross is running a school for deaf and dumb children. The school is housed in one corner of the Senior Citizen’s Home in Sarabha Nagar. For 40 students of the school, there are three trained teachers and one crafts teacher. The students have to pay Rs 15 as tuition fees.

However, when this correspondent visited the school, it was found that the students of different classes were clubbed for teaching. The Principal of the school, Mr V.K. Srivastava, said he and other teachers had obtained four years training as teacher of the deaf from Lucknow. Mr Srivastava also works as a supervisor in the Senior Citizen Home in the evenings.

The so-called facilities meant for the children were also either very old or not of much use. The school has an audiometer to test the hearing of the children but it is an obsolete model and is of not much use. This meter enables the teachers to find out the hearing capacity of the students. The students have group hearing aid and a speech trainer but these are also outdated. As mute children cannot express themselves they have to be taught through sign and touch language. The principal of the school admitted that there were no new facilities, and equipment and no new techniques were being used to train these students to become financially independent.

Due to the paucity of funds, the art of cane work which was being taught to students to enable them to earn their living had been discontinued. These days only tailoring skills are being taught to these children. The students were just being taught subjects which would enable them to appear for Punjab School Board’s matriculation examination. But will a matric certificate get them a job when millions of well educated students are jobless?

Mr Srivastava said there were different categories of deaf and dumb students, some were totally deaf and were unable to do lip reading whereas partially deaf students could communicate easily through sign language. Three totally deaf children in the school were able to write their names in English, Hindi and Punjabi.

“They learn by imitation,” said Mr Srivastava and added “They need a lot of practice for they have no retention power. The parents also have to work hard with them, but the parents do not have time to teach them”. While talking about basic needs of the school, he said, we need a van desperately for the students come from Jagraon and Mullanpur. The parents are unable to come every day as they can’t afford it. Our request for the procurement of van has not yielded any results. Secondly, we need to have a hostel facility for the students as they spend only four to five hours in school. That time is spent in teaching them subjects they are required to study for examination and no time is left for games or to teaching them other skills that will enable them to earn their living”.

Mr Srivastava said training in computers can be quite helpful for these children. They can also learn accounts. “If the students are well trained, they can find jobs easily but since there is paucity of funds, we cannot provide much to the students, he said.

With lack of funds and opportunities the future of these children seems to be bleak. Without proper vocational training it would be difficult for them to be independent and earn a living. Ironically, the government and the NGOs seem to be not much interested in improving their lot?

Rs 50,000 given for computer education
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 10
“Education without computers is incomplete these days. Without technical education we cannot advance in any sphere of life. Education through computers has become very necessary for own progress and for the progress of the country. Only computer education is job oriented education and will help us solve the problem of unemployment,” said Mr Jagdish Garcha, Minister for Technical Education at the inauguration of computer education at N.M. Jain Model Senior Secondary School today. He further said that it was a commendable step on the part of the school management.

Mrs Usha Sidhu, DEO, also lauded the efforts of Education Minister Tota Singh and Mr Garcha for improving education standards and also checking mass copying in the board examination.

Mr Ved Prakash Jain, chairman of the Managing Committee, thanked Mr Garcha for donating Rs 50,000 for computer education from his discretionary fund. The children of the school presented a beautiful cultural programme in honour of the guests. The songs sung by the students were full of patriotism. Priya and party sang a welcome song ‘Suni jo unke aane ki aahat, gareebkhana sajaya apne’, followed by a very famous song of poet Pradeep ‘Aao bacho tumein dikhayein jhanki Hindustan ki’. A qawali was presented by the Waheguru group.