Students allege errors in paper
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 21
M.Com (final year) students of the Panjab University’s Department of Correspondence Studies (DCS) have alleged errors in a question paper set by the university.

A section of students said as per the prescribed format, the question paper was supposed to have two parts — the first on strategic management and the other on corporate governance — containing equal number of questions. However, the entire question paper contained questions only on corporate management. A total of five questions out of 10 were to be attempted, with at least two from each section.

The Chairman of DCS, Dr Ujjagar Singh, confirmed that a complaint had been received from students and the university’s Controller of Examination had been informed about this. 

DISTRICT COURTS
DBA chief meets Dist and Sessions Judge
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, April 21
Members of the District Bar Association (DBA) today held a meeting on the issue of alleged misbehaviour one of the judicial officers while remanding police custody of an accused, Amarjit Singh, in a dowry harassment case.

The president of the DBA, Mr Sajal Koser, and the counsel for the accused, Mr N.S Minhas, met the UT District and Sessions Judge, Mr H.S. Bhalla, in the morning and submitted a complaint in this regard.

When contacted, Mr Bhalla said he would look into the matter. He has called the president of the DBA to discuss the matter tomorrow.

Bail for ice-cream vendor

Jai Kumar, an ice-cream vendor, who was arrested by the UT police for abandoning his daughter at Sector-16 was today granted bail by a local court. He was granted bail on the furnishing bond of Rs 5,000.

Man acquitted

A local court today acquitted Raj Kumar who had been booked by the UT police in a rape case.

The accused had allegedly raped a minor girl in Mauli Jagran. The accused was acquitted as the prosecution failed to prove the allegation levelled against him.

Baring the evil of female foeticide
Parbina Rashid

Chandigarh, April 21
Only a man with the sensitivity of Dr Sahib Singh, a doctor-turned-theatre artiste, can view the subject so well — the practice of killing female foetus. His latest play “Khamba Di Talash”, which he read out to mediapersons and literary personalities at Punjab Kala Bhavan in Sector 16, deals with the subject at various levels — highlighting the female psyche, the male ego and the greed of people.

Dr Sahib Singh’s script-reading session comes as part of the standard procedure of the Punjab Sahitya Akademi, under which before an actual production, the playwright has to present his script to literary figures for final approval. But for Dr Sahib Singh, who received the Best Playwright Award for the year 2002 by Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, for his debut drama “Main Zinda Rahunga”, the session was just a formality — for as a doctor and a veteran theatre artiste and established playwright, he is fully equipped to treat the subject with utmost sensitivity.

The plot of his play revolves around three families. In the first family, the daughter-in-law is forced by her mother-in-law to take a sex-determination test but is encouraged by her liberated sister-in-law to rebel against it. In the second family, the daughter-in-law meekly follows her husbands’ wishes and undergoes a series of abortions. The third is a doctor’s family which is happy with the two daughters.

Towards the end the story comes a strong message of attainment of liberty for women by fighting for their rights. There is an undertone of criticism of the social norms along with the role of doctors who cash in on sex-determination tests and abortions.

Dr Sahib Singh has already penned down nine plays besides “Khamba Di Talash”. The script, which goes into production next month, will be directed by the author himself. After leaving his medical profession to be a full-time theatre artiste, Dr Sahib Singh has acted in around 80 plays and directed around 25 plays. Under the banner of Adakar Manch, an SAS Nagar-based theatre outfit, Dr Sahib Singh has been performing all over the country and abroad. He had been awarded the Best Actor Award by Punjabi Akademi, Delhi, for five consecutive years and also honoured as the Best Director by the akademi.

He says: “It is true that a play cannot bring a revolution but if the subject makes an impact even on five per cent of the audience, as a writer and theatre person I find the notion satisfactory and this is the reason I feel no regrets in leaving my medical profession to become a full-time theatre activist.”

Harbhajan’s second appearance on big screen soon
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, April 21
Famous pop singer-turned-actor Harbhajan Mann will soon be seen in another Punjabi film. Harbhajan, who visited The Tribune office today to thank people here for their cooperation during his door-to-door campaign for his debut film “Jee Aaiya Nu”, said shooting for his next film, which will be directed by Manmohan Singh, would commence in August.

“Thanks to the intensive campaign conducted by The Tribune, which took the film to the wider masses, the film did well. Otherwise it would not have been so popular since people had lost interest in Punjabi films”, says Harbhajan.

On his singing career he said: “My singing career is suffering a bit, not because of my focus on acting but the amount of time I am spending on promotional tours for the film.” “Punjabi films were on the verge of extinction when ‘Jee Aaiya Nu’ materialised and the hardest part for us now is to bring the audience back to Punjabi films,” he adds.

However, his next Punjabi pop album is about to hit the market. “The name for my next album has not been finalised yet but it is going to be with T-series,” says Harbhajan. According to the singer, the album deals with Punjabi folk. “In every album one has to experiment with something new and this time we have come out with some unique soundtracks,” he adds.