TRIBUNE IN EDUCATION: SCHOOL WORLD
About Belarus

GLIMPSES OF BELARUS A section of the Mir Castle Victory Palace A view of modern day Minsk Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre

LOCATED in Eastern Europe along the western Dvina and Dniper, landlocked Belarus shares its borders with Poland in the west, Latvia and Lithuania, Russia in the east and Ukraine in the south.

Covering an area of 207,600 square kilometres, its terrain is generally flat and contains a lot of marshland.

Its highest point, Dzyarzhynskaya Mountain rises 346 meters above sea level. Principal rivers flowing through it are the Inepr, Pripyat, Ivana and Neman.

As far as its climate is concerned, Belarus faces a transitional between continental and maritime, with cold winters, cool and moist summers.

Belarus’ natural resources include forest land, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas. Arable land accounts for 29 per cent of its territory.

Belarus ranks among the most developed of the former Soviet states, with a relatively modern - by Soviet standards - and diverse machine building sector and a robust agriculture sector. It also serves as a transport link for Russian oil exports to the Baltic states and Eastern and Western Europe.

Agriculture accounts for about 25 per cent of GDP, with grain, potatoes, vegetables, meat and milk being the major products. On the agricultural front, the country is a net exporter of meat, milk, eggs, flour and potatoes.

Tractors, metal-cutting machine tools, off-road dump trucks up to 110-metric-ton load capacity, wheel-type earthmovers for construction and mining, eight-wheel-drive, high-flotation trucks with cargo capacity of 25 metric tons for use in tundra and roadless areas, equipment for animal husbandry and livestock feeding, motorcycles, chemical fibers, fertilizer, linen fabric, wool fabric, radios, refrigerators, and other consumer goods mark its industrial output.

Belarus has trade relations with Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Bulgaria. It exports machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, while it imports commodities: fuel, natural gas, industrial raw materials, textiles and sugar.

Fact file — Geography

Continent: Europe

SOPU burns VC’s effigy
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 23
Members of the Students Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) today burnt the effigy of the Vice-Chancellor to protest against the non-fulfilment of their demands. A statement issued here today said that unless their demands were met, their agitation would be identified.

Students have been demanding that the price of the university’s information booklet should be retained at Rs 25. Further it should not be compulsory for students seeking admission to buy it. SOPU members are also demanding that the last date for submission of admission forms be extended from June 27 to July 10.

The fast undertaken by some SOPU members in support of their demands entered its fourth day today. Meanwhile, members of local unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, in a memorandum submitted to the Vice-Chancellor, demanded that the price of the information booklet be reduced from Rs 250 to Rs 25.

Kathak workshop begins
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, June 23
Rajendra Gangani, the seventh generation kathak exponent of the Jaipur gharana, will be given the prestigious central Sangeet Natak Akademi award this year by the President of India on July 6. He feels that in his own humble way, he has managed to keep the name of his lineage afloat.

The worthy son and disciple of world renowned guru Kundan Lal Gangani, Rajendra has been giving stage performances since he was five years old.

“Belonging to a great gharana has its positive and negative points,” he says. “When our performance is below audience’s expectations, we are condemned, but if we perform well it is taken for granted,” he says. Ranjendra is in the city to conduct a five-day workshop at the Punjab Kala Bhavan, Sector 16, organised by the Punjab Sangeet Natak Akademi, in collaboration with the Pearls Performing Arts Society.

For Rajendra, kathak is not just about rhythm and ‘laya’ but is also a medium to attain the spiritual height. “Dance is an art, but it is not just a blend of footwork with rhythm and speed to entertain the audience. It is also a medium that links the dancer to eternity,” he says.

His philosophy reflects values which have been running in his family from generation. “I have performed on compositions both traditional and modern as well as fusion forms, along with other classical dances like bharatnatyam, mohiniatyam and flamenco, but always maintained kathak’s own unique entity,” he says.

A teacher at the Delhi Kathak Kendra, Rajendra has the flair to teach kathak from a layman’s point of view. “Unlike other classical dance forms, it is easy for a dancer to communicate through kathak,” he says. “The footwork, hand gestures and ‘abhinaya’ can be easily interpreted even by a layman and this is one of the reasons why kathak is popular,” he adds.

Rajendra at present is experimenting with a choreographic piece, based on Madhavi Verma’s poetry “Vedna.” The theme is environment, which he has tried to portray as the greatest art of the creator though his piece. “Art and nature is one and the same thing for me. So when I ask my students to enact different part in a composition, I ask them to inject the same amount of devotional feelings I would expect them to feel while playing Shiva, Rama or Krishna,” he adds.

During his stay here, Rajendra will be teaching beginners, as well as advanced learners, in two separate groups. The beginners will be acquainted with the concept of rhythm, basic footwork and the technics of initial sequences and symbolic gestures. The advanced group will be taught a new composition in footwork and sequences, besides a lesson on innovation in contemporary kathak.