Cut operational cost of machinery: VC
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 11
Dr Kirpal Singh Aulakh, Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University, inaugurated the 15th National Workshop of the All-India Coordinated Research Project on ‘Farm implements and machinery’ in Jacob Hall, College of Agricultural Engineering, PAU, here yesterday.

At least 150 research engineers, scientists and manufacturers from all over the country are participating in the four-day workshop being organised by the Department of Farm Power and Machinery.

Dr M M Pandey, Project Coordinator, presented a report on different developments during the past two years. He said it was the largest project in agricultural engineering on which work was being carried out at 28 centres all over the country.

Dr Aulakh, during his inaugural address, emphasised on cost-effective machinery to reduce the cost of crop production. He mentioned that the cost of tractors and machinery had gone much higher as against the price of produce. He advised the farmers to make optimum use of tractors and said cooperatives and hiring centres should own the bigger and costly machinery so that small farmers could get benefit of machines.

He exhorted the engineers to develop machinery for alternative/diversified crops like maize, sugarcane and fodder. He said dairying was the most important activity of the farmers for generation of income in Punjab. Thus, machinery for dairy-related activities should be developed.

Dr G S Nanda, Director of Research, shared his experiences regarding mechanisation. Machinery reduced the cost of operation, labour and the operations were done on time. He advised manufacturers to develop standardised and safe machines.

He said due to the shifting of population to cities, the percentage of people engaged in farming was coming down, in addition to the reduction in area under crops due to the requirement of housing. He advised the manufacturers to develop highly efficient machines to overcome this problem.

Dr I K Garg, Head, Department of Farm Power and Machinery, PAU, was honoured by the Association of Research Engineers, All-India Coordinated Research Project, for his contribution to the research and development of farm machinery in Punjab.

Dr H S Sekhon, Dean, welcomed the chief guest and participants. Dr V K Sharma, Registrar, who was associated with the project for two decades, proposed a vote of thanks.

Lecture on goods shipment
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 11
The Department of Foreign Trade Practices and Procedures of GGN Khalsa College organised a lecture on “Shipping scenario in international business and export logistics” here yesterday.

The guest speakers were Mr Veerain Prabhakar, branch manager, Transworld Shipping Services, and Mr Amarjit Singh, executive, Exports Department, Vardhaman Group. Prof Parneet Singh, coordinator, introduced the speakers to the audience.

Mr Prabhakar discussed the role of shipping lines, containerisation, freight determination, agency business, seaports and inland container depots operational in export and import business. Various commercial documents used in the shipment of goods like invoice, packing list, bill of lading, letter of credit, GR and ARE forms were also discussed with the students.

Mr Prabhakar also briefed the students about the growing job opportunities in the shipping industry and assured to provide the same in future. He asked the students to visit the dry port of Ludhiana, ports of Nhava Sheva, Mumbai, and Mundra in Gujarat for better understanding of shipping operations.

Mr Amarjit Singh spoke on export logistics, covering the importance of shipment by sea in exports and role of customs house agents, and clearing and forwarding agents in exports. Multimedia aids were used to make the lecture lively and interesting for the students.

Inter-college festival begins
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 11
A two-day inter-college cultural festival began at Khalsa College for Women, Civil Lines, here today. Ms Shweta Verma, wife of the Deputy Commissioner, presided over the function which was attended by members of the managing committee of the college. Ms Varinder Kaur Thind, Principal, welcomed the guests and participants.

In the music category, students participated in events like shabad, ghazal, folk song and dhun. Mr Kulwinder Singh, Mr Sureshwar Sharma and Mr Gurmeet Singh judged the performance of the budding artists.

In home science, the students participated in flower arrangement, cooking and embroidery contests. Ms Satnam Dhillon, Ms Subhasini Verma and Ms Neelam Mehrotra were the judges.

A physics quiz was also organised which was marked by the spirit of healthy competition. A performance was also given by the students of Punjab gharana, Tabla Vaadan Sikhya Kendra.

The following are the results of the other contests held today

Ghazal singing: Arshpreet of Ramgarhia Girls’ College 1, Sonia Singla of Government College for Women and Himani of Khalsa College for Women 2 and Jagpreet Singh of GGN Khalsa College and Monica of Master Tara Singh Memorial College for Women 3.

Dhun: Jaspal Singh of GGN Khalsa College 1, Babita Sharma of Government College for Women and Bhagwant Kaur of DD Jain College 2, and Preeti Gupta of Khalsa College for Women and Inderpreet of Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women 3.

Folk songs: Gulrez Akhtar of Guru Nanak Khalsa College 1, Sarabjit Kaur of Master Tara Singh College and Pankaj Gupta of GGN Khalsa College 2 and Jasmeet Kaur of Government College for Women and Parampreet Kaur of Khalsa College for Women 3.

Shabad singing: Ramgarhia Girls College 1 and Khalsa College for Women 2.

Physics quiz: Khalsa College for Women 1, Arya College for Boys 2 and Government College for Women 3.

Cooking (veg-based sweet dish): Ramandeep of Guru Nanak Khalsa College 1, Preeti of SDP College for Women 2 and Neha of Government College for Women 3.

Cooking (snack using soya): Mansi of Khalsa College for Women 1, Gagan of Government College for Women 2 and Sheenam of DD Jain College for Women 3.

Embroidery: Sonia of Guru Nanak Khalsa College 1, Anu Dogra of Arya College 2 and Manpreet of Guru Nanak Khalsa College 3.

Flower arrangement (Fresh): Ranjana of DD Jain College 1, Karun Kanchan of Master Tara Singh College 2, and Amarpreet of Guru Nanak Khalsa College 3.

Fresh and dry arrangements: Aanksha of Government College for Women 1, Ravneet of Guru Nanak College 2 and Penny from DD Jain College 3.

Harkirat wins declamation contest 
Our Correspondent

Mandi Ahmedgarh, February 11
Baba Budha Ji Gurmat Parchar Trust organised a Gurmat contest at local Guru Hargobind Khalsa Senior Secondary School on Sunday. According to Mr Darshan Singh, Chairman of the trust, students from 15 schools participated in declamation contest, Gurbani recitation and dastar (turban) competition. The contests were held as part of tercentenary celebrations of Guru Granth Sahib and Guru Angad Dev.

Results:

Declamation contest:

Group A — first prize: Harkirat Kaur of Sanatan Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School Ahmedgarh; second prize: Shavinder Kaur of Sanatan Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Ahmedgarh, and third prize: Rajwant Kaur of Guru Nanak Kanya Maha Vidyalya, Ahmedgarh.

Group B — first prize: Shivsimran of Guru Harkrishan Public School, Phalewal, second prize: Navjot Jyoti and Raman Kaur of Government Elementary School, Amarpura.

Gurbani recitation: group A — first and second prizes: Kamaljit Kaur and Raman Deep Kaur, respectively, of Anand Isher Secondary School Chhapar, and third prize: Jagseer Singh of Government Elementary School, Amarpura.

Group B — first prize: Harjot Kaur of Guru Nanak Public School Sihar, second and third prizes: Jaswinder Singh and Karam Singh, respectively, of GHG Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Bahadurgarh.

Group C — first prize: Gurvinder Singh of Sant Ram Government High School, Babarpur, second prize: Varinder Singh of GHG Senior Secondary School, Bahadurgarh, and third prize: Tirlochan Singh of Sant Ram Government High School, Babarpur.

Declamation contest
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 11
The Political Science Society of Gujranwala Guru Nanak Khalsa College organised an inter-class declamation and paper reading contest here today. Mr Gurdip Singh, Principal, and Prof H.S. Batra, head of the department, said that the contest was held to supplement the information and awareness of the students in their subject.

The topics for declamation contest were ‘Indo-Pak relations’, ‘Corruption and politics’, ‘Centre-state relations’, ‘Parliamentary form of government’, and ‘Role of elections in democracy’. Kanu Mittal of BA I stood first, Sunil Kumar (BA I) second and Pritpal Singh (BA III) third.

The topics for the paper reading contest were ‘Corruption and politics’, ‘Fundamental rights’, ‘Regionalism’ and ‘Unitary type of government’. Yogesh Sharma of BA II, Jaspreet Singh (BA II) and Sanjeev Kumar (BA II) were adjudged first, second and third, respectively.

A date with candles 
Vimal Sumbly
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 11
For 20-year-old Charu Malhotra, making candles is not just an interesting pursuit, but it appears to be a creative passion. She has been conceptualising and creating designer candles for a long time. Although she has not held many exhibitions, she commands a lot of demand among art lovers. She has so far been refusing the export orders as she wants to complete her studies also. Charu is a student of the Government College for Women. She is doing psychology honours. Besides, she is also pursuing fine arts and is learning painting as well.

Age does not appear to be an inhibition for this young, bright and upcoming artist. She says, “Experience and, not age, makes one an adult in a particular profession”.

Charu is holding her second exhibition at Satluj Club. It will start tomorrow and conclude on Valentine’s Day. In fact, Valentine remains the theme of her current exhibition. Her earlier exhibition was held in the month of October 2003, where she drew a lot of admirers. In fact, her entire collection was sold during the exhibition.

Charu also feels grateful to her teachers. Particularly, to her Principal in GCW and Sister Helema, the Principal of the Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar, where she had her schooling. She has also had lot of exposure as she has travelled a lot across the globe. She says, “My travelling has also been a great help as it gives me fresh ideas”.

Seema enthrals Ludhianvis with bhajans
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, February 11
Seema, a former member of Viva Group, who quit the group after coming under the influence of founder of the Art Of Living Ravishankar, enthralled the audience with bhajans at the Sutlej Club last evening.

The occasion was the Youth Concert For Peace. It was organised by the local chapter of the Art of Living. Seema cast such a spell on the audience that most of them started either clapping or dancing.

The programme began with “Ganesh sharnam, sharnam Ganesh”. The bhajans that followed were devoted to Bappa Maurya, Lord Shiva, Lord Krishna. At the fag end of the programme, Seema invited children to sing a chorus.