AGRICULTURE

Testing essential for soil health
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 29
Punjab Agricultural University and Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA) today jointly organized a seminar on opportunities and challenges before scientists and farmers at Sangrur.

The Deputy Commissioner of Sangrur, Mr S.R. Ladhar, and PAU’s Director of Extension Education, Dr S.S. Gill, impressed upon the farmers to make the habit of getting their soil tested before application of any fertilizer, as recommended by university experts. The farmers were told that with Rs 12 lakh provided by Indian Council of Agricultural Research, a state-of-the-art soil testing laboratory has been set up at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kheri in the district, which should be extensively and intensively made use of by farmers.

The seminar was part of a chain of 12 similar seminars which ATMA and PAU will organize in the district as part of a strategy to create awareness among farmers about the opportunities and challenges ahead.

Experts from PAU told the farmers that application of overdose of fertilisers did more harm than good to the soil. This made it imperative to apply only the recommended doses of fertilisers so as to avoid toxicity of the soil.

Project Director of ATMA Kuldeep Singh and Chief Agricultural Officer B.S. Chahal also briefed the farmers how to conserve their resources, preserve environment and yet get optimum yield.

Meanwhile, the Scientific Advisory Committee of Fatehgarh Sahib district held a meeting on Wednesday, where the Deputy Commissioner, Ms Jaspreet Talwar, was also present. Experts from PAU led by Additional Director of Extension Education, Dr S.P. Mehra, impressed upon the farmers to opt for crop diversification particularly reducing area under paddy which covered about 26 lakh hectares. PAU had recently set up its Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Fatehgarh Sahib, where the meeting was held.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Talwar expressed concern over the depletion of sub-soil water and called upon farmers to adopt new innovations and technologies recommended by PAU. 

Tanushree Dutta to visit Ludhiana
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 29
Flying Cats, an air hostess training school, would soon open a centre here under the stewardship of Aditi Srivastava, who is the founder vice-president of INIFD, a design institute with a network of 180 centres in India and abroad.

The centre has invited a former Miss India and film star Tanushree Dutta for an interactive session at Gymkhana Club on July 3 for an interactive session..

The centre would provide an opportunity for its students to visit Singapore on board Singapore Airlines as it has a tie-up with Singapore Tourism Board. In Singapore the students would be given hospitality training.

It has tied up with HCL Infosystems Ltd. for providing laptops to all students.

The institute has on its board experts from the Airlines/hospitality industry including Parvez Damania, former Executive Director of Kingfisher Airlines & Sahara Airways and other experts from Air India, Swiss Air, Cathy Pacific, Jet Airways, Hotel Taj, and Hotel Oberoi. 

Techno Minds quiz

Ludhiana, June 29
the IT Gladiators, a forum of IT people at GGNIVS, organised Techno Minds (IT quiz), for budding IT professionals at the campus here yesterday.

The function was inaugurated by Mr Prithipal Singh Kapoor, member, Khalsa Educational Council (KEC), Mr Harmohinder Singh, secretary, Khalsa Educational Council, and Mr Kuljeet Singh.

Wainey Mathews, Divya, Amarjeet Kaur and Mandeep Singh of Sun Microsystem team bagged the first position in the quiz followed by Apple and Microsoft respectively.

In case presentation on brain drain, emerging trends in IT, hike in prices etc Divya and Wainey Mathews stood first and second respectively. Rajiv of MBA was the winner of 'sell it' contest. He sold a paddled scooter with a touch of comedy. Jaspreet won the title in turn coat, an extempore event.

Mr Kuldip Singh, director, and Mr Manjit Singh Chhabra, co-ordinator of the institute, gave away the prises. He congratulated the students for their good performance and appreciated the efforts of the coordinating committee of IT Gladiators comprising Ms Indu Goel, Mr Jasmeet Singh and the student members. OC

HEALTH

136-kg patient operated upon for 9-kg hernia
Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, June 29
Mr Nishan Ram Sharma, a resident of Dakha in this district, weighing 158 kg, had developed a hernia at umbilicus. He underwent an operation at Chandigarh, but the hernia not only recurred, but went on to grow to a mammoth proportion, causing disturbance in day to day life of the patient.

When the patient approached general surgeon Dr Narotam Dewan at Dewan Hospital here about five months back, he was advised to reduce the weight. The patient followed the instructions and lost nearly 22 kg in the intervening period. However, his hernia became hard and started causing acute discomfort. The patient was, therefore, taken up for the surgery and his hernia of little more than 9 kg, was removed. Now the patient was doing well, as also determined to further reduce his body weight.

According to Dr Dewan, morbid obesity was the root cause of many serious illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure, gall stones, heart attack and joint pains etc. Due to infiltration of fat, the fascia and muscles of a very fat patient becomes weak with the result that the weight of organs in the patient’s abdomen tears these envelopes at places, leading to formation of hernia.

He said the ever increasing prosperity in our country had not only made available plenty of palatable food, but also brought such diseases to the forefront. “People find exercise or brisk walk taxing, so they prefer to spend their spare time in front of TV or indulge in eating out. It is important to learn that to eat with the brain rather than tongue is healthy.” 

SPS Apollo slashes prices of cardiac procedures
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 29
Having completed one year of its operation in the city, the SPS Apollo Hospitals has initiated many steps to provide world-class healthcare facilities and services to people in this part of the country.

Addressing a news conference here today, Mr Jugdiep Singh, director of the hospital, announced that in its bid to bring latest treatment for cardiac diseases within reach of the common people, the institution had slashed the cost of procedures like angiography, angiplasty and cardiac bypass surgery.

“Since the commencement of its operations, SPS Apollo has had more than 34,000 patients in the outpatient department and over 3000 in the inpatient department, the sheer number spoke volumes for the trust reposed in our services by the people at large.” He further said that till now, the hospital had performed 1120 cardiac interventions (angiographies), 324 angioplasties and 187 cardiac surgeries.

Dr S P Singh, chief operating officer, SPS Apollo, who was also present, added that Apollo had also entertained 12 international patients as well, who opted for this institution for cardiac, orthopedic and neuro surgeries. “The commitment of the hospital towards quality and safety is reflected by the undertaking towards JCI (Joint Commission International) accreditation which will make it the first JCI accredited hospital in this part of the country.”

Talk on prevention of heart attack on July 1
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 29
The Ludhiana Management Association (LMA) will conduct a talk on “How to prevent heart attack before it happens” in the city on July 1. Mr M.C. Munjal, president, said in a press note issued here that a team of eminent doctors, including Dr R.K. Mathur, Director, Batra Hospital and Medical Research Centre, New Delhi, Dr S.S. Bakhshi, Delta Heart Center, Ludhiana, and Dr Gaurav Minocha, D.M. (cardiology) Escorts Heart Institute and Research Center, New Delhi, will share their experiences and thoughts on the subject.

“The human heart gets no rest from the time it starts beating. In an average lifetime, it beats approximately two and a half billion times, pumping close to five liters of blood through the body every minute. Such a hardworking organ deserves all possible care in the form of exercise, dietary control and mental stability. Unfortunately, with modern lifestyle there has been an increase in heart diseases, so much so that WHO is now describing it as the world’s biggest epidemic,” he said.

SPORTS

Saraswati Modern School lads win by 4 wkts
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, June 29
Thanks to fine batting by Manik ( 82 n.o) and Tejas (41), Saraswati Modern School beat Mahajan Juniors XI by four wickets in the 10th Chaman Lal Malhotra Cricket Cup Tournament (u-14) being organised by the Ludhiana District Cricket Association at Arya College for boys ground here today. This was Mahajan Juniors’ second consecutive defeat and they made an exit from the tournament.

Mahajan Juniors won the toss and elected to bat. In the allotted 30 overs, they made 184 runs for the loss of six wickets. The main scorers were Paras Mehndiratta (20), Sukhraj (19), Nitish (51), Sahil (17) and Deepin Chitkara (8). For Saraswati School, the wicket takers were Gaurav (1 for 37), Nikhil (1 for 33) and Manik (1 for 36).

Saraswati School surpassed Mahajan Juniors’ total in after losing 6 wickets in 26 overs. Their innings revolved around Manil who remained unbeaten on 82 runs and Tejas who scored valuable 41 runs. Other notable scorers were Rohan and Shivam who contributed 14 runs each.

For Mahajan Juniors XI, Subhodh and Parul claimed two wickets each for 28 and 27 runs, respectively while Paras Mehndiratta took one for 37.

LIC table tennis tourney results
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, June 29
T.P.S. Nanda of unit IV branch in the men's section and Narpinder Kaur of divisional office in the women's section came out triumphant in the Life Insurance Corporation of India Table Tennis Tournament-2006 organised by the LIC Employees' Sports and Recreation Club at its Dugri office.

Mr S.C. Dhingra, Senior Divisional Manager, LIC, Ludhiana Division, gave away prizes to the position holders. Participants from eight branch offices and divisional office of Ludhiana division took part in the tournament.

Results: men- T.P.S. Nanda of unit IV-1, Baljinder Singh of unit I-2 and Vikas Sharma of divisional office-3; women- Narpinder Kaur of divisional office-1, Ritu of divisional office-2 and Nisha of unit I-3.

GNIPS students excel in martial arts meet
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, June 29
Students of Guru Nanak International Public School, Gujarkhan Campus, excelled in the seventh Full Contact Chinese Martial Arts Championship held here at the Tagore Public School, Aggar Nagar, recently.

According to Mr Ashok Khiwa, trainer, the school bagged six medals in this tournament in which more than one hundred participants competed.

Keshav Marwaha clinched a gold in the 24-26-kg category while Sourav fetched the second gold in the 34-36 kg section. In the 75-kg category, Guriqbal Singh secured a silver medal and in the 50 kg category, Dilpreet Singh won a bronze medal. Aseem Khetarpal in the 48-50 kg and Amanpreet Singh in the 55-60 kg categories won bronze medals.