Chandigarh, January 12
McKinsey conducted its campus placements at GGDSD College, Sector 32, here during which students of various colleges of the city participated. As many as 83 students had got themselves enrolled for the placement test, out of which four were finally selected by the company and have been offered recruitment letters.

All four are final year students of B.Com at the college. The students who have been offered jobs by this reputed firm are Samleen Dosanjh, Richa Sood, Gorika Singla and Sandeep Bogra.

Chandigarh, January 12
The next entrance examination for admission to Rashtriya Indian Military College(RIMC), Dehra Dun, will be conducted on June 1 and 2.

Only boys in the age group of 11.5 years to 13 years as on January 1, 2008, will be eligible for admission. They should either be studying in Class VII or should have passed Class VII as on January 1, 2008. — TNS

Chandigarh, January 12
The Dr Ambedkar Institute of Hotel Management has adopted a novel initiative under the mid-day meal scheme. The institute today supplied ‘mattar paneer’, dal and chapatis under the scheme to the approximately 16,105 students of 32 different government schools. The special meal would be made available once a week.

The scheme is a welfare measure to provide nutritious diet to children, as per the directions of UT Home Secretary, Mr Krishan Mohan. A scheme titled ‘Capacity Building for Service Providers’ has been launched for training employees of roadside dhabas, hotels, motels, restaurants and other unorganised sectors.

So far more than 6700 employees have been trained by the institute and given certificates.

Panchkula, January 12
A two-day cultural extravaganza, ‘Festal Jamboree’, took off on a colourful note at Bhawan Vidyalaya, Sector 15, here today. The theme for the event, "Celebration of festivals", revolved around the festivities from January through December.

Showcasing nearly 24 festivals, the programme saw the students put their best foot forward to present festivals to mark the change of seasons and birth anniversaries of gods and goddesses. The students presented Ganesh vandana based on Odissi steps, Janamashastmi was depicted through Kathak, basant through Bharatnatyam and other dances depicting the Indian culture and tradition.

The grand finale was performed by beaming Bhavanites to welcome the New Year. The chief guest, Mr rajiv Sharma, Director, Public Relations, was the chief guest on the occasion, while the chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, Mr Kulwant Singh, presided over the function.

Chandigarh, January 12
The Punjab Sangeet Natak Awards for the year 2006 will be bestowed upon five maestros for their significant contribution in various realms of art.

The Secretary General, Punjab Arts Council and Akademy president, Dolly Guleria, disclosed that the akademy working committee had unanimously endorsed the name of prospective awardees based on a consensus of cultural institutions, vice-chancellors and heads of musical arts, Akademy awardees and acclaimed artists.

The classical music award will be presented to Pandit Yash Paul (Shagun Piya), the legendary virtuoso of Agra gharana. A proponent of the traditional purity and creativity, Pandit ji was the foremost disciple of Ustad Vilayat Hussain Khan and Yunus Hussain Khan Saheb.

Holding top grade in AIR, he had performed on all prestigious music festivals in India and abroad. Winner of Sangeet Shiromani title and State award-2003, this former chairperson and founder of the Department of music at the Punjab University has been 
propagating the classical music in the region by cultivating a nursery of disciples and creating raga compositions.

Eminent film producer and director Iqbal Dhillon bagged the film award for bringing a renaissance in Punjabi, cinema. Credited with over a dozen films, including award-winning Tabahi, ‘Shahid-E-Azam’ in Hindi and Indo- Pak venture ‘Pind di Kudi.’

For the natak award the Amritsar-based thespian, Kewal Dhaliwal, had been selected for his rich contribution to theatrical arts, especially the innovative technical excellence.

A post graduate in direction from NSD Kewal Dhaliwal had won acclaim for his plays staged at Lahore festivals.

The ‘Lok Sangeet Award’ will be bestowed upon Sardool Sikander, the popular Punjabi folk singer, and actor while the ‘ Lok Naach award’ goes to Darshan Singh Nachaar party.

Prof Rajpal disclosed that the awardees would be given a shawl, a memento and cash award of Rs 31,000 each at a special function to be held later at then newly constructed ‘Randhawa auditorium’ in the Punjab Arts Council complex.

Besides this the akademy will honour the national SNA Rattan Gursharan Singh, winners of national Sahitya akademy awardee Ajmer Aulakh and national SNA award winner Idu Sharif.

Chandigarh, January 12
To provide cost-effective treatment to cancer patients, Dabur Pharma Limited has introduced OncQuest, a cancer-detection laboratory in the country, in South-East Asia. The Delhi-based state-of-the-art clinical and research laboratory has been providing facilities to detect if a patient was actually suffering from the disease or not. The laboratory also has facilities to test the effectiveness of drugs being given to cancer patients. The test being carried out by the company is the first of its kind in the world, claimed Mr Vivek Trikha, Head (Diagnostics), Dabur Pharma Limited.

Talking to medical persons at a city-based hotel, Mr Trikha, said the company had signed contracts with selected healthcare institutes and hospitals in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and certain others cities in the country for rendering the facilities. The Dabur OncQuest surgical pathology, flowcytometery, immunohistochemistry and PCRs had been accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratory (NABL), he claimed. The laboratory had introduced various techniques to evaluate the structure of DNA, RNA or proteins in cells. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), real time PCR, fluorescent in-situ-hyberdisation (FISH), cytogenetics, flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry and routine surgical pathology were certain methods used in the clinical setting, he added.

Chandigarh, January 12
The Adviser to the UT Administrator, Mr Lalit Sharma, today approved the proposal of a private firm to install a C.T scan unit at the hospital on lease hold basis. This would help in prompt diagnosis leading to proper and quick management of serious patients, a press note said.

The rates charged by the private firm would be 40 to 50 per cent of the market rate for various types of scans, it added.

Chandigarh, January 12
The UT Health Department has initiated a medical and dental examination drive in city schools under the School Health Scheme.

The first cycle of this scheme was conducted in the rural schools adjoining Chandigarh from August 8, 2005 to August 7, 2006. The second cycle which is covering nine schools, comprising 8,742 schoolchildren, is in the progress.

A survey of the schoolchildren’s medical health, their diet and nutritional facts has revealed a marked improvement in the health of the children.

The dieticians are also conducting counselling sessions in schools.The scheme has included children upto matriculation-level. Sixteen teams of doctors and staff have been involved.

The scheme is a sincere effort by the UT Health Department to achieve good health for all citizens of Chandigarh by involving students, teachers and parents.

The children were classified into three categories on nutritional status - mild, moderate and severe under-nutrition. The health examination over the past few months had shown that the number of children in the severe under-nutritional categories has gone down.

Chandigarh, January 12
A free medical check-up camp was held at Jagatpura village, near Chamkaur Sahib, by Mr Bikramjit Singh Chandok, an NRI, in the memory of his grandfather Kirpal Singh Thanedar. Various tests were conducted and more than 200 patients were given free medicines.

Mr Chandok also donated £500 for the repair of Gurdwara Yaadgar Baba Sobha Singh. 

Chandigarh, January 12
Constable Gurdev Singh won the gold in kneeling position in 300 metres (3 position rifle) in the shooting competition during the 50th All-India Police Duty Meet. The meet was held at Bhanu Training Centre, Bhanu, near here, from December 26 to 30.

As many as 29 teams from state police and Central police organisations participated. The Chandigarh police revolver/pistol shooting team comprising constable Baljit Singh, constable Kuldeep Singh and constable Joginder Singh bagged the overall second place.

ASI Parminder Singh shared the third position with a shooter of Assam Rifles in the preliminary round of centre fire pistol precision shooting event and secured the fourth place in the final rankings. Meanwhile, L/HC Raj Bala won the gold in the 5 km 40 + age category.

The IGP, UT, Mr SK Jain, honoured these sportspersons for their achievements.

Mohali, January 12
A 56-run match-winning partnership between Gurmukh Singh and S. Rajdhan fashioned Government Multipurpose School, Patiala’s victory over Kundan Vidya Mandir School, Ludhiana, in the PCA Parle Super League-cum-knockout match at PCA grounds here today. KVM won the toss and elected to bat. Abhishek and Salil negotiated the new ball well and scored 62 runs in the opening wicket partnership in 18 overs. KVM were able to score 179 for 6 in 45 overs. TNS

Panchkula, January 12
Joining duty as the new Deputy Commissioner of the district, Ms Neerja Rajashekhar today said her emphasis would be on issues dealing with education and health.

On a hectic first day in office, she held meetings with officials of various departments and even visited the Mata Mansa Devi Shrine Board which is headed by the Deputy Commissioner. After paying obeisance at the shrine, she went round the entire complex and was also briefed about the various developmental activities undertaken by the Board.

Taking up priority issues, she held a meeting with the Estate Officer, Haryana Urban Development Authority, over demarcation in Buddanpur which is dotted with unauthorised construction.

She directed the departments involved in the work to carry out the demarcation process and send a reply to the government.

Ms Rajashekhar also fixed a meeting for January 22 to finalise the constitution of the District Planning Committee. The government has directed all districts to have the Committee in place by January 30.

Earlier in the day, in an informal interaction with media persons, she said that while health and education would top her agenda, problems in the Morni belt of the district would also be addressed on priority.

“I would like to institutionalise matters and am taking note of issues brought to my notice,” she said.