Ludhiana, January 31
Recuperating at a private hospital after being beaten up by eve teasers, Raikot resident Rajiv Dhir curses the moment when he raised his voice against eve teasing.

City residents, who criticised Mumbaikers for their cowardice against hoodlums, themselves witnessed the entire episode as mute spectators.

He said he did not realise that eve teasing was a “common” practice here and the city people had accepted it as part of their social culture.

“If this incident had taken place at Raikot, the entire town would have taught those hooligans a lesson,” he said.

“The incident took place around interval when around six youths started teasing some girls. The girls were frightened and sat next to me, but this did not deter the youths and they even tried to get physical with them,” he said.

When he objected, the youths started hurling abuses at him and pushed him towards a corner and started beating him up.

A security guard tried to intervene, but he was also thrashed. The accused stopped beating him when the cinema management intervened.

“The youths then went to the hall and started calling their friends. Those watching the movie with me assured me that they would escort me outside the hall. There were around 25 to 30 security guards of PVR cinema, but all vanished when they saw around 14 heavily armed men enter the cinema,” he said.

“I was beaten up until such time they thought I was dead. I don't know what happened afterwards,” Dhir said.

It was a tragic scene for his wife, who tried to intervene and kept crying for help, but no one came forward.

Dhir was taken to the DMCH in a serious condition by his driver and wife. From there, he was admitted to a private hospital.

The police has booked the youths for attempt to murder.

The prime accused, Gurpreet Singh of Ambedker Nagar, Ranbir Singh of Model Gram and Varinder Singh of south Model Town, are absconding.

The youths alleged that Rajiv had attacked them with a sharp-edged weapon, due to which they received injuries on their fingers.

On this, Dhir said: “I am not a super hero who can fight 14 heavily armed men. How could I injured them only on their fingers?”

Ludhiana, January 31
Coming to the aid of residents of National Highway-1, who were issued eviction notices by the municipal corporation, chief parliamentary secretary Harish Rai Dhanda today said that those who had constructed houses and other buildings before 1996 could stay put and no action would be taken against him.

Addressing mediapersons, Dhanda said there was no confusion regarding the demolition and whoever constructed their buildings on or before March 22, 1996, would not be touched as these were not part of violations.

He said he had asked MC commissioner GS Ghuman to appoint a Joint Commissioner to help clarify the situation.

At the same time he said building owners would have to seek permission from the MC before carrying out any alteration.

He said construction carried out after 1996 would have to be demolished.

Ludhiana, January 31
The evening college being running at SCD Government College here is under scanner for allegedly embezzling tuition fee that had to be deposited in the treasury branch of the State Bank of India on August 8 and November 2, 2008, respectively.

The embezzlement came to light recently when the board statement sent by the bank did not match the entries of the college. Following irregularities in the statements, the principal constituted a three-member committee, the report of which is awaited.

According to sources, the evening college is being run for the past several years and under-graduate and postgraduate students of arts have been studying here.

Some other irregularities have also been noticed in recent times. Many more teachers have been accommodated in the college than sanctioned by the state government. Also, certain candidates who have opted for sociology and have taken admission in the evening college, attend their classes in the morning college due to less student strength in the evening college.

A teacher, requesting anonymity, disclosed: “One of the clerks in the evening college is a regular BEd student at Partap College of Education here. As per government rules, before joining any professional course, a person has to seek prior permission. In most cases, a person is asked to go on leave while pursuing a course,” the teacher said.

The Principal, Dr Malkiat Singh, said certain irregularities had been noticed while matching the statements of the college and the bank. “On the basis of that I have constituted a committee to look into the matter. We will take action only when the committee submits its report. We are on the job and hope that by Monday, everything would be clear,” he stated.

Ludhiana, January 31
The Union Finance Ministry has sanctioned a textile park for the city for the development of the hosiery and textile industry.

About 60 acres have been acquired between Sahnewl and Doraha for this purpose and a special purpose vehicle (SPV) has been established with Vinod Thapar as its managing director.

Thapar told The Tribune today that the textile park would become functional by next year. The textile ministry would give Rs 40 crore assistance for the park, which has been sanctioned.

The park would have all modern facilities like world-class roads, effluent treatment plant and information centre. It would have as many as 81 small and medium-scale units. Union Textile Minister Shankar Singh Vaghela, during his visit to Amritsar last week, had announced the establishment of textile parks in Ludhiana, Barnala and Nawanshahr. Two other parks would come up in the private sector.

Regarding the facilities provided by the Punjab Government in the establishment of the park, Thapar said the government had waived the levy of stamp duty and electricity duty on new units.

The park would give employment to more than one lakh persons, he claimed.

With the establishment of the park, Ludhiana’s hosiery and textile industry will get a boost and export would also pick up. Another apparel park is coming up near Doraha with the help of the central and the state governments.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, January 31
Regretting that the town lacked basic amenities even after 150 years of its establishment, a section of residents led by social activists Abhay Jain and Tarsem Garg have threatened to boycott elections in those contesting from this constituency and their supporters did not clear their stand on long-pending demands.

Shifting of the BDO office to the town, a degree college and improvement of civic amenities topped the list of their demands.

In a communiqué addressed to office-bearers of various political parties, including the SAD, BJP and the Congress, residents have accused successive legislators and parliamentarians of ignoring their genuine demands.

The town, which is situated about 60-km from the district headquarters, has been crying for basic amenities for decades.

Due to the absence of an amusement park or a stadium, youngsters and children can’t engage in any sports activities.

The local authorities have also failed to develop proper drainage system in the town. As a result, sewerage overflows during the rainy season.

None of the elected representatives have bothered to get the public utilities function properly. Basis amenities are lacking at majority of public places, including bus stand and the railway station. All roads, connecting the town with surrounding villages and towns are in bad shape. This besides causing inconvenience to daily commuters discourages bus drivers from entering the town.

Moreover, due to the absence of a degree college, students have to go to cities to get higher education. The demand for a degree college in the town is yet to be fulfilled.

The residents demanded improvement of basic amenities after upgrading the town to a subdivision as promised during the election campaigns.

Accusing regional political leaders of harnessing support of locals for their individual gains the activists called upon voters to ask supporters of various candidates what they had done for the town till now.

"Unfortunately local leaders also fall prey to popularistic slogans of those who make tall promises during every election and don’t turn up afterwards. It is the appropriate time when a common man can ask these leaders what has been their contribution for the town," argued Jain and Garg.

Ludhiana, January 31
The Punjab Government has released a grant of Rs10 crore for the Punjab Agricultural University for disbursement of pension to the retirees of the university. The Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had ordered the release of grant to the PAU to meet its pension commitment.

Vice-chancellor Dr Manjit Singh Kang, said the pensioners would be paid pension for the month of January with this grant. Besides, the university was trying to manage the funds and pay the pension till the month of March.

Dr Kang said the Punjab and Haryana High Court had given a relief to the PAU and asked it to pay the arrears of the pension till March 31.

Dr Kang said they were pressing for the implementation of the cess of the 50 paise per Rs100 as recommended by the SS Johl committee to tide over the financial crisis of the PAU.

The pensioners have been paid their pension till December.

Ludhiana, January 31
A student's laboratory on combine harvesting technology was inaugurated at the PAU College of Agricultural Engineering yesterday. The laboratory has been developed in collaboration with CLAAS, one of the biggest farm machinery producers worldwide.

The ribbon cutting and curtain raising ceremony was jointly performed by Dr Manjit Singh Kang, vice-chancellor PAU, and Jan Hendrik Mohr, executive vice-president, the CLAAS Group to commemorate the MoU already inked between CLAAS and PAU in May 2008.

Dr Kang said facilities in the lab would be beneficial in learning the practical aspects of farm mechanisation. Describing this as a lasting tribute to good relationship, Dr Kang complimented CLAAS for their vision in transforming their unit from family business to have global amplitude. Appreciating the collaborative efforts of PAU and CLAAS, Dr Kang mentioned the needs of advanced farming techniques in India and encouraged the graduating agricultural engineers to be equipped with such technologies to compete in today's global economy.

Mohr described the setting up of the lab at PAU as a base for future association. He said CLAAS would be introducing two scholarships for students at PAU. Some students trained at PAU have been placed at CLAAS, he said.

Earlier, Dr BS Ghuman, dean, College of Agricultural Engineering explained about PAU-industry interface programme and said CLAAS had a long association with PAU where 13 students had been selected for placement.

Mandi Gobindgarh, January 31
Desh Bhagat Institute of Management and Computer Sciences organised its 7th national seminar on the theme of Techvision 2020- Emerging Paradigms in Information Technology.

Apart from the faculty members and students of the computer science department, a number of delegates representing various institutes and industry from different parts of the country attended the seminar, presented their papers and held discussions on different topics.

Inaugurating the seminar, chief guest PC Dogra (ex. DGP Punjab) said the information technology had a vital role to play in the present day world.

It is imperative for youth to brace themselves with the latest developments taking place in the technological and industrial fields.

Prof Shalini Gupta, director-general of Desh Bhagat Group, asserted that education was universally acknowledged as the best investment in human development and those who invested liberally in education reaped rich harvests. 

Ludhiana, January 31
Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) will organise XIX national congress of veterinary parasitology under the aegis of the Indian Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology from February 3 to February 5. The theme of the congress is “National impact of parasitic diseases on livestock health and production” with focus on changing trends in parasitology from eggs to genomes.

PN Bhat, scientist and former DDG (animal science) ICAR, will inaugurate the congress while VK Taneja, GADVASU Vice-Chancellor, will preside over.

KML Pathak, director, National Research Centre on camel, Bikaner, and local organising committee chairman, SS Singh will also address the gathering. Sarman Singh from the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, will deliver the keynote address on “Microscopy to Microarray techniques in parasitic diseases.”

The focus will be on the impact of parasitic diseases on livestock health and production and on changing trends in parasitology from conventional to molecular biology techniques and it will be useful for young, mid-career scientists and field veterinarians to get first hand knowledge about newer technology for improving livestock health and productivity. Three publications, including CD of the compendium, will be released by the chief guest, said PD Juyal, organising-cum-general secretary of the congress.

Awards such as Dr JP Dubey Young Scientist Award, best poster, oral presentation and Dr VS Alwar Memorial Award for the best research published in journal of veterinary parasitology will be conferred on those who excel in this field.

More than 230 research papers have been received from different parts of the country and scientists from Pakistan. As many as 150 delegates from state veterinary and agricultural universities, ICAR institutes, state governments, NGOs and corporate houses are likely to participate.

Ludhiana, January 31
In today’s era of globalisation, business has become borderless and all nations are witnessing a paradigm shift in human resource activities.

In this new era, the global human resource manager is envisaged as an individual who is fully geared to deal with international issues and challenges like hiring employees, training and development, performance review, remuneration, motivation, welfare or industrial relation that has made the International Human Resource Management practices as core issue. A book on “International Human Resource Management” , which has been written by Sageena Sareen, lecturer Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology (GNIMT), Dr Harpreet Singh, Principal of SVCM, Rajpura, and published by Kalyani Publishers, was released today.

The book brings out various international activities in respect to planning, staffing, training and development, compensation. It also gives an overview about the important aspects like overseas assignment, managing expatriate, its various benefits and emerging challenges being faced in IHRM. The book specifically caters to the needs of the students of MBA classes of Punjab Technical University (PTU). 

Ludhiana, January 31
Smita Jayakar, the name reckoned with Marathi, Hindi, Urdu and English theatre, accredits theatre artists for playing an important role in cultivating a good taste towards the theatre among the Indian diaspora.

Smita is here with the crew of a play, Wedding Album, written by Girish Karnad and directed by Lillete Dubey. The play is being staged under the aegis of the Ludhiana Sanskritik Samagam. Smita expressed her willingness to work in live theatre adding that “television and silver screen is a good stimulant but the real essence of acting is in live theatre”.

Speaking on behalf of the theatre fraternity, Smita said a limited section of the society was exposed to real theatre, which was why the responsibility to ‘teach the audience’ about real theatre lied with the professional theatre groups.

When asked about the affect of glamour in television soap operas on the theatre, Smita confidently referred to screen performance as ‘machine embroidery’ and substantiated live theatre performance as ‘hand embroidery’ that never loses it sheen.

The difference between the practiced and performing art is evident from the projection of the film/television artist and theatre artist, Smita added.

Interestingly, majority of the actors have an experience in film acting, including director Lillete Dubey, who bowled the audience with her impeccable performance in Monsoon Wedding, Baghban, Kal Ho Na Ho, Pinjar and Gadar.

While sharing her experiences of the performances in Bangkok, Singapore and Lahore, Dubey said the audience did not just respond to the performance but had established a bond with the performers.

Ludhiana, January 31
Punjab Mandi Board is all set to construct state-of-the-art mandis in Punjab in the near future. Latest facilities like fruit-ripening chambers, cold room, grading lines, re-conditioning room, packing house and equipment will be provided for cleaning the mandis and the new vegetable market at Ludhiana will be provided all facilities. These views were expressed by Punjab Mandi Board chairman Ajmer Singh Lakhowal while addressing a seminar on "Fruits and Vegetables, production, protection and marketing" at Wheat Auditorium of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) here today.

Lakhowal further added that four more seminars on similar lines will be organised in Amritsar, Bathinda, Jalandhar and Fatehgarh Sahib in the near future. He said mandis were being upgraded and under this programme 12 vegetables and grain markets at Patiala, Phillaur, Jalandhar, Pakharpur, Kalanaur, Cheema, Talwandi Bhai, Bholath, Sahnewal, Mullanpur, Giddarbaha and Jhunir mandis were being upgraded in coming times.

Ludhiana, January 31
Full of vigour and energy, participants competed in various events on the second day of the 64th Annual Athletics Meet of Kundan Vidya Mandir, here today. A competition for school staff was also organised.

Principal of Kundan Vidya Mandir Rajiv Nagalia along with the faculty and students was present there to encourage the participants. He honoured students, who excelled in different games at the district level tournaments.

Second day's results:

Class III (girls): lemon race- Kashish Gupta 1, Isha Dawar 2, Shreya Kapoor and Somil Sharma 3; 100m race- Vidushi Aggarwal 1, Simran Kaur 2 and Vidushi Jindal 3.

Class III (boys): Sack race- Rijul uneja 1, Khushil Jain 2 and Shobhit Gupta 3; 100m race- Guramrit 1, Gurnoor 2 and Abhinav 3.

Class IV (girls): lemon race- Surnima Poddar 1, Prachi 2 and Muskan Aggarwal 3; 100m race- Samridhi 1, Pragya 2 and Lavanya 3.

Class IV (boys): sack race- Taran Ahuja 1, Vanshaj Jain 2 and Vaibhav Garg 3; 100m race- Jaskaran 1, Rahul 2 and Naman 3.

Class V (girls): long jump: Mahima Gulati 1, Khushnaz 2 and Aanchal Takkar 3; 200m race- Tanya 1, Palak 2 and Muskan 3; 100m race- Kaynat 1, Aanchal 2 and Tanya 3.

Class V (boys): long jump: Soham Mittal 1, Victor 2 and Rohan Sharma 3; relay race- Tagore House 1, Subhash House 2 and Gandhi House 3; 200m race- Anshul and Saransh 1, Devang 2 and Akshit 3; 100m race- Kanwar Raj Singh 1, Anshul 2 and Akshit 3.

Junior boys: long jump- Anil Kumar 1, Nivesh Loshali 2 and Kanish Gupta 3; 1500m race- Akshit Bawa 1, Surya Goel 2 and Abhishek 3; shot put- Aditya 1, Akshit 2 and Asit 3;

Junior girls: long jump-Pratishtha Verma 1, Ridhi Jain 2 and Ritika Mohanty 3.

Senior girls: 800m race- Ritika 1, Arshia 2 and Aishwarya 3; 400m race- Alisha 1, Smile 2 and Arshia 3; chatti race- Pallavi 1, Srishti 2 and Saksha 3.

Senior boys: long jump- Abhinav Gupta 1, Rohan Mehra 2 and Ankur Gupta 3.

Ludhiana, January 31
Navneer Singh and Aneel Ahluwalia were adjudged the best athletes, while Aryabhatt house bagged overall championship in the annual sports meet of Ryan International School, Chandigarh Road, Ludhiana, that concluded today.

Gold medallist (weightlifting) in the Commonwealth Games, Parvesh Sharma and Arjuna awardee Teja Singh, were the guests of honour at the prize distribution function.

They encouraged the students to take up sports, and in order to excel, concentrate on a particular game.

Apart from track events, the concluding day was ornamented with a colourful display of various items such as karate, aerobics and cart wheeling which mesmerised the spectators.