Of women and their empowerment

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 8

International Women’s Day celebrations were held in various educational institutes across the city. While some organised exhibitions, some held webinars, games, slogan-writing competitions in honour of women.

Law Dept, GNDU regional campus

A webinar on International Women’s Day was organised under the guidance of Dr Rupam Jagota, HoD and associate professor, Department of Laws, GNDU regional campus, Jalandhar, on ‘Changing counters of women’s rights’. CJM-cum-secretary, DLSA, delivered the keynote address. He highlighted the practical aspects of issues relating to women ensuring legal justice as well as the use of mediation and conciliation in justice delivery system. He depicted two stories relating to women with special reference to custody rights of children and protection of women from sexual harassment at their work places.

DAV University

DAV University’s Women Empowerment Cell organised inter-department event for girl students and women staff to commemorate International Women’s Day. The event was organised in association with the department of sports and physical education. The celebrations revolved around the theme ‘Fit Women Fit India’. Rajwinder Kaur, a noted judo player who represented India in national and international judo events, was the chief guest. Dr Jasbir Rishi, VC (officiating), said Women’s Day celebrates the struggle, strength and efforts in maintaining the balance on personal and professional fronts. Participating students fought for supremacy in various sport events including mini-football, tug of war, kho-kho, 100m race, 4x100m relay race and special tug of war. Women working in teaching and non-teaching departments also participated in different events.

Apeejay technical campus

Apeejay Institute of Management and Engineering Technical Campus celebrated International Women’s Day with great fervour. A special lecture on ‘Ensuring Conducive Work Ambience to Enhance Psychological Well-Being of Women’ was delivered by Dr Rajesh Bagga, director, Apeejay Institute of Management and Engineering. He elaborated on the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day #ChooseToChallenge and said challenge fosters change. Dr Bagga said to forge a gender equal world, both men and women should challenge and speak against gender bias and male hegemony. He highlighted the fact that the increase in employment opportunities for women, calls for taking measures to make work place ambience and culture conducive to their wellbeing.

Shiv Jyoti Public School

Shiv Jyoti Public School arranged special live telecast on Women’s Day during Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’s, interaction with girl students, women VCs of universities and women principals of colleges. Principal Neeru Nayyar apprised the students of Classes I to XII about the importance of this day. Students and teachers participated with full enthusiasm.

Innocent Hearts Group

To celebrate International Women’s Day, motivational webinars were organised by Innocent Hearts School, Innocent Hearts Group of Institutions and Innocent Hearts College of Education. The theme was ‘Journey of a Girl’. The resource person was Amandeep Kaur, director, DVM Educational Group. She talked about different government policies to make women strong. A webinar for teachers aligned with the theme of ‘Women Empowerment Mission and Vision’ was also held. They discussed the mission and vision of women and emphasised them to be focused.

Sanskriti KMV School

Sanskriti KMV School marked the International Women’s Day with high spirits. The day called in for an energy-packed event involving teachers to participate in ‘Fit India Movement’ programme, giving ground for sports events dedicated to National Mission swayed by women power as launched by the PM. Principal Rachna Monga, students, teachers and parents planted saplings. Woman’s sacrifice, effort and contribution holds a place of high dignity, be it in our family or in society, she said, adding that the generations must be nourished with values of respect towards feminism.

St Soldier Law College

St Soldier Law College celebrated the day by organising a webinar on the theme ‘Discriminations against women and the law’. Four women experts shared their views on different aspects of the seminar. Prof (Dr) SC Sharma, college director, introduced the theme and welcomed the experts. Asst Prof Ravinderjit Kaur was the moderator. Key speaker Prof (Dr) Aman Amrit Cheema of Punjab University presented the paper on ‘Women’s Property Rights - From Inequality to Inequality’ highlighting the legal efforts like making daughter a coparcener in 2005, gift laws, constitutional provisions and policy initiatives regarding affirmative discrimination in favour of women to ground-level realities. Dr Rupam Jagota, HoD law, GNDU campus, Ladewali, presented a paper on ‘Removing discrimination against women: The constitutional remedies’ underscoring the provisions in fundamental rights, directive principles, transgender rights and women reservation in Panchayati Raj Institutions. Dr Pankajdeep Kaur shared her views on sharply increasing crime against women resulting from patriarchal mindset. Advocate and social activist Gagandeep Kaur underscored large scale discrimination and exploitation of women workers employed in MGNREGS.

Lyallpur Khalsa College technical campus

Authorities at Lyallpur Khalsa College technical campus took an initiative to provide a platform for female students to discuss and interact with renowned women doctors about their health and wellness. Dr Divya Kalra, dietician and ayurveda expert and Dr Shikha Chawla, MBBS (radiation oncology) HOD, radiation oncology, Patel Hospital were the resource persons. They motivated students and inspired them to remain healthy as female health was imperative for family and society. Nine women principals from different schools were also honoured for their contribution to education in the leadership role. Sukhbir Singh Chatha, director AA, KCL Group, congratulated everyone on International Women’s Day. Dr RS Deol, deputy director AA KCL Group, appreciated the synergy and enthusiasm as well as the efforts of the organising committee for organising the event and said a woman has a major role in shaping society.

GNDU Media Dept

An interactive programme was organised by the department of journalism and mass communication, GNDU, Ladhewali, to mark International Women’s Day. The department invited its women alumni, who have excelled in various media houses over the years. Nine former students, from different media fields like the print media, radio, web TV, TV news channels etc. came to grace the occasion. They interacted with students, shared their experience and motivated students to choose their fields wisely in future. They exhorted students to have self-confidence and self-respect to deal with situations in a male-dominated environment. They asked students to focus on their work rather than on male-female power game. Many of them recounted the struggles they faced at home and at work to reach their present status. HoD Dr Namarta Joshi asked women to raise their voice against any injustice done to them or to others. Dr Charan Kamal Walia, Sukriti and Rama Shankar were also present.

Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya

International Women’s Day was organised at Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya in collaboration with the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation under the aegis of innovation cell and women empowerment cell. MC Comissioner Karnesh Sharma, Joint Commissioner Gurvinder K Randhawa, Dean, academics Dr Kanwaldeep Kaur, RJ Deepak, RJ Luveena, RJ Dheer were also present. Dr Anjana Bhatia conducted the stage. Principal Prof Dr Ajay Sareen said women were better managers and they should be financially independent. She should be given equal rights at every level as she possesses qualities of multi-tasking, creating lives, handling pressure and is a great caretaker.

Ivy World School

IVY World School, under the ageis of the Vasal Education Society, organised Women’s Day as ‘Masti ki Paathshala’. The celebration began with a song dedicated to women presented by school’s performing arts team. The educators apprised and appreciated all mothers virtually by appreciating their contribution towards their families and overall support for children virtual classes. All mothers were dressed up as children with school uniform and two plaits with ribbons. The aim was to make all women feel important and loved as they are all-rounder in day-today life. The mothers were welcomed with fun games, tongue twisters, old songs, guess the movie and many more fun-filled activities to make them feel special. Principal S Chauhan highlighted the multitasking abilities of a woman. CEO Raghav Vasal extended his greetings to all mothers and educators and also spoke on women empowerment.

Army Public School, Beas

The NSS wing of Army Public School Beas celebrated the day by organising slogan-writing, poem composition and sketch-making contests on women empowerment.

MGN College of Education

The women welfare committee of MGN College of Education celebrated Women’s Day by organising a webinar on the theme ‘Women Health’. Kamal Kishore Aggarwal, president, Bhartiya Yoga Sansthan, was the resource person. Aggarwal emphasised the need for taking care of women’s health, hygiene and diet. He suggested that health science along with Ayurveda emphasised the important role of balanced diet to ensure health, especially for women, whose body undergoes many changes. He said most of the women generally neglect their own dietary needs but it need to be ensured to have healthy diet to improve mood, boost energy and maintain healthy weight. He suggested certain dietary tips regarding intake of water, quality of food intake, amount of salt and sugar in our food and avoiding junk food to maintain good health.

Lovely Professional University

The faculty and staff members of Lovely Professional University participated in Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh-led International Women’s Day celebrations through state-level video-conferencing from Punjab Bhawan, Chandigarh. Observing Covid-19 restrictions, the celebration was held at the spacious Shanti Devi Mittal Auditorium of the university.

Police Lines

International Women’s Day was celebrated at Police Lines, where women police personnel and women dependents of policemen of Jalandhar participated in the event. It included talks by Dr Gurpreet Kaur, senior gynaecologist, and Dr Ranjana, dietician, both from Shingara Singh Hospital, and Dr Anamika Lal from PAP Hospital making women aware of problems and safeguards relating to breast cancer, menopause and lifestyle and diet-related issues. The senior doctors interacted and removed the doubts and phobias of the participants and encouraged them to take good care of themselves, exercise regularly, eat healthy diet and go for regular medical check-ups. Some women recited poems related to women issues and mentioned the general problems being faced by working women, who have to tackle both home and work pressures. The doctors suggested that yoga and meditation can help them strike the right balance. Subsequently, a medical checkup camp was organised for the general health examination of the ladies. The events were held with the active help of Punjab Police Mahila Mittar and Saanjh staff.

Pushpa Gujral Science City

Pushpa Gujral Science City, Kapurthala, celebrated International Women’s Day virtually. Around 200 students and 100 rural women of Self Help Groups (SHGs) from different districts of Punjab participated in the programme. Dr Neelima Jerath, director general, Science City, said a large number of women in India have successfully broken the glass ceiling and were in leadership positions in industry, government and as entrepreneurs and social media had played an important role in making their voices heard, especially in micro businesses. She said in 2018, Niti Aayog launched the Women Entrepreneurship Platform, a portal to provide knowledge and support to women entrepreneurs. The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry has also launched a network for women entrepreneurs, Udyam Sakhi, in 2018 to aid, counsel, assist and protect women’s interests through a single portal. Rajat Arora, policy programmes manager, Facebook, India and South Asia, during his special talk on ‘Social Media For Livelihood Development’ said digital transformation was especially critical for the uplift of women, who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, facing job losses and taking up increased household and childcare responsibilities.

Jasmin adjudged Miss DAV, Anjali runner-up

Hoshiarpur: The Kalpana Chawla Women Development Club of DAV College of Education (B Ed College), Hoshiarpur, celebrated International Women’s Day. Secretary of college managing committee DL Anand (Retd Principal) was the guest of honour and Dr Jasveera Anoop Manhas was the chief guest. Anjali was adjudged the second runner-up, Aasha first runner-up, while the overall title of Miss DAV was won by Jasmin.

Rupinder Kaur, Suman Sood and Tushti Sharma judged the talent of students during stage performances. Students participated in different activities such as ramp walk, dances, poems and speeches highlighting the significance of women in society. They presented a play titled ‘Women-A Never Ending Story’ directed by Dr Harpreet Singh. Priya bagged the title of Miss Beautiful Hair, Divya Miss Beautiful Dress, Simran Miss Glamorous Look, Priya Miss Ramp Walk, Nitika Miss Beautiful Eyes, Priyanka Sharma Miss Fashion Icon, Aasha Miss Glowing Skin and Latika Spectacular Eyes. Dr Archna Sharma and Dr Chetna Sharma were honoured for the recent completion of their doctorate. Roma Ralhan was also honoured by the college for receiving an honour from the Hoshiarpur Deputy Commissioner to start the NGO ‘Care and Share’ for serving humanity and Rupakshi for getting third prize in poster-making competition at the district-level. — OC