Punjab Diary: Switching loyalties

Gurdaspur: When Navjot Sidhu was made PCC chief by the AICC, ex-Cabinet ministers Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Tript Rajinder Bajwa had played a fairly decent role in his elevation. But alas there is an age old cliché — nothing is permanent in politics. Not even friendship. The first to leave Sidhu was Randhawa after the former acted as an impediment in the latter’s endeavour to become the CM. Later, Bajwa gave him the cold shoulder when Sidhu refused to shift his Assembly seat from Fatehgarh Churian to Batala. Needless to say Sidhu, who has been mired in controversies lately, has lost many friends along the way. 

Protest with a difference

Abohar: In a novel protest, the Unemployed Art and Craft Drawing Master Sangharsh Committee met Education Minister Gurmeet Singh Hayer recently and presented a portrait of him made by local artist Usha Shakya. She had hogged the headlines when she made portraits of then CM Capt Amarinder Singh and PM Narendra Modi during the lockdown. The CM had posted the portrait on the Facebook with words of appreciation. Demanding immediate hiring, the artist and her colleagues told Hayer they had been unemployed for over a decade. They requested him to increase the number of posts and revise the age limit to 42 years.

Fair to be dark

Faridkot: Amid concerns over fairness creams causing fungal infections among youngsters, doctors of Guru Gobind Singh Medical College have started a special drive to educate them about the misconceptions surrounding ‘beauty’. Dr Sumir, a senior dermatologist, says fairness, not healthy skin, is seen as the parameter of beauty. As a result, cosmetic products containing high quantity of steroids are flooding the market. There is a need to bust the myth surrounding dark skin. Skin colour is determined by race and genetic lineage and skin products can only achieve fairness up to 20 per cent, he says. Growing use of fairness products is a health concern as most contain toxic ingredients with significant side-effects, the doctor adds.

Muktsar’s rare distinction

Muktsar: In a first, the presidents of the two main Opposition parties in the state — the Congress and SAD — hail from Muktsar district. While SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal is a resident of Badal village here, newly appointed PCC president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring lives in Muktsar town. Residents can only hope the two will vociferously take up their issues, apart from those of the state, and ensure development in the district.

(With inputs from Raj Sadosh, Balwant Garg, Archit Watts & Ravi Dhaliwal )

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