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| Sunday,
September 28, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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Man gets 2-yr RI in PEC exam cheating case
Chandigarh, September 27 The two students of the PEC — Kailash Singh and Ram Kumar, son of Khushi Ram Arya — who were alleged to be involved in the case died during the trial. The fourth accused, Rajinder Parkash Gupta, was acquitted by the CJM Mr Mohal, as the prosecution failed to prove allegation levelled against him. According to the CBI, Kailash Singh was appearing in his fourth and six semester examination of mechanical engineering scheduled between January 5 to January 8, 1988, at Punjab Engineering College, centre no 3. Ram Kumar Arya somehow managed to collect sheets bearing questions of Kailash Singh and serial number of answer book from examination hall. He wrote solutions on fake answer books by sitting in a room in a Shivalik Hostel, PEC. Serial number were put with a numbering machine purchased from Meerut as well as a stamp arranged from Meerut. These were supplied by him to Kailash Singh through a grill near the examination hall 15 minutes before the completion of the examination. This continued undetected from January 5 to January 7. But on January 8 Kailash Singh could not get the fake answer sheet submitted and deposited in the examination hall before the closing of the examination as Ram Kumar got late. Later, he submitted the fake answer book set with the invigilator staff. The original set which was issued to Kailash Singh was also collected later by the invigilator staff as it was left on the desk in the examination hall. However, he succeeded in changing his roll number in the original answer book. The accused, Khushi Ram Arya, was a Principal in Meerut. He had helped his son and other student in the preparation of fake answersheets and stamps of the Controller of Examination of Panjab University. The CBI had booked four persons on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery. The CBI counsel, Mr D.S. Chawla, argued that the accused, Khushi Ram Arya, had cheated the educational institution which is considered to be a place of worship and the temple of knowledge and as such the accused do not deserve any leniency for the court.  |
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Is it the
end of road for vocational courses? Chandigarh, September 27 The courses have failed to click among the students because of negligent results in the placement avenues. This defeated the very purpose of the course. “ In today’s scenario when engineers from the best institutes in the country were hard placed in the employment sector, one can imagine the plight of the students from the vocational stream in normal degree colleges”, a college principal said. The seed money was given by the UGC for a period of five years. The period has lapsed and the state governments (the Punjab and the Union Territory) have not taken any initiative to own these courses or their expenditure. In the light of the crumbling walls of government finances for education, vocational courses in Panjab, University colleges are surely on their way out. The local GGDSD College is one of the very rare examples where the courses have succeeded. Principal A.C.Vaid claims housefull in classes and also students making it in the job market. The conduct of courses needed special planning, he said. Panjab University had introduced 37 courses in different colleges. “A majority of the colleges jumped at the course offer because they saw immediate gain, at least financial”, Prof Charanjit Chawla a fellow of the university senate said. Neither the Punjab government nor the UT Administration showed any interest in any of the courses and they are on their way out. The courses have also failed miserably on the account of felicitating any direct interface of students with the industry, except in rare cases. This had led to the failure of the intention of helping them in at least junior-level positions in technical job market. Prof Chawla cited the example of the mad rush for vocational courses “just to stay in fashion”. When the university was considering to give M.Sc (Information Technology) course to only seven colleges, using “ political and personal influences” the university ended up giving affiliation to as many as 15. Now at least five had already been disaffiliated for want of students. Principal P.S. Sangha,
SGGS Khalsa College, Sector 26, said the UGC never funded these courses to be taken over by the state governments. In fact, none of the government colleges offered these subjects which are totally funded by the government. Private colleges themselves had to take the responsibility. In fact, one of the major reasons for starting these courses was to adjust numerous teachers who would have been left free after the plus two system was removed from the colleges. Colleges were supposed to take subjects to suit the availability of the teachers. There were certain flaws in implementing the scheme in its actual spirit. Mr Gopal Krishan Chatrath in the last syndicate meeting had pointed out that the Punjab government should ask colleges that in case of withdrawal of a subject concerned, teachers should not be retrenched. Mr Ashok Goyal said the colleges did not keep a proper tab on the ‘student returns’. In fact certain colleges that did not have a single student from the past two years were seeking disaffiliation now. Mr Goyal added that the entire scheme needed to restudied and remodelled, in case possible, otherwise it did not serve any student interest. |
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Tough going for visually challenged students Chandigarh, September 27 Take the case of Bishan Singh. He is a blind boy from the Rohru area in Himachal Pradesh. He is in a BA-part II in the local Government College. Often he has to travel to his home town to meet his parents. He is entitled to free travel. But he is never given a seat in the bus. “Whenever I submit my free travel pass to get the seat reserved at the local bus stand counter, I have to face a lot of humiliation. All sorts of murmuring starts against the allotment of the seat. Often I am told that no reservation of seat can be made for those holding free travel pass”. Bishan is not the only one to face this problem. Other blind students are also treated in a similar manner in most of the government-owned buses. At the school level, they were getting Braille books. But such a facility is not available at the college and university levels. There is no provision even for an audio-cassette library to record lessons for them. “We call our
friends. They read lessons to us. We take mental notes. Some classmates also help us by recording lessons for us on audio cassettes. Of course, these friends make a lot of sacrifices for us”, says Amit, a student of MA-part 1 (history) in Panjab University here. Kuldeep, another blind boy from Shimla, is a student of BA-part II in a local college. He scored 70 per cent marks in BA-part-I. Many blind students can not afford to buy a tape recorder. For instance, Sukhbir, another blind student of BA-part I, has no money to even buy books. He lost his father a long back and his mother is sick. No help has been extended to him by the Social Welfare Department. “Only the Red Cross is extending some financial help to us”, say these students. The other day, Mr Prem Singh, a social activist and Chairman of the Organisation for Visually Challenged Persons, arranged books for Sukhbir. Most of the colleges and universities remit their tuition fee only and all other charges such as mess expenditure, hostel and admission fees are taken in full from these students. These students need helpers to read lessons to them in the absence of Braille books. During the annual examinations they need good writers to write their answer sheets. “We make all these arrangements on our own. No help is rendered by any government agency or educational institution concerned”, say the students. Panjab University allows only 30 minutes extra to blind students to write their answers in the annual examination. Students claim that as per rules, they should be given 45 minutes extra in a question paper to be solved in 3 hours by normal students. Kurukshetra University gives 1 extra hour. The Chandigarh Administration does not give stipend to them taking the plea that they should get it from their parent state, which in turn denies them the same saying they are no more students of any educational institution in the state. For getting any concession, every time they have to get a new medical certificate of being visually handicapped from the Health Department. A local blind student was to apply for a house in a category reserved for handicapped persons. He had to take a fresh medical certificate for the purpose. “In the case of a permanently visually challenged person, one medical certificate should be applicable in all cases,” say such students. Mr Prem Singh, Mr Lal Singh Thakur, president, and Mr Paramdeep Singh, general secretary of the organisation, have urged the state governments of the region and the UT Administration to call a joint meeting for taking up the various problems faced by these students. |
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V.K. Bhardwaj appointed Chief Engineer Chandigarh, September 27 Mr
K.B. Sharma will be the Chief Engineer of the Municipal Corporation, replacing Mr Bhardwaj. Both officials have been given the current duty charge of the posts. This technically means a formal approval is to be granted by the Union Public Service Commission
(UPSC). It may be mentioned that the Chandigarh Administration has already asked the UPSC to conduct a departmental promotion committee (DPC) to appoint a Chief Engineer to replace Mr Puranjit Singh. The names of Mr V.K. Bhardawaj and Mr Sharma have been forwarded. Matters are still not clear about a DPC for the post of the MC Chief Engineer. According to the orders issued late in the evening, Mr Sharma, a Superintending Engineer (Construction Circle-I) with the Chandigarh Administration, has been posted as Superintending Engineer with the MC and will be also do the job of Chief Engineer MC. Till now Mr Bhardwaj was the Chief Engineer MC. Mr
S.K. Jaitley, Officer on Special Duty (Planning and Design) Chandigarh Administration, will replace Mr
K.B. Sharma as SE (Construction Circle). Even he has been given the current duty charge. Mr S.S.
Mankoo, Executive Engineer (Works and Establishment), will replace Mr
Jaitely. All orders shall take effect from October 1, according to a notification of the Home Department. |
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Right to move superior court no ground to flee, rules HC Chandigarh, September 27 Taking a serious note of the practice, Mr Justice M.M. Kumar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has now ruled that the “right to move the superior court, including the High Court and the Supreme Court, is no ground for fleeing the process of law”. The Judge also dismissed a regular bail petition filed in one such matter. Meanwhile, as the proceedings continue before the trial court, the on-the-run accused plays hide and seek with the investigating agency, till his bail application is accepted or rejected by the superior court. In case of an unfavourable verdict, the accused surrenders before the court of competent jurisdiction or the investigating agency. After the conclusion of custodial interrogation, the suspect seeks the grant of regular bail on the ground that he was not fleeing the process of law, but merely approaching the superior courts. This is more or less true in the case of an Inspector belonging to the Chandigarh Police. He too surrendered after his bail was rejected by the High Court. Similarly, an IAS officer gave himself up only after the rejection of his bail by a superior court. A Chief Engineer had also tried his luck in the Supreme Court, before walking into a courtroom to give himself up. Chandigarh’s suspended Judicial Magistrate S.S. Bhardwaj also “surrendered” after the rejection of his bail. He had allegedly managed to give the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) a slip while the agency was engrossed in preparing the documents. Taking up his case for the grant of bail, Mr Justice Kumar of the High Court ruled: “An argument has been advanced on behalf of the petitioner that he was entitled to exhaust the remedy of anticipatory bail. He surrendered on May 10 after his bail was declined by the Supreme Court. The argument has failed to impress me because it is no ground to flee the lawful custody of an agency like the CBI after he was trapped. The right to move the superior court is no ground for fleeing from the process of law....” |
A chowk synonymous with protests
Chandigarh, September 27 It is the official venue for holding rallies and protests in the city, which is the joint capital of the two states besides being a Union Territory. Rallies like those by farmers demanding hike in minimum support price (MSP) or by teachers are all held at the Matka Chowk, not to miss powermen protesting against the privatisation of electricity boards. Amidst slogans like “Employee Ekta Zindabad”, the protesters start off their rallies and leaders are always
addressed as “comrades”. The place has witnessed verbal volleys and even pitched battles between protesting employees and the police force. At times, force has to be used with water canons, lathis and teargas shells. Some of the protesters are so regular that even the beat staff of the police knows them. Before the start of each agitation, the CID wing of the police discreetly gathers information on the estimated number of people who will assemble and accordingly the police force is arranged. When the number of people are more and the agitation is expected to last a few days, the ground adjoining the Matka Chowk is used by protesters to pitch tents for spending the night and make provisions for cooking food. This not only spoils the character of the city, its raises the tempers of the people, who come for morning walk in the adjoining Rose Garden. This happens especially when the farmers come for their protests. During the past two days when the Punjab Assembly session was on, the nature of protests has changed. Once the protest is over, the happenings take an interesting turn. Most protesters make a beeline for the nearby liquor vends to buy their quota of liquor before they head home. A police official, who was managing today’s protest by the college teachers said, “Our governments are actually fuelling these agitations”. The cop said that these teachers had been raising same demands for almost a decade now. He was at a loss to know why the governments don’t hear them out and let it be known which demands can be accepted and which can’t. It is not that protesters come with the idea to indulge in violence. The mob mentality takes over as their leaders deliver fiery speeches. Sometimes the action is also linked to the arrival of media cameramen. There have been protests by the blind also at the place. They had come here last year with their escorts and got their own food in tiffin boxes. All of them sat in a line, had their food, raised slogans and went back home. A few years ago, a rally by the blind had turned violent when a newspaper cameraman captured pictures of a blind man being manhandled . In the morning, the then Inspector-General took his force to task. In reality, the cops had shied away from taking action against the blind, taking pity on them as they breached the cordon. |
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Media not presenting reality: expert SAS Nagar, September 27 These were the views expressed at a two-day Seminar on “Media and communal harmony in multi-cultural society” held here today. The seminar, which was organised by the Institute of Development and Communication (IDC), Chandigarh, in association with Press Institute of India, New Delhi, the Communication Management Foundation, New Delhi, and the Friedich Eburt Stiftung, New Delhi, was inaugurated by Mr A.A. Siddiqui, Director-General of Police, Punjab. Mr Siddiqui said communalism and religion were two separate issues. While communalism was concerned with politics, religion was a matter of individual faith. He said a positive, enlightened and well-informed media could play a constructive role in combating communalism. Dr Pramod Kumar, Director, IDC, who delivered the keynote address said the media did not present the true picture of social reality. Even the mainstream media presented communalism as a reaction. It represented conjectural factors like teasing of a girl, route of a procession as causes for communal riots. It was also responsible for building brand images of individuals, political parties or groups to be communal. The media should behave in a more responsible way be reporting more accurately. Prof Randhir Singh, a renowned political theorist, who chaired the inaugural session, was of the view that it was the understanding with which one approached a problem which was important. He suggested that the media should appreciate the need for building inter-connections between appearance and reality. Mr Rajeshar Dayal, senior media adviser, Friedich Eburt Stiftung, Germany, said the Gulf War, media at the global level had begun to be driven commercially. He was of the view that the media had almost abdicated its social responsibility during the last 10 years. Mr G.S. Channi, Ms Harleen Kohli and Prof Kumara Verma, who had the experience of working in theatre and other forms of media, said the media presented reality in an exaggerated fashion which could result in violent reaction. |
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Librarians advised to update knowledge Chandigarh, September 27 Mr Dilip Kumar urged the participants to keep the information requirements of their readers in mind while building up the collection. “The role of present day librarians has changed in view of advancements in information technology,” he said. Prof H.R. Chopra, Seminar Director and Chairperson, Department of Library and Information Science, Panjab University, gave a bird’s eye view of the theme of the seminar. He said the seminar would focus on topics like “Changing role of librarians”, “Ethics, public relations and marketing of library” and “Information services, Internet and computerisation of libraries”. While welcoming the participants, Ms Jaspal Kaur, President of Chandigarh Librarians’ Association, said the seminar was being organised to discuss the means and ways to meet the challenges posed by information technology. Mr I.B. Verma, general secretary, CLA, said the association was aware of the expectations of the readers in the light of advancements in information technology. The valedictory session was presided over by Mr D.S. Mangat, DPI (Schools), Chandigarh Administration, who advised the librarians to adopt themselves to the changing trends. Other who spoke were Dr Mohinder Singh, Director, DESIDOC, Delhi, Dr R.P. Kumar, Chief Librarian, AIIMS, New Delhi, Prof H.R. Chopra, Chairperson, DLIS, PU Chandigarh, Dr Jagtar Singh, Chairperson, DLIS, Punjabi University, Patiala, and Mr N.K. Patney, Section Officer (Audit), Chandigarh Administration. |
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North-East’s demographic profile being altered, says ex-cop “All this is owed to unchecked entry of Bangladesh nationals into the North-East. The entire demographic profile is being altered and local people are feeling that their culture is being edged out,” said Mr Prakash Singh, who has also served in Assam. He suggested that identity cards should be issued to immigrants and the country should indulge in coercive diplomacy asking Bangladesh to take back its illegal immigrants. He said the problem was such that Bangladesh nationals could directly influence the outcome in 52 constituencies in West Bengal as they were in a majority. The lower reaches of Assam were also at a risk. He quoted from a report of the former Assam Governor, Lieut-Gen S.K. Sinha (retd), which stated that Assamese were on the verge of becoming a minority and the areas of lower Assam were particularly at risk. In Tripura, the tribal population was dropping as more and more Bangladesh nationals were coming into that state illegally. The former police officer went on to suggest that identity cards should be issued to both Indians and migrants and those issued to the migrants should be of different colour scheme. Bangladesh nationals were migrating into India as there were fewer economic opportunities in their own country and due to Islamic interest in expansion of territory. Hindu population was being hounded out from Bangladesh and their numbers had dropped from 20 per cent to 8 percent. India needed to police its waterways and keep a check on “madarsas” along the border, he stressed. Interestingly, according to a Bangladesh census, 3.5 million people “disappeared” from the country between 1951 and 1961. In fact they all migrated to India but it could not be put on record. |
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Backward status sought for tribes Chandigarh, September 27 The resolution was passed during a seminar held this morning on “Vanjaras,
Lobanas, Sikligars — our forgotten brothers — Sikh responsibility”. The seminar was held under the presidentship of Dr Kharak Singh. The speakers and the audience were welcomed by Gurdwara president Col (Dr) Rajinder Singh. Addressing the gathering, historian Dr Kirpal Singh suggested remedial measures for the uplift of various tribes. Major-Gen (Dr) Jaswant Singh gave details about the demographic spread of the tribes throughout the country. He also suggested corrective measures. Other speakers included president of the Gurmat Prasar Seva Society, Mr Narinder Bir Singh, treasurer of the Vanjara Trust, Mr Mohinder Singh, Sikh scholar Dr Harnam Singh Shan and Gurdwara’s senior vice-president Major Karnail Singh. |
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Police gears up for Kalam’s visit Chandigarh, September 27 Tomorrow medical and fire brigade staff will conduct dry run from the airport to places where the President will visit, including the Panjab University campus and the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), SAS Nagar. On the day the President arrives, 10 DSPs and all SHOs of the area will be on duty, besides more than 1,000 police personnel. |
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Devotees throng Mansa Devi shrine Panchkula, September 27 The devotees have donated a sum of Rs 1.42 lakh, three grams of gold, 343 grams of silver on the first two days of the Navratras. Over 70,000 devotees have so far paid their obeisance at the shrine. Other than this, 24 kilogram of ghee, suits, shawls and a brass bell have also been donated at the shrine.
Scooterist killed A scooterist, Surinder Singh was killed when he was run over by a car (CH-03 B-5996) near the HMT factory in Pinjore last night.
Police raid A team of the police today raided the Chandigarh residence of the Excise and Taxation Officer, Mrs H. Brar, who has been accused of abetment to suicide. The father of Neeraj Kansal, who had immolated himself near Ramgarh on September 25 night, had accused the officer of harassing his son by demanding bribe to settle a sales tax case. However, the police found the ETO’s house locked and returned empty handed. Police sources say they required the officer to join investigations so that the truth could emerge. |
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Youth dies after consuming
medicine Kharar, September 27 She said he consumed some medicines and started vomiting. He was taken to the local Civil Hospital and then referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, where he died. |
Goods, documents
stolen from tehsil premises Dera Bassi, September 27 The gangsters struck the tehsil premises at about 1 am and broke open the locks of the wooden shacks owned by advocates, notaries, stamp vendors and other persons. The fire gutted a wooden shack, owned by Attar Singh, along with furniture, a type-writer and some other documents and partially damaged adjoining shacks too, said Narinder Singh, a watch guard. The Fire Brigade was informed and the flames were brought under control with the help of a fire engine. Presently over 24 shacks have come up within the tehsil premises, and out of these, about 10 are being run by the owners without obtaining any licence from the authorities. The shacks have been mushrooming right under the nose of revenue officials without any fear. A vendor said that certain shacks belonging to political leaders had come up on government land in connivance with tehsil officials and have even got electricity connections. |
Bank branch opened Chandigarh, September 27 Speaking at the inaugural function of the 288th branch of the bank, Mr Achan said the bank was opening its branches in the northern part of the country as the decreasing margin of profit was forcing the banking sector to shift to quantum of business. Other branches were proposed to be set up at Panchkula, Amritsar and Jalandhar. He said the 34 per cent of the bank deposits were of the NRI settled in the Middle East and other parts of the world. The deposits had grown to Rs 3506 crore from Rs 3191 crore over the corresponding period last year. Mr S.S. Channi, Managing Director of MARKED, who inaugurated the branch, said Catholic Syrian Bank limited symbolised the unity in diversity. He said it was the time when the banking sector should come to the rescue of the businessmen. |
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Chandigarh, September 27