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Is crime graph in Phagwara soaring ?
Showcasing Punjab’s folk culture in distant shores
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‘Rare’ operation saves woman’s leg
Parents fare no better than kids
Workshop on honing managerial skills
From Schools and Colleges
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Is crime graph in Phagwara soaring ?
Snatching cases involving amounts to the tune of Rs 36.15 lakh were reported in 2005. In the year 2004, the snatching cases amounted to Rs 24.84 lakh. As per the figures from the Phagwara police, the number of burglaries has increased — 19 in 2005 as compared to 15 burglaries in 2004. If we look at the recovery rate by the police last year, it is slightly more than the 50 per cent of the total criminal cases registered. However, if we zero in on the recovery rate as far as crime related to snatching is concerned, it is merely 30 per cent. The recovery rate is even less than 10 per cent in burglary cases. The Phagwara police, however, claims that compared to the last few years, crime remained fairly under control in the last year. The Phagwara police claims that vehicle thefts in the city have been curbed to a large extent. Only one property-related crime was reported last year which the police has claimed to have solved. Also, there was a steep decline in the incidents of group clash in the town in 2005, claims the police. Only one police officer got caught by the Vigilance Department on corruption charges. ASP Sukhchain Singh Gill claimed that the local police had been successful in solving blind murders and several cases of rape within a short span of time. He added that the increase in the challan amount was due to effective enforcement by the traffic police and added that the police had tried its best to control crime in the last year and that it was geared up for the year 2006. “For 2006, many things are on priority and many reforms are in the pipeline,” he said.
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Showcasing Punjab’s folk culture in distant shores
Inspired by the remarks of his school’s chief guest, he took himself to the international platform with Punjabi culture. Bikramjeet Bikki, a resident of Kapurthala, has performed in the International Folk Dance Festival, “Ponesi Opanke”, in the summers last year and in Lefkas International Folk Festival in Athens in August and September last year. Before this, Bikki represented India through the Punjab Cultural Promotion Council at folk ensemble in the international folklore festival, “Dyvosvit”, in Kiev and “Polesian Summer” in Lutsk in 2004. With many firsts in his hands like the first artist from Punjab to participate in “Aap Ke Liye”, telecast by Delhi Doordarshan in 1984. Bikki has also acted in “Chhad De Vaildarian”, a play on the drug menace in which he played a drug addict and which was telecast live on Doordarshan, Jalandhar. Bikki said he was a student of Class VI in the Kamalia Khalsa High School, he got the first prize for bhangra. The award was given to him by Dr Sadhu Singh Hamdard. “He told me that I owed the responsibility to preserve the “virasat” of Punjab. Those words left an indelible mark on my mind.” In 1981, Bikki was adjudged the best folk dancer in “Jhankar” at Panjab University, Chandigarh, and got an entry in Doordarshan with his mono-acting skits. He has acted in more than 150 plays at Jalandhar, Doordarshan.Bikki took to organising the Punjabi Mutiyaar contest nine years ago.
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‘Rare’ operation saves woman’s leg
An operation (claimed by hospital authorities to be rare) involving removal and replacement of the entire cancer-afflicted knee joint, has not only saved the life of 21-year-old Pawan Kumari, but has also enabled her to walk and even run.
This resident of Mukerian was unable to walk for the past couple of months, as she had a cancerous growth in the lower end of her thigh near the knee joint. The doctors said that her entire leg would have to be amputated. But Pawan Kumari and her parents were not ready for such a drastic step. He parents then took her to Devi Talaab Hospital in Jalandhar on January 27, where the doctors said that though the cancer was spreading rapidly, it was still localised in the thigh area only and had not engulfed any other organ or body part. So, the doctors decided to give hope a chance by making Pawan Kumari undergo a “rare” operation, “radical excision of the knee joint”. Their efforts yielded positive result after the tumour was successfully removed from the knee joint. “We not only removed the cancerous tumour along with all its roots, but also removed about six inches of the afflicted knee and replaced it with a custom-made titanium knee joint, imported from Singapore,” Dr Jashniv Kapur, Head of the Orthopaedic Department of the hospital, said. “It’s one of the rarest operations in the northern part of the country,” he claimed. The patient was hospitalised for about a fortnight. Pawan Kumari said, “I am looking forward to a new future. I plan to marry soon.” “She is perfectly fine, as the cancer has been removed along with its roots and there is hardly any chance for its recurrence,” Dr Kapur claimed.
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Camp for special children
Silence may pervade their world. But they try to find meaning in this very silence. And their zest for life is eloquent in itself. To watch the 150 hearing-impaired youngsters attend the 10-day camp organised by the Directorate of Youth Services, in association with the Citizens’ Welfare and Protection Council, was a lesson in the sheer power of “dogged determination”. During the camp, various activities for these special youngsters were organised. “They were taught about artwork. They were also taught about exploring the limits of their strength and resilience. In fact, various contests held during the camp revved up the competitive spirit of the youngsters,” said Captain I.S. Dhami, Assistant Director, Youth Services. Whether to integrate specially-abled people into the mainstream or to give them a special treatment may be an unresolved issue. But the moot point is that the attitude of the society is still prejudiced against specially-abled people. And this camp did, in some measure, bring the issue to the fore. “Our society still harbours a host of misconceptions about specially-abled people. It’s high time that we understood that these specially-abled people can have a high IQ (intelligence quotient) and EQ (emotional quotient). And they can be quite good at their work. Probably, the law of compensation plays its role in case of these people,” explained Captain Dhami. According to Mr Anup Vats, secretary, Citizens’ Welfare and Protection Council, the idea behind the camp was to give an opportunity to these special youngsters to interact with one another and also to inculcate leadership qualities in them. “Ideally, we would have liked to organise a camp in which both specially-abled youngsters and other youngsters could have participated together. But number-constraint made this impossible,” said Mr Vats.
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Counselling sessions to overcome examination blues
Butterflies in the stomach and plenty of questions in the mind? These are signs of examination stress, which most students in the city are undergoing these days with examinations for all ICSE and PSEB affiliated schools beginning on Wednesday.
And for help, there are counsellors who offer solutions by way of which students can help manage exam stress and turn panicky thoughts into creative expressions. The counsellors believe that stress arises out of wrong habits, such as unplanned routine with little time for relaxation or wasting time on criticising oneself for mistakes made. Ms Pallavi Khanna, a counsellor here, says the student should start planning well before the examination. “Don’t leave revision to the last minute. Prepare brief notes, revision cards with key words or pictorial charts of important topics and add headings, sub-heading using highlighting pens,” she adds. But Ms Khanna insists that the most effective way to come out of stress was trying out some relaxation methods and finding out which one was personally most suitable and effective. Ms Nidhi Bakshi, mother of a Class X student, says, “There used to be no help in combating mental stress while we were studying. Now my daughter has advice coming from every quarter, be it the school counsellor, CBSE helpline where they have given scores of telephone numbers of counsellors, or FM Rainbow or even TV channels, with shows as “Tips from toppers”. Ms Seema Handa, director of the Eklavya School, said, “We have a counsellor who holds sessions with students by telling them deep breathing exercises and mental pep-talk.”
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Parents fare no better than kids
In the town of Phagwara, jittery students are similarly nervous about the approaching HSC and SSC exams. You would expect students to experience all these emotions and turn to their parents for help. But what does a teenager do if his parents are more anxious than he is?
“I run to my friend’s house to study there,” Harleen, an HSC student, says. “At home, the conversation is all about exams. What if I don’t excel? My parents are apprehensive that I may not be able to get into medicine. It can get frustrating to listen to the same thing over and over again.” Exam anxiety here is not restricted to students alone — even parents are falling prey to the pressure.“I am not allowed to switch on the TV even for five minutes. And if I insist, my mother gets annoyed,” Divesh (name changed), an SSC student, says. Divesh’s mother, Ms Suman, has her defence: “He just doesn’t seem to understand the relevance of a board exam. I am very anxious, but my son seems unfazed.” What Suman is going through is also being experienced by many other parents in the town. For this reason, a few coaching centres in the city have sessions for parents to help them cope with examination stress. “If parents get anxious, their kids will get doubly anxious,” Prof H.S. Minhas says. “Many coaching centres for SSC students call the parents for a workshop or a meeting. In fact, some do it throughout the year, not just during the examination time,” he adds. Some parents have been attending counselling sessions too. Incidentally, they are doing it for their kids. “I have a mother coming to me regularly for the past two weeks, saying that her kid is not studying and she is tense about that,” Dr Sudha Gupta, a psychiatrist here, said.
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Workshop on honing managerial skills
To improve the knowledge and boost the confidence levels of students for meeting challenges of the corporate world, CT Institute of Management and Information Technology organised a two-day workshop that concluded here on Tuesday.
Dr Irfan Rizvi, a Delhi-based management consultant, and Dr Sayeed Zafar, a management expert with a degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, were the resource persons for the workshop. Dr Rizvi, a professor of Organisational Behaviour and Change Management from Institute for Integrated Learning in Management said, “Knowledge is the most powerful tool for success. There is no end to learning and one should not hesitate in making mistakes. Success is always built on a heap of failures. So, keep on trying, again and again.” A visiting professor to Australian National University, Canberra, and Shanghai University, Dr Rizvi advised students to acquire critical attributes to become corporate managers. “To achieve that, develop the instinct of innovativeness for designing new processes and products and prepare yourself for quick and wise decision-making”, he told the students. Dr Rizvi emphasised on the importance of academia in the corporate world. He said both are to mutually-interdependent. “The corporate sector needs to involve itself in various academic activities, curriculum development, training students and absorbing them by offering placements. The corporate managers also need to spare time to sit down with the academicians and help them know their expectations from the students,” he added. The management expert pointed out that the academicians also must help the corporate sector by furnishing the kind of research material and text required by them. “They can even help the companies resolve their issues at low cost, whenever the need arises.” Mr Zafar dwelt on issues pertaining to managing organisational effectiveness and managing negotiations. He covered other aspects too, including brushing-up communication, presentation and team building skills. A session was also held for training students in writing project proposals. The faculty of the institute also participated in the workshop.
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Dr S.K. Bangar, Head, Postgraduate Department of Punjabi of Master Gurbanta Singh Memorial Janta College, Kartarpur, has recently completed his doctorate from Guru Nanak Dev University with a thesis “Bhagat Kabir Bani Vich Dalit Chetna” under the guidance of Dr Jasbir Singh Sabar, Head, Guru Ravidass Chair, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. Dr Bangar has been associated with “Ravidass Jaikara”, a journal devoted to dissemination of Guru Ravidass philosophy and teachings. Cultural show
Tiny tots from Police DAV Public School, PAP campus, organised a cultural extravaganza, “The East Meets the West”, at PAP Multipurpose Hall here on Sunday. The programme began with a musical welcome by an orchestra team of the tiny tots who presented a harmonious combination of music and dance. Students of Class I depicted the journey of a child’s taste from Vikram and Betal to Harry Potter. Modelling show too was based on the fusion of Eastern and Western designs, as little models walked on the ramp. The show came to its end with depiction of dance through the ages. Ms Gurkanwal Kaur, Minister of State for Social Security and Development of Women and Children, was the chief guest. Mr Rajan Gupta, ADGP, PAP, presided over the function. Dr Rashmi Vij, Principal, welcomed all dignitaries. Party
A best wishes party was given to Class X students by Class IX students of Seth Hukum Chand SD Public Senior Secondary School, Kapurthala Road. The juniors presented a cultural show which included skit, group dance and bhangra. Ms Manju Arora, Principal, wished the students good luck for their examination. Software
A Tally workshop was organised by the Commerce and Management Department of the Guru Nanak Dev University College, Basti Nau, here recently. Ms Anu Goyal from the Institute of Computer Accountants (ICA) was the resource person. She explained the use of Tally 7.2 software in accounting. She said that by maintaining records in the computer, one could save up to 95 per cent of the time. Dr Usha Kapoor, Principal of the college, was also present. Workshop
Students of Hans Raj Mahila Mahavidyalaya organised a two-day workshop on personality development for “differently-abled” that concluded here on Saturday. Dr Rashmi Khurana, Programme Executive, All India Radio, was the chief guest. In her welcome address, Ms P.P. Sharma, Principal, said the government had given different schemes through UGC to institutions for differently-abled persons. Ms Deepika Sood from National Association for the Blind, New Delhi, gave a computer presentation on editing. Ms Geeta Sukhija, incharge of the workshop, gave tips on personality development. Students from colleges of Ludhiana, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Pathankot, Kartarpur and Jalandhar took part in the event. (Compiled by Deepkamal Kaur)
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Youthspeak “Being a topper does not mean saying goodbye to fun. All you need is to study consistently. It’s no use studying for hours together without taking any break. In fact, this can be counter-productive. My formula is — one hour’s study and a bit of break. And there’s nothing like sound sleep to refresh you and recharge your energies. Always respect your body clock. Some are able to study well at night, while for others morning is the best time to learn new concepts. Having preferences for some subjects is not bad, but neglecting one subject at the cost of the other is just not done. A well-chalked-out timetable can be a great help. Revision is equally important. There is no point in cramming new concepts, if you don’t revise the earlier-learnt concepts. I believe that net surfing and television watching should be a taboo when the exams approach. These activities clog your mind and put it under stress. My mantra during the exam days is 2 R — revise and relax.” — As told to Minna Zutshi
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You are in your birthplace after a gap of four years. How do you feel? The city is developing fast. Last time, I came to Jalandhar after a gap of three decades and I found the cityscape totally altered. It was a slow moving city when I was a student in Doaba Khalsa School. I had left the place thereafter but used to come here often till I was in Delhi. Can you throw some light on your project with Punjab Technical University (PTU)? With PTU, we plan to start a School of Excellence where students would pass out with engineering degrees in material sciences. The training imparted to these students would be world-class, so that they become an asset wherever they go. Do you plan to start any venture here? Not as of now. But I want to do something, for I love my place. I know that mere love cannot do anything; something concrete has to be chalked out. I shared some of my ideas with the state government officials last year during my visit to Chandigarh. Let’s see what happens. — Deepkamal Kaur
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NRI meet
The State Bank of India, Civil Lines, organised an NRI meet at a hotel in which NRIs from different parts of world the participated. Mr V.K. Sabharwal, Deputy General Manager, addressed the gathering and apprised them of the latest schemes of the bank. Bank officials requested the NRIs to remit more deposits to India and contribute in the development of the nation’s economy. Shivratri celebrations
Shivratri was celebrated at Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, Kapurthala Chowk. Meditation, spiritual teachings and flag hoisting ceremonies were held. A cultural programme was also organised on the occasion.
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A two-day training programme on industrial safety and first aid was organised by the Indian Oil Corporation Limited at Suchi Pind that concluded on Friday. Mr A.K. Agarwal, Senior Plant Manager, explained “on site and off site emergency plan”. More than 70 representatives of various industrial establishments of Jalandhar participated in the programme. Organic food Nature’s delight, an organic food outlet, was opened at Model Town last week. Mr Harpartap Singh, owner, claimed that customers could get organically-certified fresh vegetables, groceries, various types of flours, edible oils, and processed foods. He said that infant food, cosmetics, gur, honey, herbal teas and ordinary tea were also available.
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If statistics are to be believed, crimes related to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act have seen a steep rise in the city. There has been a marked increase in the narcotics and burglary cases. As many as 44 cases under the NDPS Act were registered in 2005 as against 15 in 2004, almost three times more than those in 2004.
On the worst note, the number of fatal accidents has risen from 27 in 2004 to 39 in 2005. The number of other accidents, however, increased from 13 in 2004 to approximately 24 till date.
