Tuition days are here again
Our Correspondent

Doraha, March 2
With the annual examinations for undergraduate and postgraduate classes merely a month away, queues of cars, scooters, bikes and cycles can be seen outside various tuition centres, the owners of which are doing brisk business in this “peak season”.

March is more demanding for these tutors. Aggressive marketing and advertising strategies are adopted by them to win students. More and more stress is on quantity and quality takes back seat in majority of these “teaching shops.”

Students have literally turned crazy for those teaching centres. Majority of them have joined three to four such centres for the study of various courses. Harman, a BA. II year and student of a local college is of the view that. “As this month is crucial I need more time for revision. It is only by joining a tution centre that I can revise my syllabus, beforehand.”

Rahul of BA I, who holds a different view but has joined one such tuition centre, complains,” As our syllabus is just midway and there is no scope of its completion, I have been forced to join a coaching centre and pay double — one in the form of college fee and other at the coaching centre. Also , we are offered rich study material and notes at these centres which our teachers have never bothered to provide us throughout the year.”

“I get personal attention and time that I can never get in a class of more than a 100 students. Moreover, if the leniency of the teacher in the class makes us casual, the strictness at tuition centre forces us to be more conscious and remain on our tenterhooks,” says Sumanpreet Kaur, a student of postgraduate class.

Parents of a student of undergraduate class complain, “Much time in a college is wasted in festivals and functions. Also, the teachers are seldom bothered. We are forced to engage private tutors at the end of the year as it is difficult for our children to cope up with the speed of teachers, who in the end merely rush through various concepts much beyond the understanding of students.”

PCTE cultural fest today
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 2
The one-day international interinstitutional literary-cum-cultural festival will begin at Punjab College of Technical Education (PCTE) here tomorrow with five teams from Pakistan and 35 national teams participating in the festival. Dr S.K.Salwan, Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar, will be the chief guest on the occasion. Mr Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, MLA, Kumkalan, has been invited as a guest of honour.

The participating teams from Pakistan are SZABIST, Islamabad, NCBA and E, Lahore, IQRA, Islamabad, COMSATS, Lahore, National University, Fast, Peshawar, Pakistan. There will be approximately 80 participants comprising teachers and students from five different institutions of Pakistan.

Apart from this, 35 national teams from the institutes such as MDU, Rohtak, MAIMT, Jagadhri, Government College for Women, Ludhiana, Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana, IET Bhaddal, AIMT, Ambala, PAU, etc have confirmed their participation.

The festival comprises 14 literary and cultural events such as JAM, quiz, western dance, group dance, fashion show, dumb charades, face painting etc. 

City school gets Disney Channel prize
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 2
Shri Harkishan Sahib Senior Secondary Public School has won a prize of Rs 1.85 lakh for sending the maximum number of entries for Disney Channel's "Start Your Story Contest" presented by Microsoft XP. The school was presented the cheque today. The school will buy an HP Pavilion Media Centre PC with the money.

COURTS

Couple gets life term in murder case

Ludhiana, March 2
The Additional Sessions Judge, Mr Gurbir Singh, has sentenced Sanju and his wife Rajo, residents of EWS Colony, to rigorous life imprisonment for killing Ballu Ram of Rajasthan in March 2002. Another accused, Kallu, was also awarded life imprisonment.

Delivering the verdict, Mr Gurbir Singh held that the prosecution had proved the charges levelled against the accused beyond any reasonable doubt. A fine of Rs 5,000 each was also imposed upon the accused.

However, finding no convincing evidence against the 93-year-old mother of Kallu, the court acquitted her.

Another co-accused, Sewa Ram, had died during the trial and Raju, the brother of Sanju, had already been declared proclaimed offender.

The accused were booked under Sections 302, 323, 452, 148 and 149 of the IPC following the complaint of the son of the deceased. OC

HEALTH

Vellore doc delivers lecture at DMCH
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 2
A guest lecture on “Difficult paediatric airway — challenges” was delivered by Prof Rebecca Jacob, Professor-cum-Head of Anaesthesiology at Christian Medical College, Vellore, at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) here today. The lecture was chaired by Dr Tej K. Kaul, Professor and Head, Anaesthesia Department, and Dr Daljit Singh, Principal, DMCH.

Dr Kaul introduced the speaker and Dr Daljit Singh presented a memento to the visiting dignitary. A large number of anaesthesiologists, paediatricians and paediatric surgeons attended the lecture and participated in the discussion that ensued.

Prof Rebecca made a detailed presentation of several interesting and challenging cases and replied to questions posed by the participants. The lecture was followed by an interaction between the medical fraternity.

The Research Society of Anaesthesiology, according to Dr Kaur, was a dynamic vibrant society of anaesthesiologists with the main objective of creating better research environment in India and all other SAARC countries. 

SPORTS

Ludhiana pip Hoshiarpur in basketball
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, March 2
Ludhiana began their campaign in style by scoring a comprehensive victory over Hoshiarpur in the 56th Punjab State Senior Basketball Championship for men and women at Guru Nanak Stadium here today.

In the opening match, Ludhiana pipped Hoshiarpur 70-45. The visitors failed to cope with the speed and skill of Ludhiana men and went down tamely. For Ludhiana, Fatehjit Singh netted 17 points while Arun Kumar contributed 12 points. Jagdeep and Amrit fought well for the losers, chipping in with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Earlier, Mr Makhan Singh Sandher inaugurated the four-day meet in which around 30 teams are taking part. 

ADMINISTRATION

Action against DJ

Ludhiana, March 2
Cracking the whip on errant DJ and music system operators, Deputy Commissioner Anurag Verma today gave sanction to the prosecution of Nimesh Kumar, a DJ, for performing beyond 10 pm.

Sources said on January 15, some people had complained to the police that a function was under way at a house in which the DJ was operating the music system with sound amplifier beyond 10 pm in violation of the DC’s orders.

The venue was raided by the police and the music system was confiscated. After investigation, the district police referred the matter to the Deputy Commissioner for sanction to prosecute the accused. TNS