J A L A N D H A R

Pulses to go cheap after May 15: DC
Kapurthala, March 31
The state government will take more time to fulfill its promise of providing wheat flour and pulses at cheaper rates to the poor.

Students complain of ragging; HoD terminated Jalandhar, March 31 Students of the St Soldier College of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Khambra, today lodged a police complaint against an intern and head of the department for ragging.

Students of the St Soldier College of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Khambran, complain to the police in the presence of Anil Chopra, chairman of the college, on Saturday. Tribune photo by Pawan Sharma

290 students get degrees
Amritsar, March 31
The UGC has been contemplating to issue special grants to universities and colleges situated in rural areas so that the rural youth could have equal access to higher education.

Pulses to go cheap after May 15: DC
Dharmendra Joshi
Tribune News Service

Kapurthala, March 31
The state government will take more time to fulfill its promise of providing wheat flour and pulses at cheaper rates to the poor.

It awaits the final list of poor families, which will be published after a survey on May 15. Also this subsidised wheat-flour and pulses will be provided only to those persons whose names were included in the electoral rolls for the Assembly elections and whose family income will be not more than 30,000 per annum.

Presiding over a meeting for identifying such families, Deputy Commissioner J.M. Balamurugan said today that SDMs would be responsible for conducting survey for the identification of the eligible beneficiary family of the scheme in their respective sub-divisions.

The SDMs would train the supervisors and surveyors at Kapurthala Virsa Vihar; Phagwara MC office; Government College, Bholath; and BDPO office, Sultanurlodhi, on April 4.

Subsequently, the surveyors would visit different villages and towns for conducting the survey between April 9 and 22.

Following this, the SDMs would publish tentative lists of the poor on April 28.

Claims and complaints about the lists would be entertained from April 28 to May 7 and the SDM concerned would dispose of them by May 14.

The DC said the final publication of the lists would be published on May 15 and the lists would be sent tothe department concerned on May 16. 

Students complain of ragging; HoD terminated
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 31
Students of the St Soldier College of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Khambra, today lodged a police complaint against an intern and head of the department for ragging, mental torture and character assassination.

However, the police has not registered a case. They instead pressurised the students to withdraw the complaint and enter a compromise with the management over the issue.

Anil Chopra, chairman, college management, who is also a prominent property dealer in the region, said the HoD had been terminated for time being.

Four students of the college, one studying in the second year and others in third year, went to Lambran police station and handed over the complaint to the SHO.

He said a five-member committee headed by the DSP had been formed to probe the matter. The committee would also have representation from the AISSF and the ABVP, he said.

“The HoD is trying to mentally torture us,” said the girls adding that the college even suspended one of them yesterday without spelling out cause of the action. One of them has been denied of leaves despite suffering from skin allergy. When they approached her on the matter, the HoD threatened them of failure in the forthcoming examination.

The girls in their complaint also wrote that their seniors ragged them at the behest of their HoD, who not only used foul language but also blamed them for immoral character. Jagmohan Singh, DSP Rural, reached the spot to solve the matter. The girls told him that despite the complaints regarding sexual harassment, the HoD took no action over the issue. But the DSP, instead of pursuing the matter further, tried to mutually resolve the issue.

290 students get degrees
P.K. Jaiswar

Amritsar, March 31
The UGC has been contemplating to issue special grants to universities and colleges situated in rural areas so that the rural youth could have equal access to higher education.

Talking to mediapersons after the 101st convocation of Khalsa College here today, Prof Mool Chand Sharma, vice-chairperson, UGC, said it was unfortunate that only 9 to 11 per cent students had access to higher education, while in the developed countries the percentage was more than 20 per cent. He said in case there was no university or college in backward areas and the state governments were willing to establish the institutions, the commission could provide special grants for higher education.

He said the UGC would allocate Rs 2,374 crore for the year 2007-08 for providing higher education in the country. Out of this, he said, about Rs 1,100 crore was to be paid to central universities and the same amount to the state universities to improve infrastructure, equipment and the quality of education. He said the remaining grant would be provided to institutes of national importance.

He said the UGC had allocated more funds to state-run universities as compare to the previous year. He said in the 11th Five Year Plan the UGC was stressing on equal access, relevance and quality of higher education.

The vice-chairperson said at present the commission was giving about 10,000 scholarships for higher education. Meanwhile, he conferred postgraduate degrees on 290 students during the convocation.