Amritsar, July 31
Supreme Court’s ruling making it essential for the police to register an FIR on complaints filed by citizens of the country, notwithstanding, local resident Kanwaljit Kaur has been running from pillar to post for lodging complaint under Domestic Violence and Dowry Act against her husband, Inderjit Singh Kaka.

Mother of two, she alleged that she and her parents was being pressurised to reach a compromise with Kaka by the officers of concerned police station. However, Inderjit Kaka, who owns a meat shop refutes the allegations levelled against him. He claimed that he was instrumental settling of his in-laws family. He alleged that his wife had been forcing him to transfer all properties in her name and because he refused to do so, he was being harassed and pressurised by filing wrong complaints against him at the various police stations.

Kanwaljit, in a communiqué to the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, and district police chief (urban), Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, alleged that her husband had illicit relations and was threatening to eliminate her for opposing him. Inderjit however denied the allegation.

The woman alleged she had complained to the C-division police station on June 20. Kanwaljit alleged that the police was instead of taking action against the culprit was forcing her to compromise. She said Inderjit had earlier also compromised before the police in which he had promised to desist from such activities and ‘improve’ himself within
a month.

The Apex Court had directed all state governments to issue clear instructions to their police force to make registration of FIRs mandatory.

The police authorities said the matter was with the women cell of the police which was looking into the case. Action would be taken in the case after completion of investigations, according to the police authorities. 

Amritsar, July 31
The statue of Shaheed Udham Singh is going to the bins. Kamboj Sabha has brought this to the notice of the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, chief secretary Punjab, secretary local bodies and municipal corporation commissioner.

The sabha claimed that the polish and the slates at the base of the statue have come off and the area was filled with water and filth as a result of which the whole area was stinking.

Even various political parties have put up banners at the site due to which the statue was not visible 
to the people, said sabha president Harbans Singh Kamboj.

The sabha president in a missive to the Chief Minister, chief secretary Punjab, local bodies secretary and MC commissioner, has urged them to take immediate steps for the upkeep of the monument and grant permission for the maintenance of the martyr’s statue situated at Hall Gate chowk in the holy city.

The members said the pathetic situation prevailing there came to their notice when they had gone to the chowk to pay obeisance to the martyr on Udham Singh’s 81st martyrdom day.

Sabha general secretary Jagjit Singh Kotli said they would soon meet commissioner Hussan Lal in this regard and seek details about the money spent on the upkeep of the monument.

He alleged that a gardener appointed by the authorities was working at the house of a senior officer of the corporation.

The members said if the corporation grants the approval to the sabha for its maintenance they would engage a gardener on permanent basis who would be responsible for maintaining the greenery around the statue.

He said the sabha would also seek views of the experts to install lights near the statue to beautify the area.

Amritsar, July 31
‘Jattan da munda marassi ban gaya’ said my family when I decided to act. But now they appreciate my decision”, says Kewal Dhaliwal, well-known theatre artiste and director. He is also the president of Manch Rangmanch, an organisation engaged in nurturing budding artists.

There is a secret that most of his students don’t know. Dhaliwal is equally good at humming Punjabi songs. “When my students see me completely engrossed in putting together a play, the last thing that they expect is that I can settle down calmly in a chair to sing for them. I used to sing when I was a student. I even lent my voice in a play named Yahudi ki ladki. My teacher, B.V.Karan, used to call me mahasur as I used to sing very high notes,” he said. Even now he sits to compose music for plays.

“The organisation, Manch-Rangmanch, is a platform for artistes who want to learn and make a career in acting. It conducts seminars, rehearsals, and training. It has all the facilities for the artists who come from other cities and countries and stay here,” says Dhaliwal. Dhaliwal is now a days busier in directing and training budding artists rather than acting himself.

Forty three-years-old Dhaliwal has been associated with Punjabi plays for the past 28 years after doing post graduation from The National School of Drama (with specialisation in direction), 
New Delhi.

“As a kid I was never interested in acting but Suprabha Arya, a teacher at the NSD motivated me to go in this field. It was then that I joined Gurusharan Singh for further training in acting and worked with him for ten years,” he says.

“I never wanted to be in films though my batch mates, now film actor Ashish Vidyarathi, Seema Biswas, Nirmal Pandey, Anup Sone (Kahani ghar ghar ki) and my junior Ashutosh Rana always wanted to be in films. Creativity of a person can only be developed in theatre,” says Dhaliwal.

“I have performed in 2100 Punjabi plays while directing more than 100 full length and 50 one act plays and acting in more than 100 plays,” says Dhaliwal.

Wherever he goes he does his plays in Punjabi only, to spread his mother tongue, says Dhaliwal. Despite its language the play Loona, got a better response in Karnataka than in Amritsar. “Language can not be a bar for an artist,” he believes Dhaliwal who also authored many books on art.

Amritsar, July 31
“My Mother Most Beautiful”- a non-government organisation dedicated to various issues concerning environment and the holy city - is a one-man initiative, which has turned into a “karvan”.

Initially, the organisation employed about 18 needed and poor youths who worked four to five hours in the morning on daily basis for planting trees and other environmental causes. All expenses of providing them salaries were borne by Dr Sushil Gupta, a medical practitioner in the Rambagh area, whose brainchild is the organisation.

But now many philanthropists have come forward to help Dr Gupta for the cause. However, Dr Gupta has not reduced his own share of contribution to the organisation.

Interestingly, these persons were earlier addicted to intoxicants owing to unemployment and various reasons before they joined My Mother Most Beautiful (M3B). They were brought into the mainstream by making them responsible citizens and bringing them close to the “Mother Nature.”

“It all started about two and half years back from filling a ditch by paying certain amount to a poor person and not waiting for authorities concerned to fill it with earth. Thus the idea generated, which became so successful that Dr Gupta decided it to continue though it cost him Rs 10,000 to 15,000 every month. Started with one man, it has a team of 18 persons who work only four to five hours daily for the cause. Since then it has become a routine for Dr Gupta and his team to dedicate their morning hours to environmental work.

This is not the only case that makes this organisation unique. There is more. Impressed with the idea and work of Dr Gupta, about 150 rickshaw pullers in the city regularly give their monthly share to the organisation for continuing the environmental work. “It is not the money that matters, what matters most is the involvement and participation of the people,” says 
Dr Gupta.

He said he tried to ensure that more and more people made whatever contribution they could for saving environment. He said students and children were least corrupt sections of the society and he made sure that they as well as senior citizens were involved in the cause.

Unlike certain other organisations accusing authorities and pointing fingers at others, Dr Gupta appreciates the authorities for helping him and the organisation by providing all possible help. The organisation believes in the motto “Be strong, desist wrong”. He said the deputy commissioner and other authorities concerned provided all type of help he wanted from them.

The latest project of the M3B is the removal of plastic ropes which got collected on streetlights and electricity poles due to tying of banners on them. Although putting up of hoardings and cross road banners has been banned by the Punjab and Haryana High Court as it becomes a cause of accidents, besides creating “vision pollution,” the rampant violation of the order is going on unchecked thus defacing the city.

When the M3B removed these ropes from poles, the average weight of these waste plastic was 5 km per pole. The team then decided to remove all waste from poles and the M3B collected a record 1,800 kg waste, which is kept in four huge bags in a room of the house of Dr Gupta.

The next project of the organisation is making the city dust-free. The president of the organisation said the soil was precious matter which should be used for good purpose. “We cannot make even a particle of soil by spending crores and crores of rupees. This earth makes our planet so special and worth living. This earthen soil is pure gold and we must learn to make proper use of it,” Dr Gupta said.

The M3B dumped heaps of dust collected alongside roads in gardens and then used the soil for making green patches rather than dumping it outside the city. The M3B educates safai karacharies on saving the invaluable soil by puting it at proper places rather than collecting it on roadsides.

There is a vision about the city in the mind of Dr Gupta and slowly and steadily he is moving forward to bring this vision into reality.

Dr Gupta is writing a book on the city entitled “Making of a city.” He said he wanted to make the holy city a clean, green and an accident-free city and he added if it became successful in Amritsar then it would become in other cities also, the only need was the participation of the people.

Dr Gupta is very optimistic. Expressing his hope, he said there would be a positive change in the next five to six years in the city.

Which method will you opt for, when you have to check the divisibility of any number by 9? Will you go for the traditional division method or will you follow some other method? If you don’t know the other easier method, let us learn how the divisibility of any number by 9 can be checked with the help of only the addition-operation.

When you have to check whether any given number is divisible by 9, simply add all the digits of that number. If the sum of all the digits of the given number is equal to 9, that number is divisible by 9 otherwise it is not so.

Let us take some examples to understand this method:

In case you want to find out whether any number say 715661325 can be divided by ‘9’, add all the digits of the number i.e. 7+1+5+6+6+1+3+2+5 =36

Its answer is 36 which is a two digit no. So add all of its digits again i.e. 3+6 =9, the answer will be 9. Because the final sum of all the digits of the given number is 9, so this no. 715661325 is divisible by 9.

To check whether the number 153632 can be divided by 9 or not, add all the digits of the number as -

1+5+3+6+3+2 = 20

In the past three or four decades, there has been a major change in the education scenario of the state. Not only the course curriculum and infrastructure but also the student profile has witnessed a makeover. Girls have made deep inroads into the male bastion and occupied majority of seats in all major courses.

It may appear as a healthy sign of a society developing on modern lines. However, it has a flip side too. The shift has resulted in a decrease in the opportunities for men. The colleges which were earlier only meant for boys are no longer their exclusive realm. Boys’ colleges have thrown open admissions for girls in the recent past. And, as if in response, now some girls colleges are contemplating throwing admissions open to boys.

For example, the local Government College for Women (GCW) once justified as a centre of opportunities for girls, invites a review. GCW has a vast campus and plenty of open space for expansion if required. The faculty, once all women, now has a staff which comprises both men and women. The step of making GCW co-ed will not only save a lot of government money, but remove unjustified gender discrimination by the government.

The demand for a boys’ college in Amritsar was long pending as the previous government had floated a proposal to develop a piece of farmland in the suburbs of the city for this purpose and spend a whopping Rs 10 crore to make it a college for boys, but nothing is known about the status of that scheme.

The issue is fast picking up once again particularly when viewed against the zeal with which the present state government wants to promote higher education in Punjab. Given the present state of affairs, the proposal to turn GCW into a co-ed institute seems to be a smart answer to this problem.

— Prof Mohan Singh