Nakodar, March 19
The Industrial Training Institute (ITI), Nakodar, near here, is in a sorry state of affairs owing to the negligence by the authorities concerned. It has been more than eight years since the institute discontinued its two job-oriented courses. And to add to that there are no instructors for these courses in the institute.

In an application filed under the RTI Act (a copy of which is with The Tribune) president of the Jan Chetna Mandal (JCM) Raj Kumar had sought information pertaining to the failure of the ITI authorities in continuing the vocational courses - tractor mechanic and electrician courses.

Raj Kumar says, “Nearly seven years have passed since the tractor mechanic and electrician trades were discontinued. Similarly, the electrician course was also discontinued in 1998 and even the instructor concerned has been on leave continuously for the past seven years,” he said, adding that at present only two trades - turner and colouring and printing - are being taught in the institute.

He added that according to information available under the RTI Act, the instructor for the tractor mechanic trade was availing medical leave owing to backache problem as a result of which no admissions had been made to this course till date.

“The ITI authorities are playing with the future of the students. If the instructor was on leave, some new instructors could have been recruited on an ad hoc basis but the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities has virtually brought the institute to a standstill,” said Raj Kumar.

Through the RTI application, he has also asked whether the institute informed the students about admission in tractor mechanic and electrician courses and since how long both the courses have been discontinued.

In the name of infrastructure, the institute has nothing but mere classrooms and that too without any boundary wall. “It is a big blot on the name of the department of industrial education that an institute is being run even without such a bare minimum requirement as that of a boundary wall,” maintained Raj Kumar.

The committee members said even the director, technical and industrial education department, and other officials concerned were also not aware of the fact that the two courses had been discontinued and rather they maintained that both the trades had been started and even the vacant posts of instructor filled.

Minister for technical education and industrial training, Chaudhary Swarna Ram was not available for comments despite repeated attempts.

Amritsar, March 19
Varjeet Singh Walia (16) has brought laurels to the city by winning the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana fellowship of the department of science and technology under a programme to encourage brilliant students to pursue research career in science and other subjects undertaken by the union government.

Varjeet is probably the first in the city to have won the prestigious fellowship in the past few decades among the student fraternity.

The fellowship carries a monthly stipend of Rs 4,000 with Rs 16,000 per annum as contingency grant towards travel, stay and study. A student of Senior Study School, Varjeet as a fellow would be privileged to visit top Indian universities, research institutions and research and development laboratories throughout the country, including the department of atomic energy, department of biotechnology, ISRO, CSIR, ICMR, UGC and the ministry of human resource and development and hold interactions with top scientific figures, besides using their facilities for research.

School coordinator Kanchan Mehra said today, “Varjeet has not only been a brilliant student in academics throughout his schooling but is also a first-rate karate black belt recognised by the Japan Karate Association of India. In fencing Varjeet stood second in the state.”

Varjeet revealed that his first “real” taste of success and confidence came from his selection in the India’s child genius programme aired by Star Plus. “Many successes followed with a gold medal in mathematics from the University of New South Wales, Australia, in an international assessment of Indian students,” he added.

He won the NTSE scholarship and top ranks in the NSTSE for 2006 and 2007. He was ranked fourth in the country at the Mathematics Olympiad, besides clinching top ranking in the ninth National Science Olympiad and 99th rank in the country in the Unified Council of India Olympiad.

Jalandhar, March 19
Market Plus, the star investment scheme of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) that grossed more than Rs 30,000 crore, will close on March 31.

Senior zonal manager T.R. Mehndiratta said the scheme, which started on August 5, 2006, had surpassed all earlier ones and more than one crore investors had invested in it. It had been not only the biggest money-spinner of the corporation but also ranked first among all unit-linked insurance policy (ULIP) and mutual fund schemes in the country, he revealed.

The success of the scheme was in its investment portfolio and at a time when the people had been hit hard by the free fall of the sensex, the investors in this scheme had suffered only marginal losses, he pointed out.

While investors of other mutual fund schemes had suffered losses to the tune of 20 to 25 per cent of the net actual value (NAV) of their investment, their investors only had to contend with a loss of 9.35 per cent of the NAV of the growth fund, he added.

He said Market Plus is the sole scheme available without any risk cover and at minimum investment of Rs 10,000, which is ideal for all sections of investors. The scheme had a lock-in period of three years after which the profit would be given to the investors and no deductions would be effected, he said.

“In the Jalandhar division, 66,469 policies have been sold and Rs 342 crore has been collected. We are hopeful that this figure will cross the one-lakh policy mark and we have an investment of Rs 500 crore in this region,” he added. The main reason for closing the successful scheme is that the Rs 30,000-crore mark had been reached, he said.

Mehndiratta said the people still had some days to invest in the scheme.

Amritsar, March 19
More than 650 scholars of various academic disciplines would be awarded degrees and medals at the 34th annual convocation of Guru Nanak Dev University tomorrow.

Stating this in a press release, a university spokesman said that Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd), Governor of Punjab and Chancellor, would preside over the convocation. He said that university would also confer honorary degrees of doctor of literature on Dr Amrik Singh, former vice-chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala, and Punjabi novelist Jaswant Singh Kanwal.

Baljeet Kaur of Sant Baba Hazara Singh Girls College, Nikke Ghuman, would be honoured with two gold medals - Giani Gurmakh Singh Musafir medal and Ishar Singh Attari memorial medal - for standing first in MA (Punjabi - part II) in 2007, while Yadwinder Kaur of the School of Punjabi Studies of the GNDU would also be honoured with two medals - Sardar Bahadur Sardar Bhai Jodh Singh medal and Bhai Veer Singh medal - for getting the top slot in MA (Punjabi) semester IV in 2007.

Phagwara, March 19
A young couple died when the motorcycle they were riding on was hit by a Tata Sumo at the Hoshiarpur road crossing on the Banga-Phagwara bypass this morning.

While Jasbir Kaur (28) was killed on the spot, her husband Surendra Kumar (30) of Khosla Mohalla in Rahon succumbed to his injuries on way to a nearby hospital. Their three-year-old son Gurwinder escaped unhurt.

The police arrested Tata Sumo driver Sarabjeet Singh of Nangal Shama village. — TNS