Nawanshahr, April 27
Acting on the complaint lodged by Davinder Kaur, resident of Kahlama village of Kapurthala district here, the police registered a cheating case against six persons, including the NRI husband of Davinder. Four persons have been arrested in this connection.

The complainant had accused New Zealand-based Ravinder Singh, originally belonging to Jhingeran village (Nawanshahr) and his relatives for allegedly committing a marriage fraud with her.

SHO NRI police station Surinder Pal Singh said the complainant stated that the accused married her in December 2007. However, he returned to New-Zeland after two weeks of marriage. Later, Davinder and her family came to know that the man already has a wife in New Zealand.

“He sent the marriage papers to me along with a copy of divorce papers signed by some girl," said Davinder, adding that when her parents contacted Ravinder, he assured them that the divorce papers were just a formality to settle down in New Zealand permanently and they trusted him.

“But later on when I called up at his residence in New Zealand, a woman picked up the phone and said she was Ravinder's wife,” said the victim. She told it to her parents and the inquiries from the relatives of the accused NRI revealed that Ravinder had 
already got married in New Zealand and this was his second marriage.

“The process is on to get the NRI husband declared a proclaimed offender (PO),” said the SHO, NRI police station.

Jalandhar, April 27
Door-to-door campaigning is being considered as one of the safest bets and a cost effective method of campaigning for the upcoming cantonment board elections.

Candidates, who earlier used to woo voters through huge rallies and political speeches, now prefer meeting their voters in person as a part of campaigning. Most of the candidates begin their day meeting voters in person. Some have marked the hours they would spend in a day for door-to-door campaigning.

Says Rajender Joshi, a first time contender in these elections from ward no 7, “Though the cantonment residents know me as the civil member of the cantonment board, the regular door-to-door campaigning in the past some days has virtually helped me in building a good rapport with the people. We chalk out plans and then survey some areas daily. At least now, I am clear about the core issues of cantonment residents. After all, interaction, communication and feedback are the key words these days.”

Considering this as an effective method to stay in touch with the genuine demands of the residents he said earlier rallies were their medium of reaching the masses “but we couldn’t interact with the voters”. Door-to-door communication has paved the way for direct communication and feedback. I spend almost eight hours in a day for door-to-door meetings with the help of my supporters in two shifts, one in the morning and the other in the evening,” he added.

Gurjinder Kaur, a cantonment resident, says, “Ever since campaigning began, the candidates have been coming to meet us daily. The election code of conduct has virtually reduced the gap between the candidates and the people in the cantonment. Perhaps this gives a better chance to the residents to understand the candidates of their respective ward”.

Another candidate from ward number 3, Darshan Lal Bajaj (72), who has been a member of the cantonment board continuously for the past 17 years, said, “We are reaching people through door-to-door meetings. Development is the key word for me so far as the elections are concerned”, he said adding that his first priority is to maintain harmonious relations with the army and try to solve some of the problems.

However, on the ongoing controversy between the civilians and the army, pertaining to regular checks at the army barriers, he maintained that the army authorities are duty bound. “There is nothing wrong with their functioning, rather effective steps are being taken for the safety of the cantonment residents”, he added. 

Jalandhar, April 27
The staff of the local CBSE schools have appreciated the move of the board to replace the entire theoretical portion of disaster management course with a project based on practical application for class X.

The schools have recently received a circular in this regard with C. Gurumurthy, director (academics), CBSE, stating, “Unit five of social science subject based on disaster management will be evaluated only through projects. No questions will be asked from this in the theory paper of social science in the examination of the current session to be held in 2009.”

The course had been introduced few years back after the central government had realised the importance of preparedness for disaster management in the wake of massive loss of lives in tsunami. The teachers, however, had felt that rather than making the students learn by rote, they required more practical knowledge in the form of drills and project making on different themes like those on cyclones, earthquakes and other calamities.

K.S. Randhawa, social studies teacher at MGN Public School, Adarsh Nagar, pointed out that while earlier the students had got burdened with five books as a part of social studies subject, they would now have to read only four books besides doing the compulsory project making. “This will help the students explore more and present better ideas in the form of files showing diagrams, pictures and text,” he said.

Principal Rashmi Vij of Police DAV Public School said she had not yet seen the circular and if it was so, it would be a welcome step. “I personally believe that the subject basically brings about awareness but adding it into the syllabus only leads to mugging up of the theory part. While on one side we are talking of destressing the students by reducing the bulk, on the other hand we are increasing the syllabus for the students by adding courses on issues of national awareness or social importance like first aid. By making it practical, we will help the students take the tips for life-long learning,” she made her point.

Jalandhar, April 27
The ETT Teachers Union held a convention at the Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall, here today, to protest against the Punjab government’s failure to convert zila parishad schools into government schools.

Addressing the gathering, union chief Jaswinder Singh Sidhu said the SAD-BJP had promised conversion of schools in their election manifesto, however, they failed to keep it.

Expressing concern over the privatisation of government schools, Sidhu said the move was affecting the education sector in the state. “The SAD-BJP combine has made mockery of ETT teachers and if they failed to take any step, the union would launch a statewide agitation during the Amritsar byelection on May 22,” 
he added.

Sidhu maintained that the union had decided to submit memorandums to the district MLAs on May 5 and 6. He said, “Apart from this, we have also decided to submit a memorandum to SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal on May 7 at the DPI office in Chandigarh.”

The agitation was attended by 500 ETT teachers from all over Punjab, including Jalandhar, Patiala and 
Ludhiana. 

Kapurthala, April 27
The Rail Coach Factory defeated the East Coast Railway, Bhubaneswar, by 4-0 in the inaugural match of 65th All-India Railway Football Championship which kicked off at the RCF here today.

The 14-day event in which 22 teams would be competiting was inaugurated by RCF general manager S.K. Suri. Speaking on the occasion, Suri said games were essential for physical fitness and fostered brotherhood amongst players. He said participation of players from all parts of the country in this tournament portrayed the strong belief of unity in diversity. In other matches played today, West Central Railway, Jabalpur, routed Railway Design and Standards Organisation, Lucknow, by 8-0, while South-Eastern Railway, Kolkata, defeated South Central Railway, Secunderabad, by 1-0. Similarly, North East Frontier Railway, Guwhati, beat Metro Railway, Kolkata, by 2-1 and Rail Wheel Factory, Bangalore, defeated Railway Board, New Delhi, by 2-0. — TNS