Bathinda, September 28
The Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, started with much fanfare in 2001 to impart primary education to children in the age-group of 6-14 years, who did not have the ways and means to attain education, is in danger of losing sheen with a multitude of problems confronting it.

Although it was a noble thought but the much talked about mid-day meal scheme, an essential part of it, seems to be worsening day by day. Certain self-help groups are making food for children.

The reason for why it is not being prepared by the school authorities as stated by the education department of Punjab government was, “The kitchens are not ready as yet. It has been a few years since the mid-day meal scheme started and the kitchens could not be constructed due to paucity of funds,” an employee from the education department said.

Recently, the government started a radio education programme. Every government school was supposed to put a radio on the school premises through which children were made to hear educative and entertaining programmes. It was supposed to start on August 16 but the project was delayed.

“There are 400 students and just one radio for a school. At times it becomes difficult for us to even listen to what is being broadcast,” rued a tiny-tot from a local government school.

The government had sanctioned only one radio per school without keeping the strength of the school in mind. The fact remains that a radio hardly costs Rs 500.

“Children who attend schools under the SSA scheme are poor and generally from labour class. They often stay at far-flung areas as rents on the city outskirts are less as compared to the heart of the town.

“These children cannot afford to hire a rickshaw or any other conveyance. So, the result is they quit school after a few months. The government is spending so much on education, so it should provide school vans for these kids.

“We have around 13 kids from Dhobiana Basti and they have not been coming to the school because they have become homeless. The strength of schools is decreasing every year,” said the principal of the Government Elementary Girls’ School.

The trend in private schools is that parents are also educated along with their children so that children can be groomed and taught well at home.

Children under the SSA scheme have uneducated parents who do not understand the meaning of education, leave alone teaching a child.

A local schoolteacher said, “The government had started revision camps for teachers. These camps take place from 9 am to 5 pm. Around 35 teachers are being trained at our school.

“These camps are set up very often which harm students rather than benefiting them. What is the point of wasting time in discussing revision when every school generally does so on its own? The time spent in these camps should instead be given to the students.

“Our school has only two teachers and some schools have no teachers at all. The government should provide us with teachers so that we can finish the syllabus at least on time.”

Lambi, September 28
Taking a serious note of the alleged power theft in the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s home district Muktsar, Shiromani Akali Dal (B) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal today warned the miscreants saying, “It is crime. Either they mend their ways or get ready to face the music.”

Sukhbir was here to lay the foundation stone for 66 KV power grid worth Rs 3 crore at Vanwala Annu village in the district. Later, he laid stones of road and bypass in other villages.

Speaking on the issue, Sukhbir said during its drive against power thefts, the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) had slapped a fine of Rs 104 crore till August end.

He added that the department had been spending a lot on revamping the transmission system as Rs 200 crore had already been spent in the current fiscal.

The SAD chief urged all to make the optimum use of the electricity. Giving the farmers of this district facing the problem of waterlogging a reason to smile, he announced that they would be issued 4000 tubewell connections on priority basis.

The SAD chief also mentioned that the state government was particular towards the pension scheme and the Shagun scheme.

The member transmission, PSEB, R.C. Sabharwal also spoke about the efforts of the board to improve the power transmission in the state.

Bathinda, September 28
Lieutenant General R.S. Sujlana, who after serving the Chetak Corps as the General Officer Commanding for a period of 10 months, handed over the command to Lt Gen D.S. Chauhan today.

He would take over as the commandant of the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, on September 30.

While Chauhan took over the command here, a warm sendoff was given to the
outgoing commander.

Major General D.C. Katoch was also present along with several senior officers
of the Chetak Corps.

Earlier, Sujlana laid a wreath at the war memorial here while paying homage to the martyrs, who went to safeguard the border but never returned.

Later, he handed over command at his office in the Corps Headquarters. Following this, he was garlanded by the number of officers present on the occasion.

The officers, while following the Army tradition, later pulled Sujlana out on a gypsy towards the HQ's gate.

When he was asked whether the training pattern of the IMA was fit to train officers to counter terrorism along with handling the piling workload due to shortage of officers in the Army, he said, "The training process is dynamic. Our aim is to churn out a good rifle platoon commander and other responsibilities that follow are taken up by an officer quite well."

To a query that since he was getting posted as a commandant, which meant a completely diverse profile, would he be able to deliver the way he did here, Sujlana said, "It is not the first time I would be at the academy. I have been trained there. I was posted there as a platoon commander and later as a Col (general staff). Things would have certainly changed by now but I am looking forward to it."

Issues like permanent service commission to women officers and 'the yet to arrive' sixth pay commission (SPC) were also touched upon.

Sujlana replied, "No one is against the induction of women in the forces. There were times, during my earlier tenure at the IMA, when lady officers proved themselves better than their male counterparts. But, women have certain limitations, which had to be kept in mind before sending them for combat operations."

Talking about the SPC, Sujlana said, "It has gone to a high level now and a committee has been set up to review its aspects. I am a part of the affected lot and like others I too hope that all will go well."

On one hand, there was poignancy in the atmosphere and on the other there were hopes, aspirations and expectations among the men in olive greens as their GOC left and a new one joined them.

Bathinda, September 28
Leaders of the ruling SAD (B) in Bathinda, who had installed the posters of their chief Sukhbir Singh Badal everywhere in the city before the Banawali rally, are apparently not in a mood to remove them even after one month of the rally.

Almost every poster carries the name of Sarup Chand Singla, who had contested the last Assembly polls from Bathinda on SAD (B) ticket and lost to Harminder Singh Jassi of the Congress.

Through the posters, Singla thanks Sukhbir for all the ongoing and upcoming projects - Refinery project, civil aviation, thermal plants, etc.

When the posters were being installed, Sarup Chand Singla, who is now area in-charge of SAD (B) Bathinda, had accepted that more than 300 hoardings of different sizes, carrying his name, had been installed.

Later, anticipating media's glare, he had changed his statement and said, "It was actually a mistake on the part of my well-wishers, who got my name printed even on their own hoardings."

Today, when he was asked that why the posters were still there, he said, "Our leader visits the city frequently and he has been coming up with new projects everyday so I feel that his poster should not be removed. Moreover, we all should be thankful for the development projects, which he has been launching in the city."

Making mockery of the BMC authorities, he said, "The BMC officials also observe that the leader has been working a lot for the development of the city, so they too are not willing to remove his posters."

On the other hand, when contacted, Executive Officer of BMC, Kamal Kant said, "No one from the ruling SAD took permission before installing the posters. So we have been removing them one by one."

When apprised about the Sarup's version, he denied any reality in that saying, "We are abided only by rules and regulations any thing violates them would be removed irrespective of the person."

Bathinda, September 28
Next time when you visit a slimming centre be sure that a qualified doctor attends you otherwise your life may be in danger.

While many the slimming centres offering various treatments for losing weight, claim that they have a qualified consulting doctor, the reality is that they have none and unqualified persons are given the task of attending to the client.

A survey of many slimming centres by TNS revealed that there was no consulting doctors attending to the clients but certain staff members were posing as doctors.

Interestingly, a local doctor who had visited one such centre on condition of anonymity told TNS that he was shocked when he was taken to a 'doctor's room.

The 'doctor' attending to the client at the centre posed a set of questions asking about many diseases like thyroid and diabetes etc.

After the "interview", when the client (the doctor) questioned the interviewer in a technical way, she admitted that she was not a doctor and was the slimming manager at the centre. But after remaining with the doctors for a long period, she had "learnt" a lot.

"While we are raising a lot of hue and cry against the quackery being practised in the sub-urban areas of the city and villages, no one really notices these people who are real quacks and are putting the lives of innocent people at risk. These elite people are flourishing the trade of quackery at a high speed by befooling the rich people. Should they not be brought to the notice of courts", asked the doctor.

"Whereas small-time quacks are taken to task by the media as well as courts, the bigger ones go scot-free", said Dr Amrik Singh, member, Indian Medical Association.

He said: "The various slimming centres which claim to have qualified doctors with them hardly have any. These centres, beauty parlours and even educated doctors do not lag behind in applying quackery for earning an easy buck. The rich and beauty-conscious people who can afford huge amounts for their looks, fall prey to the massive advertisements by the slimming centres".

Many slimming centres offer various kinds of laser treatments. They offer soft laser treatment for the treatment of wrinkles, scar tissue, pimples, falling hair, skin tags, warts and other skin infections.

Meanwhile, the Civil Surgeon, Dr Neelam Bajaj, maintained that these slimming centres did not take the permission of the health department.

She said that the department was also not given any kind of instructions to keep a vigil on them on this issue.

Barnala, September 28
Dr H. Kumar Kaul’s contributions to the study and practice of yoga have made him a sort of living legend. Kaul has not limited himself to education alone.

Apart from being the principal of S.D. College here for over two decades, he gave the best of his life to spread and preach yoga in the state and the neighbouring states of Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Himachal Pardesh.

He has so far penned 54 books on the various subjects of Yoga. Most of the books are written on medical therapy of various diseases through yoga. Presently, he is serving as director of the Gandhi Arya Senior Secondary School, Barnala.

Born in Srinagar on July 26, 1938, Kaul did his masters in English and diploma in journalism from Delhi. He made yoga his subject for thesis in Ph.D.

In 1998, he was selected as senior vice-president of the Indian Council for Research in yoga and a member of governing council of the World Yoga Parishad. Later Kaul joined DAV College, Abohar, and remained its head for 10 years.

In 1975, he became principal of S.D. College, Barnala. He has been practising yoga for last 40 years. He has won many distinctions and awards at the national-level yogasana competitions.

Kaul is a prolific writer too. He has authored eight text books, besides 54 books on Yoga which have been widely appreciated in and outside India.

His famous books include ‘Pranayama for Health’, ‘The secret divine of Yoga’,
‘Yoga in Hindu Scriptures’ and ‘National Integration through Yoga, Meditation –
Theory and Practice’.

About 220 research papers on yoga that were written by Kaul appeared in national and international magazines and newspapers. His talk on Yoga therapy has been telecasted on BBC London.

His extraordinary contribution in the field of yoga has conferred him with many awards, including title of yoga in 1998, Yog Ratna in 1999, Yoga Pursha in 2000 at the world Yoga conferences.

Kaul finds Hanuman as true yogi, who could control mind and senses by practice and Vairagya (renunciation).

About holy book the Gita, Kaul says that all the 18 chapters are based on yogic theory classified into four categories: the Karma Yoga (the yoga of action), the Raj yoga (the yoga of super consciousness), the Bhakti Yoga (the yoga of devotion) and the Gyan yoga (yoga of Knowledge).

Kaul says yoga is a way of life and one can increase longevity by practising pranyama for only 30 minutes a day.

Bathinda, September 28
The 101st birth anniversary of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh was observed with patriotic fervour in the city today.

People from all walks of life enthusiastically participated in the functions organised on the occasion throughout the day. Youngsters wearing yellow turbans, inspired from the Bhagat Singh's posters, were found every where in the city.

Several schools, colleges, social clubs and organization organised programmes to mark the day while locals paid rich floral tributes to the martyr at his statue.

City residents played patriotic songs to pay respect to the Bhagat Singh. Blood donation camps, cultural programmes and poetic gatherings were also organised to mark the occasion.

Lok Morcha Punjab, a group of thinkers have been reportedly busy in the preparations for the day from last one month, celebrated the anniversary at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk in the city, where a kid who was wearing a Kurta printed with a number of Inquilabi slogans, cought everyone's attention.

According to the members of the group, they held a torch march in Sanguana Basti, Hazoora Kapura colony and Kamla Nehru colony on Saturday night. Holding candles, they raised slogans-Inqlab Zindabad at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh chowk.

Members of the Taraksheel Society adopted a unique way to celebrate the day. They sent SMSs to their near and dear ones. Baldev Singh sent SMSs to a number of people, including mediapersons.

The Aasra Welfare Society, in association with the State Bank of India, Kikkar Bazar organised a blood donation camp. The Dost Welfare Society held a free medical camp at Amarpura Basti.

Mayor of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation, Baljeet Singh Birbehman attended several function as chief guest.

Staff of the Public Library also arranged a brief programme, in which books and posters relating to Bhagat Singh were displayed.

Mansa, September 28
The CPI (ML) held a conference on the birth anniversary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh at Gurdwara Chowk here today.

State secretary of the party R.S. Rana said there was an urgent need to make use of the martyr’s ideology to eradicate poverty, adding that the poor were continuously being exploited by the rich.

State president of the Punjab Kisan Union Ruldu Singh and district secretary of the CPI (ML) Bhagwant Singh also addressed the conference. Later, party activists held a march through the streets of the city.

Mansa, September 28
Ferozepur archers excelled on the second day of the ongoing Punjab State Rural Games in Mansa as two archers grabbed the top two positions in the 40-m event.

Gurlal Singh secured first position by scoring 296 points while Sehbaj Singh bagged the second place. The third place went to Hardeep Singh of Sangrur.

In discus throw, Agyapal Singh of Tarn Taran, Harpreet Singh of Ludhiana and Neelam Singh of Ferozepur bagged the top three places respectively.

In soccer, Tarn Taran crushed Sangrur 4-0, Ludhiana defeated Fatehgarh Sahib 1-0, Kapurthala beaten Nawanshahr 1-0.

The host Mansa also performed well in the soccer as in an almost one-sided match, it defeated Moga 4-0.

In kabbadi, Tarn Taran defeated Gurdaspur, Ludhiana beaten Fatehgarh Sahib, Kapurthala defeated Ropar and Patiala scored over Sangrur.

Results: Kho-kho: Patiala bt Ropar; Bathinda bt Tarantaran; Mansa bt Barnala; Muktsar bt Kapurthala.
Hockey: Mansa bt Tarantaran 4-3; Sangrur bt Faridkot 4-0; Ropar bt Barnala 2-0.
Wrestling: (32 kg) Mohammad Akhtar of Sangrur bt Gurpinder Singh of Patiala; Gurveer Singh of Tarn Taran bt Nirbhay of Bathinda. (35 kg) Harjinder Singh of Bathinda bt Harjinder Singh of Ropar; Balwinder Singh of Moga bt Onkarray of Kapurthala. (42 kg) Jagdeep Kumar of Kapurthala bt Lakhwinder Singh of Nawanshahr. (47 kg) Sunny of Jalandhar bt Judgepal of Tarn Taran; Saurv of Amritsar bt Harpreet of Moga. (53 kg) Manjot of Tarn Taran bt Roop Singh of Patiala; Sandeep of Mansa bt Amandeep of Hoshiarpur. (59 kg) Suresh Kumar of Kapurthala bt Gurpreet of Mansa. (66 kg) Harpreet of Gurdaspur bt Rohit of Fatehgarh Sahib.

Bathinda, September 28
City girl Parneet Kaur today bagged the top position in the 29-32 kg weight in U-14 (girls) category here.

She won on the third day of taekwondo tourney being held under the banner of 54th Punjab School Games, at indoor sports stadium.

Results: Top in categories:
20-22kg: Tini (Ludhiana), 22-24kg: Manpreet (Faridkot), 24-26kg: Harjot (Patiala), 26-29kg: Manjot Kaur (Faridkot), 29-32kg: Parneet Kaur (Bathinda), 32-35kg: Aman (Jalandhar), 35-38kg: Rashpinder (Patiala), above 38kg: Amitoj (Patiala).

Abohar, September 28
Sohan Lal Gupta, state president of the Uttarakhand Aggarwal Mahasabha and recipient of the Maharaja Aggarsein Award-2007, said here today that most of the problems facing the country could be solved if political parties and the governments followed the principles and teachings of Maharaja Aggarsein in letter and spirit.

Speaking to mediapersons, the 56-year-old stalwart, who continued to serve the society even after loosing eye sight in 2003, regretted the nation was reeling under terrorism, corruption, injustice and misrule because of caste-based reservations.

No community should be humiliated in order to please other for votes, he observed.
Criminalisation in politics needed to be checked for strengthening the democracy,
Gupta felt.

Joining him in the press conference, Chiranji Lal Garg, a former minister, informed that the state-level Aggarsein Jayanti function would be held on October 12 at Mohali. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal would be the chief guest on the occasion.

The CM was instrumental in restoring the possession of the historic Haveli of
Diwan Todar Mal, who had served as finance minister during the Mughals’ rule,
at Fatehgarh Sahib.

Prof Kirpal Singh Badunger, former SGPC chief, has scripted a book on the life of Diwan Todar Mal which would be released by the CM at the function.

The CM is expected to announce on October 12 that history of Diwan Todar Mal and Aggarwal community would become a part of the PSEB syllabus, Garg claimed.

Abohar, September 28
Arvind, Jyoti Mehra and Rupinder Kaur won creative writing competitions in poem, essay and short story respectively at the talent search competitions held in DAV College of Education here.

Interestingly, the chief guests for both the sessions at the function organised on the final day were the old students of the college.

Bathinda District and Session Judge Kuldeep Singh revealed that hardly two dozen students had participated in the talent search competitions when he was a student here in 1977.

“Now 150 out of 185 would-be-teachers are competing, which projects more involvement of students in the co-curricular activities nowadays,” he said. Singh also gave away prizes to the winners.

Meanwhile, district planning board member Suversha Narang appreciated participants’ concern over female foeticide, more percentage of illiteracy among females and other social problems.

She enthralled the gathering by singing a ghazal and received a huge applause in return. Earlier, both the guests were greeted by principal Venita Singh.

While remembering martyr Bhagat Singh on his birth anniversary, the principal exhorted the students to fix good targets for themselves and struggle hard to achieve them by following high traditions and principles.

Results: Debate: Kanta, collage making: Rupinder Kaur, still life: Shilpa Setia, rangoli: Renu Bala, poster making: Seema Rani, cartooning: Seema Gandhi, clay modelling: Kiran Rani, on the spot painting: Swaran Singh, phulkari: Jasbir Kaur, crochet: Meenu Bala, knitting: Rachna, mehandi: Kiran Goyal, poem recitation: Seema Gandhi, geet/ghazal: Kewal Krishan and Amandeep, shabad/bhajan: Bharti, traditional songs: Babaljit Kaur, skit: Roohan, and mimicry/ histrionics: Rachna.

Individual prizes for skit, mime, classical dance, gidha and bhangra went to Rajwinder, Neeraj, Simmi, Sukhwinder Kaur and Jajj Singh respectively.