Bathinda, December 6
Claiming that the Indian Youth Congress’ (IYC) endeavour to bring more and more youth in its fold in Punjab has produced positive results, Ashok Tanwar, president of IYC, said, “Nearly three lakh youths joined the party during the membership drive held between September 1 and September 30.”

Tanwar, who was in Bathinda to review the IYC block-level polls scheduled for Sunday, was addressing the media at the local Congress office late on Saturday evening.

He said that dawn had set in on Punjab as youth from all walks of life, including SCs, OBCs, non-political, rural and others were joining the party and expressing confidence in its leadership, including Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary.

“The IYC elections are the proof of the party’s belief in the democratisation of the organisation,” he said and informed that 14 members would be elected through the block-level polls. The district-level polls would be held on December 16 while the state-level polls are scheduled for December 23, he added.

He said if all went as per plans, the IYC would hold organisational elections in nearly five states before the parliamentary elections.

He said participation and representation of youth in the progress of state as well as nation would certainly increase manifold as they were realising that they would have a ‘say’ in the development. Moreover, the party also had faith in youth and was eager to give responsibility to them, he said and added, “The party has given tickets to about 40 IYC office-bearers in recently held elections in six states. It is ample proof of the party’s faith in youth.”

Talking about ways to prevent violence against members of the Congress party in the coming elections in Punjab, the IYC chief said firm and united stand of the activists of Youth Congress would be enough to thwart the ‘ill-design of anti-social elements.’

He claimed, “Congress is gaining strength in Panjab day-by-day and the party will win all the 13 seats in the state in the parliamentary polls.”

Several Congress leaders, including Chandan Yadav, national general secretary, IYC, Ashok Kumar, president, District Congress Committee (Urban), Bathinda, Narinder Singh Bhaleria, president, District Congress Committee (Rural), Bhavin Vyas, district returning officer, Bathinda, IYC, Roopinder Singh and others were present at the press meet.

Bathinda, December 6
Alleging that the imposition of luxury tax by the state government was inimical to the interests of the hoteliers, members of the Bathinda Hotels, Restaurants and Resorts Association have decided to come out on streets to lodge their protest against the government’s move.

Narrating their plight, representatives of the association said they held a meeting with SAD (B) chief Sukhbir Badal on Friday at Killianwali, which remained futile as he did not give any satisfactory assurance.

They said on the one hand, the terror attack in Mumbai had hit their business hard as the occupancy in their hotels, which was generally around 70 per cent, had dropped to 30 per cent while on the other, the state government had imposed an additional tax.

The representatives lamented that the government did not even spare taxing the rooms for which they charged only Rs 200 per day.

According to the new policy, 8 per cent luxury tax on rent has been imposed on hotels. Similarly, on banquet halls, it is 10 per cent.

Speaking further, they said they were already paying 12.5 per cent as VAT, Rs 30,000 as annual fee to the excise department and Rs 1,000 per function as permit fee to the excise department. “And now, this additional luxury tax would burn a hole in our customers’ pockets for which hoteliers too would have to suffer.”

They said though they had started charging the tax from the customers, the latter showed resistance in shelling out extra money.

Alleging that the state government was being careless towards the industry, the members said the tourism department of others states, while promoting the tourist destinations in their respective states included the list of hotels also, but in Punjab no such effort had been made so far.

Bikram Bahia, member of the association, said, “The high tax would force us to adopt illegal practices to evade tax.” He urged the officials concerned to first analyse the viability and then bring down the percentage of tax.

“The district administration has given us a form with an instruction to fill all the columns before booking of banquet halls, which is not possible for us,” lamented Satish Arora, president of the association.

The members said they would submit a memorandum to the chief minister in this regard and if he did not take immediate steps, they would his the roads to lodge their protest against the government.

Bathinda, December 6
On the concluding day of the animal fair ‘Punjab Raj Khetri Pashudhan Show-2008’, animal rearers accused the organising officials of indulging into malpractice while declaring the winners.

Hakam Singh of village Gill Kalan said he had enrolled his 14-month-old grey hound (a breed of dog). The officials concerned after enlisting the contestant as number 309 handed him over a slip, in which it was mentioned that the competition was on the concluding day.

“As per the allotted date, I reached the venue today and found that the competition of dogs had already been held on Friday. Due to no fault of mine, my dog could not even participate in it. I was sure that it will win a medal,” he said. He alleged that some illegal practice was going on due to which his animal could not participate.

One Sumerinder Sira of Talwandi Sabo, whose mare won the second position in the non-descript category, also accused the officials of illegally giving advantage to a horse breeder farm of village Badal, which reportedly belongs to the ruling party’s family.

He alleged that his mare, which was allotted a show number 598 in non-descript category, was deliberately kept out of the competition and the first prize was awarded to the mare belonging to the Badal family.

Showing a slip, he said, “My mare was called for participating in the competition on the concluding day but when I came with my mare, officials said that the competition was only for Friday.”

He further alleged that the fair was mismanaged as the organisers had mixed the non-descript breed of horse/mare among the ‘Marwari’ breed.

When contacted H.S. Sandhu, joint director, animal husbandry, said, “We have displayed a number of boards to make people aware about all the programmes and events for the three-day fair. I am not aware of any alleged malpractice.”

Bathinda, December 6
Dashmesh Public Senior Secondary School, Bathinda, organised its 25th annual prize distribution function on Saturday. It was presided over by the principal, Dr Ravinder Singh Mann. Dr Sadhu Singh Randhawa, DPI, Primary, was the chief guest on the occasion.

Kuljinder Kaur Randhawa, lecturer, Jeet Singh Joshi, professor, Barjinder Singh Mann, DO Secondary, Gurvinder Kaur Dhillon, DO Primary, were also present.

Principal Mann welcomed the chief guest and thanked him for gracing the occasion by his presence and motivating the students as well. He emphasised the fact that children are the future of the nation and parents should take care to educate their kids well.

Cultural programmes were also held to mark the occasion. The students participated in a welcome song, disco dance, play, giddha, bhangra and patriotic songs. Clad in colourful dresses, they enthralled the gathering through their fabulous performances.

Dr Randhawa appreciated the achievement of the students and congratulated the principal and teachers for their endeavour. He also gave away prizes to the students. Surinder Pal Singh bagged a gold medal for getting first position in the secondary examination. Harman Preet Kaur got the first prize for standing first in class VIII in the district.

Bathinda, December 6
The education department in Punjab, alarmed at poor results in government schools had started the 'Parho Punjab' in association with an NGO, Pratham, under which the teachers get coaching to provide better teaching standards to upgrade the results of the children.

Before the scheme began, almost 50 per cent children in primary schools were unable to read a single story and 25 per cent children were unable to write and around 60 per cent students could not subtract and divide. A survey was conducted in almost 11,000 primary schools in the state before starting this project.

The government started the scheme but it is still not yielding results. Teachers allege that the camps organised to train teachers for overcoming their poor teaching methods are not up to the mark and children are not yielding any results out of these camps.

"The government keeps assigning us duties apart from teaching which are time consuming and this is the reason for the poor performance of the children because we hardly get time to complete the syllabus on time," alleged a teacher of the government primary school.

The scheme aimed at 100 per cent results but children are where they were at the time this scheme began.

Before starting the project, there were huge differences between the survey report submitted by the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan and the NGO Pratham.

According to the SSA survey, the percentage of students who could read letters was 23.5, whereas Pratham recorded it as 36. The percentage of students who could divide according to SSA was 29 but Pratham recorded it as 33.8.

The data was made available by the Pratham and the SSA.

Some parents also stated that teachers promoted the students to the next class so that their record was not affected which ultimately affected their results when they appeared in the Board examinations.

Less salaries, extra duties, lower working standards and less perks were the reasons responsible for the teachers of government school taking less interest in doing their duty properly.

The pupil-teacher ratio is also responsible for the poor performance of the students.

In 391 schools of the city, 25 per cent schools had PTR of less than 30, 43 per cent schools had PTR of less than 40-50 and 29 per cent schools had PTR of above 50.

Around 22 per cent schools had one teacher, 67 per cent schools had two teachers, 41 per cent schools had 3-4 teachers and only 7 per cent schools had five or more teachers.

Teachers also fear that the government has plans for privatisation of schools. The matter was highlighted by The Tribune earlier also.

The actual picture of how far has 'Parho Punjab' benefited the teachers and the students would be clear on the ground only after this session when the results would be out. As of now, teachers and the students feel that the 'Parho Punjab' scheme is only on paper for the government.

Malout, December 6
A local jeweller, Baldev Singh, 50, the owner of Maninder Jewellers located in the Super Bazaar was found brutally murdered today under mysterious circumstances. According to information available, his body was found in an inner chamber of the shop where he used to keep his gold. His forehead, neck and genitals were found to be badly mutilated, police said.

His neighbours said that the jeweller’s maidservant went to the shop at 1 pm to get some ornament when she found the shop lying vacant. She then informed his wife who in turn sent the neighbour’s son to check out. The boy found the shop vacant. His wife then went to the shop where his body was found in an inside chamber used to store valuables.

The police was called and a post-mortem was conducted. Police sources said that the assailant seemed to have used a hammer to effect the crime as was evident from the nature of wounds. Valuables like ornament and cash worth Rs 1.5 lakh lying in the shop were intact and had not been stolen, the police said. Police, however, do not rule out a fling as a factor because the murdered jeweller’s genitals too were mutilated. While the police was informed of the crime around 6.15 pm, the murder itself seemed to have been committed around noon.

Deputy Superintendent of police Manmohan Kumar Sharma said a case under section 302 of the IPC against unidentified persons has been registered.

Abohar, December 6
Functions were held at different places here to remember Dr B.R. Ambedkar on his death anniversary. Members of the Dr Ambedkar Prachar Sabha assembled at the Nehru Park and marched to the Ghanta Ghar chowk to garland a life-size statue of the architect of the Indian Constitution. 

Activists of Congress, BJP and BSP and office-bearers of SC BC Employees Federation were among those who paid floral tributes. — OC