Jalandhar, March 31
Educating the poor and downtrodden seems to have flown out of the Punjab government’s agenda.

From the ill implementation of centrally-sponsored schemes started for the purpose, to the apparent neglect of government-run schools, the Akali-BJP government has been doing lip service only.

The fact that eight schools in Jalandhar district alone have been running without teachers for the last three years proves that the tall claims made by the government about improving the quality of education in state-run schools are hollow.

As per sources, many of the schools have been without teachers from the time they were brought under the Panchayati Raj or given to urban local bodies.

More than three years have passed but the government seems to be in no hurry to make the much-needed appointments.

“Nangal Saleempur Primary School has around 60 students, but no teacher. Teachers from nearby villages take turns to teach in the school, which works under the corporation,” said Rampal, senior vice-president of the Government Teachers Front, Jalandhar.

Government Primary School, Uchha Pind, Block East-1, has also been without a teacher for the past three years and has around 50 students.

The same is the case with Doda Primary School and Malli Nangal Primary School in Alavalpur block and Government Primary School, Khayala, in Adampur block.

Not just in the far-off rural pockets of the district, the situation remains unchanged in certain schools under the control of the Urban Local Bodies.

Government Primary School, Ali Mohalla, Primary School, Naulian Bazaar, and Primary School, Islamabad, all falling under Block East 4, have been functioning witout teachers for the past many years.

The quality of education in government schools can be gauged from their result percentage, which, on an average, varies from 30 to 50.

In November last, show-cause notices were issued to 700 teachers who registered 10 to 20 pass percentage among students.

The leaders also see another angle to the story. It is a fact that only children belonging to economically weaker sections of society are enrolled in government schools and nobody really cares for their future.

Phagwara, March 31
The first computerised “farad kendra” (copy of record of rights) of Kapurthala district was inaugurated by Technical Education Minister Swarana Ram in the Phagwara Tehsil Complex yesterday. Deputy Commissioner of Kapurthala Raj Kamal Chaudhary and Phagwara SDM Amarjit Paul were present on the occasion. The minister said this was the 29th farad centre of the state and this centre would provide revenue records of 22 villages falling under one kanungo circle of Ranipur.

Swarana Ram announced that the state government was determined to computerise all “farad kendras” in the state by the end of 2010 for providing Farads in a transparent manner.

The Deputy Commissioner said land records of all four subdivisions of Kapurthala would soon be computerised. Deputy Director of Land Records P.P. Singh said the computerisation work of land records was started in 2006 and would be completed by June 30 this year.

Sultanpur Lodhi, March 31
Exactly a month after launching the PNB Krishik Saathi Scheme to help debt-ridden farmers of 12 villages of Nadala block in Kapurthala district, Punjab National Bank circle office, Jalandhar, selected eight branches of Sultanpur Lodhi block and six branches of Lohian Khas block in Jalandhar district to popularise the scheme in a focused manner.

The eight branches falling under Sultanpur Lodhi block are Sultanpur Lodhi, Deepanwali, Tibba, Bussowal, Dudwindi, Talwandi Choudhrian, Sheikhupur and Sidhwan Dona and six branches in Lohian Khas block are Lohian Khas, Rupewal Chowk, Talwandi Madho, Kullar, Malsian and Shahkot.

A function was organised at Sultanpur Lodhi today in which around 266 farmers showed keen interest in availing of the benefit of the scheme. Deputy General Manager (Jalandhar Circle) P.K. Sharma said that it had been observed that a majority of the rural households, especially small and marginal farmers, largely depended on private and non-institutional sources for credit.

As per the latest survey conducted in Punjab, 43 per cent of the rural farming debt is still from the private and non-institutional sources and more than half of rural population has no access to any formal financial system. This scheme was started to free farmers from the clutches of moneylenders and depending on the success of the project, the scheme would cover all their branches in Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts, he pointed out.

The field staff of the bank ad identified such farmers and persuaded to avail a loan up to Rs 50,000 by submitting simple affidavits that they had availed of loans from moneylenders and they intended to use this money to repay their debt, he added.

The loan availed under the scheme would be a term loan and would be repayable in five to seven years in half-yearly instalments.

Chief Manager Lead Bank, Kapurthala V.K. Sachdeva emphasised that such schemes would go a long way in removing rural indebtedness in the state that was among the highest in India.

Jalandhar, March 31
The census operation, to be overseen in the city by the MC Commissioner, will begin on May 1.

Over 2,200 enumerators and supervisors will be part of the exercise. Most of the staff to be deployed for the purpose will largely include employees of the Municipal Corporation and government school teachers. Rehearsals for the purpose will be held on April 5, 8 and 9 at the MC office, to be followed by training for carrying out house listing, said Assistant Commissioner D.P. Bhardwaj.

House listing will form a frame for undertaking population enumeration, besides providing a host of data of housing stock, amenities and assets available in each house. Bhardwaj said each ward had been divided into blocks. “A block comprises nearly 150 houses. The number of blocks in a ward is variable as it would depend on the population density in various areas,” he said.

Dividing the workload, Bhardwaj said each enumerator would prepare data for six blocks. “Each supervisor will lead a team of six enumerators. A total of 30 supervisors have been appointed who would ensure data collection from two wards each. The city limit has been divided into 60 wards,” he specified.

Jalandhar, March 31
Tightening the noose around criminals, the district police will launch a special campaign to arrest proclaimed offenders (POs) and absconders from Thursday onwards.

Commissioner of Police, Gaurav Yadav said the drive would be on for a period of one month (from April 1 to 30).

The performance of the police stations would be assessed as per the number of POs and absconders arrested during the campaign.

The police has taken the decision owing to a desperate need to reduce the overall number of such criminals for a prescribed time.

Apart from the district PO staff, the CP said all the gazetted officers, station house officers (SHO) and other police personnel would be involved in this special campaign.

The campaign would be conducted under the personal supervision of officers supervising police stations. They have also been asked to hold weekly review meetings to assess performances of different units on this front, in order to give desired impetus and priority.

The performance of concerned SHOs and gazetted officers would be a parameter for assessing their overall performance on the crime front.

The Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP), Crime, shall be the nodal officer for the special campaign and would compile a consolidated report at the end of the campaign period and put-up to the undersigned.

The ADC-I and ADC-II have been asked to take personal interest in this campaign regarding efforts made by police stations supervised by them, the CP claimed.