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50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

Manpreet is welcome to join Cong, says Bajwa
Kalanaur (Gurdaspur), October 17
Notwithstanding the assertion of members of the Muktsar District Congress Committee resigning en mass if former Finance Minister Manpreet Badal was inducted into the the party, Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa yesterday sprang a surprise by saying that the former FM was indeed welcome in the party as his inclusion would strengthen the party in the Malwa belt.

Demands CM’s resignation
Gurdaspur, October 17
Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for not letting former Finance Minister Manpreet Badal to hold a meeting a Kanhuwan, 25 km from here, today.

RSS holds route march on foundation day
RSS volunteers carry out the ‘route march’ in Phagwara on Sunday. Phagwara, October 17
The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) today organised a “route march” to mark its foundation day and the festival of Vijay Dashmi. RSS volunteers marched through the main bazaars of the town. The RSS band, “ghosh”, led the procession. Earlier addressing the activists at Hargobind Nagar Ground, RSS stalwart Vinay Sharma exhorted them to serve the nation and society in a dedicated and selfless manner.

RSS volunteers carry out the ‘route march’ in Phagwara on Sunday. Photo: Ashok Kaura

SGPC convocation: 487 get certificates
Amritsar, October 17
As many as 487 students were conferred certificates at a convocation organised by the SGPC for students who completed their two-year religious studies course through correspondence.

Mother, son killed in road accident
Pathankot, October 17
Two persons were killed and five injured in a road accident on the Pathankot-Jalandhar road here yesterday.

Training programme for headmasters
Nawanshahr, October 17
Director-General School Education (DGSE) Krishan Kumar has started special training programmes for school headmasters to impart necessary training to them to develop their soft skills and enable them to deal with financial matters.

Forest workers hold protest
Hoshiarpur, October 17
More than 500 activists of the Punjab Forest Workers Union from all over the state, led by president Rattan Singh, held a protest march and demonstration in the main bazaars of the town here yesterday in support of their demands, including regularisation of the services of ad hoc employees, increase in their salaries and an end to privatisation.

Lab staff on strike, NIT suffers
Jalandhar, October 17
Lab activities of students of the Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT) have been hampered for the past 20 days as the non-teaching staff have been on strike.

	Dasehra Celebrations Chawla urges people to end social evils Tribune Reporters Amritsar, October 17 Punjab Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla called upon the people to end social evils, especially of female foeticide and dowry. She was addressing a gathering at the Dasehra ground at Lohgarh Chowk during the celebration of the festival organised by the Durgiana Management Committee. She urged the public to follow the path of righteousness and morality as shown by Lord Rama. Meanwhile, Dasehra was celebrated with great fervour in various parts of the city. People of all age groups participated in the festival which signifies the victory of good over evil. The effigies of Ravana, Kumbhkarna and Meghnatha were consigned to the flames and fireworks were burst at Khandwala, Chheharta, Verka, Gol Bagh and the Dasehra ground, near the Durgiana Temple. JALANDHAR: Dasehra was celebrated at the grounds of Sai Das ASC Secondary School with religious fervour here. The effigies of Ravana, Meghnatha and Kumbkarna were burnt amid slogans of Jai Shri Ram. Dasehra celebrations were held at various other places in the city. Minister for Local Bodies Manoranjan Kalia was the chief guest. The celebrations were attended by many eminent members of the ruling SAD-BJP combine, including senior officials. Former Finance Minister Manpreet Badal also came as a chief guest, along with Jalandhar cantonment MLA Jagbir Brar, to attend Dasehra festivity. People and children came in large groups to enjoy the festival, while messages of peace, communal harmony and brotherhood were propagated. PHAGWARA: Dasehra was celebrated in Phagwara, Goraya, Phillaur, Nakodar and Noormahal with religious fervour and gaiety. A large number of people thronged different Dasehra grounds to witness the event. Later, Lord Rama burnt the effigies of Ravana, Kumbhkarna and Meghnatha one by one. The police had made elaborate arrangements to avoid any untoward incident. BATALA: Dasehra was celebrated here with great pomp and show. A festive spirit enveloped the Chitti Ground, Jalandhar Road, here as a crowd of enthusiastic people gathered to enjoy the fireworks and to watch the burning of the effigies of Ravana, Kumbhkarna and Meghnatha. Elaborate security arrangements had been made by the police. Traffic on Jalandhar Road was diverted through the Amritsar bypass to Batala.
	Manpreet is welcome to join Cong, says Bajwa Ravi Dhaliwal/TNS Kalanaur (Gurdaspur), October 17 Notwithstanding the assertion of members of the Muktsar District Congress Committee resigning en mass if former Finance Minister Manpreet Badal was inducted into the the party, Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa yesterday sprang a surprise by saying that the former FM was indeed welcome in the party as his inclusion would strengthen the party in the Malwa belt. Manpreet’s Assembly constituency is Gidderbaha and is in the Malwa belt where, Bajwa asserted, the Congress was on a weak wicket. “Manpreet’s inclusion would change the politics of Malwa and the SAD would find it difficult to survive because of Manpreet’s popularity among rural youth following his launching of reverse osmosis (RO) plants and setting up of electronic health points (EHPs) in the Malwa belt.” Bajwa was addressing a workers’ meeting here which was also addressed by other senior Congress leaders of the region. Bajwa claimed that Manpreet had done nothing wrong by taking on the state government on the Central Government’s debt waiver issue. “It is just that Manpreet’s bete noire and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister did not like the debt waiver because Sukhbir Badal played populist politics which were not good for the financial health of the state,” said Bajwa. The MP claimed that whenever a child was born in Punjab she or he was indebted to the tune of Rs 75,000. “With such precarious financial resources, how can we even think of our next generation prospering. That was precisely what Manpreet Badal was trying to point out to the Badal government which refused to listen to him.” Bajwa also spoke how fortunes in Gurdaspur district could be revived if the ONGC went ahead with its proposal of drilling to locate oil in the region. He said he would be meeting the ONGC Chairman in Dehra Dun on Monday. The MP said he had taken up the issue of establishing a world university at Pathankot with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and added that he had received a favourable response from the PM.
	Demands CM’s resignation Gurdaspur, October 17 Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for not letting former Finance Minister Manpreet Badal to hold a meeting a Kanhuwan, 25 km from here, today. Bajwa said today’s incident was a black spot on the political spectrum of Punjab. He said Manpreet went the Gurdwara Singh Sabha at Kanhuwan as a true Sikh to pay obeisance, but with the police laying a siege to the Sikh shrine, Manpreet was not allowed to do so. This was an unprecedented instance in the history of the state as it was for the first time that a Sikh was not allowed to enter a place of worship. Bajwa added that the Chief Minister should immediately tender his resignation on moral grounds so that confidence could be restored among the people. He claimed that Sukhbir was destroying the social fabric of Punjab and he had no right to continue in office. — TNS
	RSS holds route march on foundation day Tribune Reporters Phagwara, October 17 The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) today organised a “route march” to mark its foundation day and the festival of Vijay Dashmi. RSS volunteers marched through the main bazaars of the town. The RSS band, “ghosh”, led the procession. Earlier addressing the activists at Hargobind Nagar Ground, RSS stalwart Vinay Sharma exhorted them to serve the nation and society in a dedicated and selfless manner. The march passed through Central Town, Mandi Road, Old Post Office Road and Gandhi Chowk, before terminating at the starting point. Prominent among the participants were Technical Education Minister Swarana Ram and Improvement Trust chairman Tejaswi Bhardwaj. Reports of “route march by RSS activists were also received from Phillaur and Nakodar. BATALA: To commemorate the foundation day of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) on the day of Vijay Dashmi in 1925, RSS workers held a procession under the leadership of the district president Kuldeep Mahajan here. A procession started from the local RR Bawa DAV Girls College. Among others present on this occasion were Rajat Sareen, district general secretary of the RSS, Suresh Bhatia, state convener, Bajrang Dal, Dev Raj Chachowalia, chairman, Improvement Trust, Batala, Vivek Modgil, district president, BJP, and Ashok Modgil, district general secretary, BJP. JALANDHAR: RSS volunteers carried out a “route march” in different areas in the city. RSS leaders Pawan Malhotra, Baldaev Gupta and Prabhu Dayal were present on the occasion.
	SGPC convocation: 487 get certificates Amritsar, October 17 As many as 487 students were conferred certificates at a convocation organised by the SGPC for students who completed their two-year religious studies course through correspondence. The certificates were awarded by SGPC President Avtar Singh. The toppers went home with cash awards of Rs 7,100, Rs 5,100 and Rs 3,100 for the first three positions. Apart from this, the committee members, who contributed to make the religious study course a success, were also honoured. Candidates from judiciary, Army, journalism, chiefs of educational institutions and those from non-Sikh background completed the courses. Course director Jasbir Singh Sabar said the course, which was started in 2007, saw 2,500 aspirants in the first year, 3,200 in the second year and 4,300 had now been enrolled. Sabar said the course, which at present is in Hindi and Punjabi, would be in English too from the next year. — TNS

Training programme for headmasters
Our Correspondent

Nawanshahr, October 17
Director-General School Education (DGSE) Krishan Kumar has started special training programmes for school headmasters to impart necessary training to them to develop their soft skills and enable them to deal with financial matters.

A three-day district-level training programme would be organised from October 18 to 20 at Government Senior Secondary School here.

The resource persons, Dr T.C. Goyal, Nand Kishore Kher and S.K. Jain from the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration, Punjab, would impart training to school headmasters in financial matters, including GPF, GIS rules, calculation of leave rules, preparation of pension papers, etc.

Besides, special lectures would be delivered to develop soft skills like work ethics, communication skills, motivation, stress management, time management and team leadership to ensure qualitative improvement in education.

Forest workers hold protest

Hoshiarpur, October 17
More than 500 activists of the Punjab Forest Workers Union from all over the state, led by president Rattan Singh, held a protest march and demonstration in the main bazaars of the town here yesterday in support of their demands, including regularisation of the services of ad hoc employees, increase in their salaries and an end to privatisation. When going to submit a charter of demands to Minister for Forest and Wildlife, Parliamentary Affairs, Labour and Medical Education and Research Tiskhan Sud, they were stopped near the Police Lines. Later, they submitted the charter of demands to the Tehsildar. — OC