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Saturday menu for mid-day meal changed
national conference at Rajindra college
pulse polio drive concludes |
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Prized possession
‘Narcissism may lower woman’s self-esteem’
Revive culture, say scholars
Cops book woman, five others for kidnapping farmer
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Saturday menu for mid-day meal changed
Bathinda, February 21 “The government schools are already serving ‘kheer’ once in a week as a sweet dish. Children like sweets but not as meals. The sweetened rice was being served every Saturday since 2009. During various interactive sessions, the state mid-day meal cell authorities were informed that children were not happy with it,” said sources in the state mid-day meal cell. The cell authorities also found that a lot of cooked grain was going waste while children remained hungry, which defeated the very purpose of introducing mid-day meals in schools. The opinion of dieticians was also sought. It was found that sweetened rice had lesser nutrition content than rajma and rice. “Rajma-chawal is full of protein, which is quintessential for growing children. Sweetened rice is merely a storehouse of carbohydrates which makes rajma-chawal a better choice,” adds paediatrician at the Civil Hospital Dr Satish Jindal. In his letter issued to all the managers of the mid-day meal scheme in the state, the general manager of the state mid-day meal cell Prabhcharan Singh has stated that in order to meet the increasing demands of protein in children, the sweetened rice has been replaced with rajma-chawal. District manager Daljit Singh Joshi said acting on the orders, the new dish has been introduced at all the 394 primary schools, 248 upper primary schools, EGS centres and AIE (alternative and innovative education) centres. Mid-day meal is being served since 2005. In 2005-06, students were given raw material. For academic session 2007-08, the apex court passed orders that students be given cooked meals in the school itself. Since then, sweetened rice has been on the menu for every Saturday. The weekly menu
Monday: Roti and seasonal vegetables Tuesday: Rice and Dal Wednesday: Roti and black gram Thursday: Rice and curry Friday: Roti and Dal Saturday: Rice and rajma |
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national conference at Rajindra college
Bathinda, February 21 Interestingly, in January 2012, a Delhi court observed that despite legitimacy, live-in relationships are largely perceived to be immoral and it is a fad visible only in urban areas. While many may consider live-in relationships or co-habitation as immoral, for many urban couples it may not only be a ‘convenient’ way of living but also an economical one, stated Deblina Dey while presenting a paper on “Attitude Towards Live-In Relationship: A Comparative Analysis of the Attitude of the Older and the Younger Generation in India’. Deblina was speaking on the Day-I of the UGC-sponsored National Conference on “Social and Cultural Changes: Prospects and Challenges For Youth” held at the Government Rajindra College, Bathinda. Talking about how prevalent co-habitation is, she said it is more common among the non-poor and non-minority sections of the society. She also pointed out that it is more commonly seen in certain sectors of the workforce as well, namely film industry, fashion and lifestyle world and corporate sector. The data that she had collected for her study, she asked the respondents if they thought living with parents curbed their freedom; if marriage was important to them; whether they would prefer cohabitation over a legal wed-lock; would they ever be able to trust their live-in partner as much as they would have their legally wedded spouse; if a child born in a live-in relationship will get similar respect and recognition in the society and what would they do in case they were emotionally attached to their live-in partner and were ready to marry while partner was not. Citing the conclusions of her study, Deblina said, “Interestingly, a large number of men, talking hypothetically, said they would opt for a live-in relationship over marriage. A large number of respondents said they would not get emotionally attached to their partner knowing well that the relationship may not necessarily end in marriage.” Maintaining that the results of her study had also shown that the attitude of the older generation was changing towards the live-in relationships, she said, “The respondents in the older age-group said the live-in period shouldn’t be too long and it should be started only after the partners have decided that they will marry after cohabiting. The older generation is of the view that the families of both the boy and the girl should be introduced to each other and should know about the live-in relationship.” She concluded that although an increasing number of urban couples were choosing to stay together, it would not be correct to say that the live-in relationships will take over the legal and traditional marriages. |
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pulse polio drive concludes
According to official information, during these three days, ‘anti-polio’ drops were administered to 1,76,775 children, registering 100.89 per cent achievement of the target. On the first day of the campaign, 1,00,487 children were administered ‘anti-polio’ drops at the booths set up across the district while on the second day, the health department’s teams visited 1,48,628 houses and administered drops to as many as 42,840 children. However, on the third and final day of the campaign, the health teams administered drops to 33,448 children by visiting 1,18,875 houses in the district. The break-up of 33,448 children who were administered drops today in 10 health blocks of the district by the health teams is: Raman (660 children), Maur (887), Rampura Phul (578), Bathinda (8,619), Goniana (5,103), Sangat (4,130), Talwandi Sabo (3,893), Ballianwali (2,734), Nathana (2,834) and Bhagta (4,010). When contacted, a senior health official said this evening there were still 11,893 ‘X’ houses left from covering the children at the end of the three-day pulse polio drive. He said these were the houses which had either been found locked by the visiting teams during the campaign or the children were not available when they visited their houses. The official further said as per the government’s ‘anti-polio’ programme, no child should be left without administration of ‘anti-polio’ drops, so their teams would visit these houses for three to four days daily to administer the drops to the children so as to ensure that the country gets the polio-free status after two years. The official also appreciated the role that NGOs played in the three-day campaign. He said the NGOs not only provided them with volunteers but also inspired the people to visit the booths along with their children for receiving drops. |
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Prized possession
Bathinda, February 21 All the records run on three different gramophones, the oldest of which was retrieved from a junk yard. "My friend had thrown away this HMV (His Master's Voice) 1950-made gramophone in junk. I brought it and my father repaired it restoring it to its pristine glory," said Amrik Singh, who runs a jewellery shop. Kamal has 200 stone records (manufactured using shellac) of 78 rpm (rotations per minute), 1,200 records of 45 rpm and around 200 records of 33 rpm. “Surprisingly, many of my records have come from an old-records shop that was situated at the backside of the local bus stand. Around 12 years ago, the shop owner decided to shut his business and he sold the entire booty to me at a modest price," says Kamal, whose living room doubles up as his treasure vault adorned with the ensemble at his house on the Bibiwala road here. One of his drawers is a dedicated DVD section of movies from the silent era of 'Raja Harishchandra' to the blockbuster 'Sholay'. It is the tech-savvy Amrik who collected these rare movies. "Sholay has two different climaxes. In the original ending, Thakur had killed Gabbar. However, the Censor Board did not pass it reasoning that the killing could have an adverse effect on young moviegoers. So, a new ending was created that showed police pitching in at the last moment, arresting Gabbar and specifically telling Thakur that only the law has the right to punish criminals," he says. While Kamal has been collecting records for the last 40 years, Amrik is a numismatist. His prized possession is a gold coin dating back to 1202 AD. It was issued by Shah Alam II Badshah in Persian script. "I bought this coin for Rs 23,000 about five years ago and it is the oldest of the coins I possess," he adds. His entire collection is thematic. The currency notes' collection has the maiden ones to the present day. In a way, he has presented the evolution of currency notes in India. A currency note of Rs 10 was first issued in 1940 with the picture of King George V in watermark and portrait. Later, in 1950, this was replaced by the Indian emblem but Ten Rupees was mentioned only in English language drawing flak from nationalists. An year later, an addition was made and the currency note then bore Rs 10 written in Hindi and English. Amrik has similar stories to tell about currency notes of other denominations as well. He has collection of all coins issued by the four mints in India (Noida, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai) since 1950 as well as that of all kingdoms that existed pre-independence.
Collectors’ delight
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‘Narcissism may lower woman’s self-esteem’
Bathinda, February 21 Discussing how the aspiration to reshape and have an hourglass figure inversely affects a female’s mind, Shaina Kapoor presented a paper at the national conference organised at the Government Rajindra College here today. The topic of her paper was: ‘The hourglass image: Eroding the self-esteem’. In her presentation, Shaina correlated the type of the body that a woman had with the one that she aspires to have; also, how the desire affects her mindset. “An hour-glass figure is considered perfect and also sexually-attractive. According to the study by a British biologist, when a woman sees an underweight woman, there are immediate changes in her brain chemistry and her self-esteem will diminish instantly. They will also find out ways of gaining the hourglass figure either by dieting or cosmetic surgery, which is also popular these days.” She said that self-esteem was about how much they value themselves and how worthwhile they thought they were. “Young women become more conscious of their bodies when they enter college since this is the stage of adolescence when they are out of the parental control,” she said. The sample of her study were undergraduate students of the Government Girls College, Patiala, in the age group of 18 to 22 years. Talking about how the female body undergoes numerous changes at different stages of her life, she averred that a woman should not let her body type affect the way she thinks about herself. Especially after childbirth, a woman may notice many changes in her body and instead of thinking lowly of herself, she should concentrate on being happy and content with the way she is. |
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Revive culture, say scholars
Bathinda, February 21 The conference was attended by scholars from universities across the country and the morning session was presided over by Dr HS Pannu. In her inaugural address, Prof Bhuvan Chandel, member secretary, Centre for Studies in Civilisation, New Delhi, quoted the French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre, German philosopher Karl Marx and Scottish philosopher Adam Smith to drive home the point about how the idea of an egalitarian society has existed for centuries. She also spoke about how by strengthening the conversation between the parents and the children, the children who have been derailed by the side-effects of globalisation and have gone down the track of drug abuse and alcoholism, can be made to live a normal and healthy life once again. The keynote lecture was delivered by Dr Manjit Singh, director, Centre For Ambedkar Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh. He spoke of the glory of the erstwhile Punjab and how the moral values were of utmost importance in those times. He compared it with the present times and wondered at how the medical system has become market-oriented and hospitals have turned into industries. Appreciating the role of technology in bringing the world closer, he wondered whether the social networking sites were not isolating the people by minimising face-to-face interaction. He concluded by saying that the need of the hour was to revive the culture, traditions and the education system. At the end of the morning session, Dr HS Pannu thanked all those who had presented papers and also those who had patiently listened to the speakers. He had everyone in peels if laughter when he related an anecdote. "When I invited a Sanskrit teacher to the conference, she asked me if she will be given any 'utpiran shulk'. It was only later that I got to know that it means torture allowance.” |
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Cops book woman, five others for kidnapping farmer
Bathinda, February 21 Complainant Bikkar Singh of Gatwali village said the accused, Sukhdeet Singh and Amarjeet Singh, both brothers, Bhupinder Singh, Romanpreet Singh, Tejinderpal Singh and Rajwant Kaur, had been cultivating a piece of agricultural land which belongs to the village panchayat. During the recent auctioning, Bikkar Singh managed to get the contract and the accused got upset. They decided to teach the complainant a lesson and picked him up from outside his house and took him away to a secluded place and beat him up. He was released following the intervention of the villagers. A case under sections 365, 323, 148 and 149 of the IPC has been registered against the accused at Rama police station. No arrests have been made in this regard so far. Police is investigating. LCD, Rs 90,000 stolen
Material worth Rs 90,000 was stolen from a shop after breaking its iron shutter from Ram Bagh road. Telu Ram, residing near Gurudwara Haji Rattan, said he sells refrigerators and televisions at his shop. The accused took away an LCD TV and Rs 90,000. A case under sections 457 and 380 of the IPC has been registered in this connection against unidentified people at Kotwali police station. Miscreants loot bike
A resident of Gurusar village was beaten up by some unidentified people while he was riding a bike towards Baghapurana and took away his bike. In his complaint to the police, Sewak Singh said two unidentified men, who were riding on a bike, blocked his way near Kothe Kesar Singh Wala village. The attackers left him injured and took away his bike. A case under sections 379, 323 and 34 of the IPC has been registered in this connection against the unidentified men at Diyalpura police station. In another case registered at Diyalpura police station, Kamaljit Kaur, a resident of Ajitwal village in Moga said she was beaten up by Kuljeet Singh, Ranjodh Singh, Gurditt Singh, Manjeet Kaur and two unidentified men. She said the attackers left him injured near Bhagta Bhaika village and fled after some commuters and passersby intervened. A case under sections 323, 148 and 149 of the IPC has been registered against the accused at Diyalpura police station. Two held with drugs
Two people have been arrested by the police in different cases with narcotics. Lakhwinder Singh of Kalebandar village was arrested with 1.5 kg powder to be used as intoxicant by addicts. He was arrested near Teona Pujarian village. A case under Section 22, 61, 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against him at Talwandi Sabo police station. In another incident, Kala Singh of Laleana village has been arrested for possessing 400 gram of opium. He was arrested near Talwandi Sabo. |
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Bathinda, February 21