Bathinda, February 28
The Environmental Health Action Group, led by the Kheti Virasat Mission, has commended the study on prevalence of cancer in Punjab, which was released recently, and offered recommendations to the state government on further efforts needed to eradicate the menace.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and the Health Minister Madan Mohan Mittal, the group lauded the study for its extent of coverage and the capacity building of existing health manpower besides creating awareness on the dreaded disease.

KVM director Umendra Dutt said the study provides a good indication of the prevalence and extent of problem which will help in planning provisions for treatment facility. "However, there are limitations too. For instance, the study does not provide the incidence rates necessary to estimate the risk and prognostic factors besides chalking out therapeutic and preventive modalities," he said.

Dutt added that the study was also likely to be beset with biases such as investigator bias and recall bias by respondents, as is clear from the higher number of suspected cases of cancer been reported from areas where its prevalence is believed to be lower, like Moga; and the lower number of cases found in areas with higher prevalence like Bathinda and Mansa.

The need for targeted investigations to quantify the problem in specific parameters like age, sex, occupation and block-wise geographical distribution of cases, was emphasised.

Dutt added that an incidence study should be initiated immediately with at least one year follow up to establish extent of risk, cause and effect relationship, identification of specific risk factors for planning therapeutic and preventive interventions.

"District and block-wise templates of data regarding pattern of pesticides being used when superimposed on geographical distribution of cancer cases may indicate a possible relationship which may be verified with the subsequent survey," he suggested.

The group also called for special earmarking of substantial funds for preventive strategies instead of merely strengthening the treatment facilities.

The members of the group said the state should initiate strict measures to decrease the use of pesticides and eliminate the dangerous pesticides from the environment of Punjab.

Other sources of environmental toxicity like rising industrial pollution should also be identified and plugged.

They demanded that Punjab should put a complete ban on all carcinogens categorised by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) under the groups 1, 2-A or 2-B and ensure safety measures for carcinogens falling under group 3.

"If a complete ban was not possible, the responsibility of compensation to the victims of cancer and other adverse health effects should be shifted to the industry or the organisation using the carcinogenic chemicals. An appropriate legal mechanism should be defined for the purpose," he said.

A rational drug policy to end fleecing of patients by pharmaceutical companies was also called for to bridge the gap between the manufacturer's price and the market price. On the lines of the Rajasthan government's initiative, the Punjab government should also provide for making free generic medicines available to patients through government hospitals.

It was underscored that the Punjab Agricultural University, the Krishi Vigyan Kendras and the Department of Agriculture should dedicate sizeable resources towards research and development of low-cost and non-chemical methods of farming instead of favouring management of pesticides, insecticides, weedicides and genetically modified GM crops.

Bathinda, February 28
The fortnight-long 4th Foundation Day celebration of the Central University of Punjab (CUP), Bathinda, concluded today.

The programme began with floral welcome of guests followed by an invocation presented by the university students. Later, vice-chancellor Prof Jai Rup Singh delivered the welcome address.

In his address, he apprised the guests of the university's achievements. He said 30 per cent of the faculty members have international experience and 20 per cent have externally-funded research grants.

He added that from the next academic session, the university will run 16 programmes, including M.Pharma-PhD integrated.

In his presidential address, chancellor Prof SS Johl rued that education was being commercialised and that the teacher-taught ratio was decreasing thereby affecting the education system. Hailing the university's decision to introduce computer classes for senor citizens, he said all the senior citizens should be on social networking sites as internet was a major tool for communication.

To help senior citizens communicate with the present generation, the university will start a complementary programme on computer literacy.

Delivering the Foundation Day lecture on the 'Role of higher education in the future development of India', Prof SK Chadha, the president of the South Asian University, New Delhi, said investment in the higher education sector was crucial for sustaining and accelerating India's growth and development. He pointed out that only 22.5 per cent workforce in India was educated, with a huge gender disparity.

"Educated female workers are just 10.7 per cent while it is 27.6 in the case of men," he said. He added that the number of universities in the country has grown from just 51 in 1950-51 to 523 in 2010-11; the number of colleges rose from 578 to 33,023 during the same period; and the number of students pursuing higher education grew from 1,74,000 to 1,69,75,000.

Stating that the number of teachers has increased from 24,000 to 5,88,000 over the 50 years, he argued that the increase in the number of teachers has not been impressive in relation to the growth in the number of students.

Talking about the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), Prof Chadha said statistics showed that there was an enormous social disparity in the enrolment ratio. While the GER is 6.57 per cent in the case of Scheduled Tribes, 6.52 in the case of Scheduled Castes and 8.77 percent in the case of OBCs, it was 17.22 per cent in the case of other categories. While the GER for women is 9.11 per cent, it was 12.42 per cent for men.

Drawing the attention of the audience towards the rural-urban divide, Prof Chadha said while the GER for potential students in rural areas was only 6.74 per cent, it was 19.88 per cent in urban areas.

He stressed on the need for expansion in the field of higher education in India to improve the inclusive access to education in the country. Higher education should be free of political influences, he added.

Prof P Ramarao, Dean (Academic affairs), proposed the vote of thanks, followed by a cultural programme presented by the students of the university.

Bathinda, February 28
The fortnight-long 4th Foundation Day celebrations of the Central University of Punjab (CUP), Bathinda, concluded today. The highlights of the programme were the Foundation Day lecture delivered by Prof SK Chadha, president, South Asian University, New Delhi, and the presidential address by the CUP chancellor Prof SS Johl.

The programme began with a floral welcome of the guests which was followed by an invocation presented by the university students. This was followed by the welcome address which was delivered by the university's vice-chancellor, Prof Jai Rup Singh.

In his address, the VC apprised the guests of the university's achievements. He said 30 per cent of the faculty members have international experience and 20 per cent have externally funded research grants.

He added that from the coming academic session, the university will run 16 programmes. A complementary programme on computer literacy will be started for the senior citizens of Bathinda to help them communicate with the present generation.

Delivering the Foundation Day lecture on the 'Role of higher education in the future development of India', Prof Chadha emphasised that investment in the higher education sector was crucial for sustaining and accelerating the growth and development of India. He pointed out that India has only 22.5 per cent educated workers in its workforce, with a huge gender disparity.

Educated female workers are just 10.7 per cent whereas it is 27.6 in the case of men.

Prof Chadha further added that as per the statistics, the number of universities in the country has grown from just 51 in 1950-51 to 523 in 2010-11 while the number of colleges has gone up to 33,023 from 578 during the same period. The number of students pursuing higher education has grown from 1,74,000 in 1950-51 to 1,69,75,000 in 2010-11.

Stating that the number of teachers has increased from 24,000 to 5,88,000 during the same period, he argued that the increase in the number of teachers remained unimpressive in relation to the growth in the number of students.

Talking about the gross enrolment ratio (GER), he said statistics showed that there is an enormous social disparity in the enrolment ratio.

While the GER is 6.57 per cent in case of Scheduled Tribes, 6.52 in the case of Scheduled Castes, 8.77 per cent in the case of OBCs, it is 17.22 per cent in the case of others. While the GER for women is 9.11 per cent, for men, it is 12.42 per cent.

He also drew the attention of the audience to the rural-urban divide. While the GER for the potential students in rural areas was only 6.74 per cent, it was 19.88 per cent in the urban areas.

He laid stress on the need for expansion in the field of higher education in India to improve the inclusive access to education in the country. Higher education should also be made free from political influences, he added.

In his presidential address, Prof Johl regretted that education was being commercialised and that the teacher-taught ratio was decreasing, affecting the education system.

Hailing the university's decision to introduce computer classes for the senior citizens, he said all the senior citizens should be on social networking sites as internet was a major tool of communication.

Towards the end, Prof P Ramarao, Dean, Academic Affairs, proposed the vote of thanks, which was followed by a cultural programme presented by the students of the university.

Bathinda, February 28
The Union Budget presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram today got mixed reactions from a cross-section of Bathinda residents. While the industrial experts gave the budget a zero on 10 for ignoring the industrial sector, especially the small-scale units, economists called it a balanced budget.

The chairman of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bathinda, Raman Watts flayed the Budget for not opening the purse string for the industrial sector. "The 2013-14 Budget was actually not a budget for us since it paid no attention to the demands and expectations of the industrial sector. Since 2003, the subsidy on the Central Excise Duty has been static at Rs 1.5 crore. How does the government expect the small-scale industries to survive on it in 2013?"

Calling the budget a balanced one, the president of the Bathinda Tax Bar Association, Vijay Monga, hailed the Finance Minister's announcement of imposing the Super Rich tax. "While the tax slab has been kept the same, which goes in the favour of the common man, the rich will now have to pay 10 per cent surcharge as per the Super Rich Tax. Making mobiles phones costing more than Rs 2000 is also palatable."

Dr Rakesh Kumar, a lecturer in economics at the Punjabi University Regional Centre here, said although the government seemed to have a balanced approach, the Budget could not be called a dynamic one. "The government knows that if it increases its expenditure, it will be hard for it to control the fiscal deficit. The Finance Minister foresees a growth rate of 6.1-6.7 per cent in the next fiscal year which is not a huge leap from the present rate of 5 per cent. The Budget has disappointed the industrial sector but was benevolent on women, rural areas and agricultural sector, which is a pointer to the fact that the government had its eyes set on the ensuing General Elections."

"The good news for Punjab is that readymade garments will be cheaper now. Also, the Union Budget has given a boost to rural and agricultural sectors, which will prove fruitful for the state. With the imposition of 12.5 per cent tax on air-conditioned eating joints, eating out will become costlier. The excise duty on the SUVs has been increased from 27 to 30 per cent while the imported cars and motorbikes (over 800 cc) will also be expensive now. Although these taxes will not hurt the middle class much, the budget has not promised much for development," said a CA final-year student, Japneet Makkar.

A former head of the economics department at Government Rajindra College, Bathinda, Prof YL Chopra, lashed out at the Finance Ministry for not making any serious attempt to control the rate of inflation.

"The government is allowing the prices to rise. The Budget has gone against the expectations of the common man, who has already been suffering from inflation," Chopra added.

Bathinda, February 28
The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) Union, Punjab, will hold a dharna at Bathinda in the first week of March to press for the acceptance of their long-pending demands, stated the convener of the NRHM Union, Narinder Kumar, while presiding over a meeting held in the administrative block of the Civil Hospital today.

Narinder said besides the NRHM employees, contractual staff working in various departments will also participate in the protest rally. The union demanded that the government should stop recruiting staff on contract basis. It should also primarily regularise the staff already working on contract basis, Kumar said.

Senior vice-president of the union, Manpreet Kaur, said health and education are the primary duties of the state government. She accepted that the government was making efforts to raise the standard of school and college education, but nothing concrete was being done to improve the condition of people working in the health sector.

"The nursing staff in the government health sector has been working on contract basis for the last 12 years. There is resentment among this cadre,” she said.

President, Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre (ICTC), Bathinda, Ajay Sharma said the lab technicians, who are a key component of the health system, are being meted out step-motherly treatment as they were ill paid.

Narinder said only the contractual health workers were being taken for granted. "The services of computer teachers were first regularised under the Punjab Information and Communication Technology Education Society. Then the teachers working under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan were given salary at par with the employees of the state government but when it came to giving salaries and regularising the contractual staff working under the NRHM, the government chose to look the other way, they said.

Those present at the meeting included Sarabjit Kaur, Amandeep Kaur, Palwinder Kaur, Sukhjit Kaur, Gurjit Kaur and others.

Bathinda, February 28
District magistrate Kamal Kishore Yadav has imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) outside the examination centres of Punjab School Education Board (PSEB).

The board examinations of classes X and XII will be held from March 1 to April 22.

With the orders coming into force tomorrow, no one is allowed to stand outside the examination centres in groups.

The district magistrate issued the orders to dissuade usage of unfair means during examination.

The orders will be in force during March and April.

Bathinda, February 28
In the wake of a large number of theft cases in the city, the police has started rounding up persons with a shady past.

More than six thefts were reported in the city last week wherein miscreants decamped with material worth nearly Rs 1 lakh.

The police and the area residents said drug menace was the reason behind the thefts in the city.

Drug addicts go to any extent to satiate their craving. They do not mind stealing even the material lying outside shops or houses, which could get them amount as low as Rs 100. "Three incidents of theft were reported last night. Some LPG cylinders were stolen from near the Street No. 22 on the Ajit Road and household material was found missing from near Jujhar Singh Nagar," said Deputy, the owner of a sanitary shop on the Ajit Road.

Deputy said the police rounded up some drug addicts of the area following the incidents of thefts.

He said the locks of his shop were found broken in the morning and the matter was brought to the notice of cops. "PCR officials inspected the crime scene and immediately detained drug addicts, who were taken to the Civil Lines police station for interrogation. They were released in the evening," Deputy said. He said thieves planned theft last night by disconnecting power to the street lights. "They vainly tried to steal the material lying in my shop as they could not break open the iron shutter," he said.

Officials at the Civil Lines police station said they rounded up some drug addicts and people with a shady past but failed to get any clue about the last night's thefts.

DSP Avneet Sidhu, who has the additional charge of the Civil Lines police station, said yesterday, a person involved in stealing bicycles from the District Courts Complex was arrested and bicycles worth nearly Rs 5,000 were recovered from his possession.

"We have increased the patrolling under the jurisdiction of Civil Lines police station to prevent any incident of theft," Avneet said.

Bathinda, February 28
An "Akhand Path" was held to mark the conclusion of the annual function of the Adesh University today.

A slideshow projecting the social evils and their solutions was held at the auditorium. Competitions in events like painting and poem recitation on themes like social evils, culture and heritage of Punjab, drug addiction, environment and the martyrdom scene of Guru Teg Bahadar Ji were held.

A Gurmat Samagam was held in the auditorium, after the Gurbani Kirtan performed by the students of the Adesh Institute of Medical Education and Research. This was followed by the speeches from students belonging to different branches of the university on subjects like women empowerment, condemnation of rituals, value-based education and its need and the life history of Guru Teg Bahadar Ji. Sardar Gurbir Singh delivered the sermons. Among those who received the special awards on the occasion were Dr Amandeep Singh and Dr Amanjeet Singh, Dr Amarjot Kaur, Dr Milandeep Kaur. Principal of the medical college, Dr Harkiran Kaur appreciated the efforts of the students. Vice-chancellor, Adesh University, Dr GPI Singh was also present on the occasion.

Bathinda, February 28
The inter-polytechnic college youth fest started at the Government Polytechnic College today.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Rajiv Prashar inaugurated the fest in which 500 students from 25 colleges are participating. College principal Dr Yadwinder Singh welcomed the dignitaries on the occasion.

Folk song and choreography contests were held in the morning and evening sessions. In the folk song competition, Lakhvir Singh from Government Polytechnic College bagged the first prize. Yasir Khana from Thapar Polytechnic College Patiala and Inderjit Singh from GGS Polytechnic College, Talwandi Sabo, came second while Kran Chaudhary from Sai Polytechnic College, Badhni, secured the third place.

SP (D) Amarjit Singh Sidhu distributed prizes to the winners. Nirmal Rishi, Gurmeet Sajan and Kirti Kirpal adjudged the choreography contest. Jagsir Singh and Sarabjit Kaur managed the stage.

Bathinda, February 28
The district administration today assured the 35 lawyers practising in the New Tehsil Complex of providing them adequate place in the complex.

The government is planning to extend the New Tehsil Complex where the lawyers may be accommodated.

ADC (General) Rajeev Prashar said a meeting of the XEN, Bathinda Development Authority (BDA,) and the lawyers was convened today wherein the demand of the lawyers was discussed.

"It is too early to say anything at this stage as it is in the stage of planning. It is yet to become clear as to how things are going to be executed," Prashar said.

The lawyers were dislocated after the demolition of the old tehsil complex.

Secretary of the Bar Association, Gurwinder Mann, said they welcome the move to accommodate the lawyers in the new tehsil complex and expressed the hope that the promise will be fulfilled.

Bathinda, February 28
A blood donation camp was organised by the Red Ribbon Club at the Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo, today. The initiative was taken by the Human Rights Mission Protection (Punjab).

The camp was inaugurated by the chief administrator, Bathinda Development Authority, APS Virk, managing director Sukhraj Singh Sidhu and vice-chancellor of the university SK Ahluwalia.

A team of 10 members, headed by Dr Manmeet Kaur from Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, guided and advised the volunteers and the blood donors.

A large number of students from the constituent colleges like Guru Gobind Singh College of Engineering and Technology, Guru Gobind Singh College of Education and Guru Gobind Singh Polytechnic College besides the faculty members turned out in large numbers to contribute to this social cause. As many as 151 units of blood were collected at the camp.

Bathinda, February 28
Baba Farid Group of Institutions (BFGI) declared the result of its scholarship test. Based on aptitude, English and general knowledge, the scholarship test was held on February 16-17 for students appearing in class X and clas XII exams.

Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, chairman, BFGI, congratulated the winners and said the first prize winner will get a laptop. The second prize winner will get a Notebook while third prize winner will get a tablet besides 20 consolation prizes. — TNS