Gandhiji wanted 'Congress dissolved'
CHANDIGARH, Jan 30 — Mahatma Gandhi felt that the Congress should have been dismantled after attaining freedom, said Prof Ramjee Singh, a former Vice-Chancellor of Jain Vishvabharti, in a talk organised by the Department of Gandhian Studies, Panjab University, here today.

• Incidents of religious bigotry ‘shameful’

Culture behind eastern artists’ ‘popularity’
CHANDIGARH, Jan 30 — Eastern artists are drawing a lot of attention in the West these days.

• Ravidass jayanti celebrated

• Blood donated

Gandhiji wanted 'Congress dissolved'
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 30 — Mahatma Gandhi felt that the Congress should have been dismantled after attaining freedom, said Prof Ramjee Singh, a former Vice-Chancellor of Jain Vishvabharti, in a talk organised by the Department of Gandhian Studies, Panjab University, here today.

Prof Ramjee said that Gandhiji felt that the Congress had completed its historical role quite magnificently in achieving freedom. It was never intended to be a political party but as a platform which also had socialists, people with Hindutva thoughts and other leanings. It should have blossomed into "Lok Sevak Sangh".

Gandhiji's 'swaraj' was not merely in terms of political freedom. In the absence of social, economic and moral freedom no democracy could survive. Gandhiji's socio -economic vision of ' swaraj' was written in 1909. He reminded Jawaharlal Nehru to present it before the working committee of the Congress in 1945 which Nehru did not. The Congress also never really incorporated the principle of non-violence, Prof Ramjee added.

For any democracy to run successfully civil power (people's power) has to be stronger than the military power, Prof Ramjee said.The expenditure of paramilitary forces had increased manifold in the belief that violence could bring peace.The endeavour had failed miserably as was reflected from Kashmir and the North-East experiment. Excessive military power has the potential of aiding autocracy.

The former director of the Gandhian Institute of Studies, Benares, also dwelt on Gandhiji's idea that real development could take place with prosperity in villages. Economic development has to be linked with social welfare, particularly in the context of globalisation.

Prof Ramjee said he concurred with Gandhiji in his belief that party system was not suited to the Indian atmosphere. The democracy had to be more participatory. The people should elect their panchayat. Two panchayats should elect one member and 100 such members should elect their representatives. This system would be more direct.

Mr Hari Jaisingh, Editor, The Tribune, in his presidential remarks said Gandhiji's vision was undoubted but he could never really translate the idea of powerful villages into practice.

Nehru was undoubtedly his favourite disciple. One failed to understand why Gandhiji failed to make Nehru see reason in his vision. "We can throw up an idea but its true test comes only when it is converted into a mass movement", Mr Hari Jaisingh said.

In the context of globalisation, the process in India would have to be sensitive to the nation's needs and not be dictated by any monetary superpowers if the results were to be welfare oriented, the editor asked.

Earlier Prof Jai Narain, chairman of the Department of Gandhian Studies, welcomed the guests.

Incidents of religious bigotry ‘shameful’
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 30 — The recent incidents of violence and religious intolerance in various parts of the country will make every Indian hang his head in shame, said Lieut Gen B.K.N. Chhibber, Punjab Governor and UT Administrator, while paying tributes to the Father of the Nation at Gandhi Smarak Bhavan in Sector 16 here today.

Referring to the recent attacks on minorities in Gujarat and Orissa, he said these attacks were a challenge to secular credentials of our country. "It should be clear to everyone that India belongs to people of all faiths and religions and nobody should raise any question regarding this in future".

The Gandhian philosophy had touched every facet of our life as he struggled for social, economic and political freedom of our country. The focus of the philosophy was on economic and social uplift of the downtrodden and the oppressed.

The Governor regretted that in the past 50 years we could not achieve much on this front. A sustained campaign should be launched to remove illiteracy from the face of the country as it was the root-cause of all our ills.The neglect of cottage industries and the emphasis on large industries had aggravated the level of unemployment.

There were some anxious moments when workers of the local unit of the Youth Congress tried to use the lawns of the bhavan. The organisers said that they did not want to give the function a political colour. The activists had earlier taken out a communal harmony and peace march, led by Mr Chandermukhi Sharma, president of the local unit, from Gandhi Bhavan, Panjab University, which was to culminate at the bhavan. As the permission was denied, the workers assembled outside the Bhavan and raised slogans, espousing communal harmony and religious tolerance. They dispersed after observing a two-minute silence.

Mr Jagdish Sagar, Adviser to the Administrator; Mr S.N. Vasudev, Honorary Adviser of Nidhi; Mr Ode Chand, constructive worker; and Mr Mahesh Dutt Sharma, chairman of the bhavan; also spoke on the philosophy of Gandhiji.

A two-minute silence was observed in the UT Secretariat in memory of all those who laid down their lives in the struggle for India's freedom. A contingent of the Chandigarh Police reversed its arms as the siren sounded. Mr Sagar presided over the function. Others present included Mr K.K. Addiwal, Mayor; Mrs Anuradha Gupta, Home Secretary; Mr S.K. Gathwal, Municipal Commissioner; besides a large number of heads of boards and corporations.

A similar function was held at the Sector 16 General Hospital which was presided over by Dr J.L. Chaudhry, Director-cum-Medical Superintendent.

The local unit of the CTCC also organised a function to pay tributes to Gandhiji at Congress Bhavan in Sector 35 today. Mr Venod Sharma, president of the unit, and Mr Pawan Bansal, a former MP, were present. Two minutes of silence was observed on the occasion.

The local unit of the BJP and the BJYM also paid tributes to the Father of the Nation at a function at the party headquarters. A fast was undertaken by senior leaders led by Mr Dharam Pal Gupta, president of the local unit, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Others present on the occasion were Punjab minister, Mr Mohan Lal; Mr Baldev Raj Chadha, Deputy Speaker; Mr G.S. Riar, President of the local unit of the SAD, and the organising secretary of the Punjab unit of the BJP, Mr Avinash Jayaswal. All present vowed to fight communalism.

The Shree Sewa Samiti organised a function in Sector 32 to pay tributes to Gandhiji.

The local unit of the NSUI organised a function at Panjab University, led by H.S. Lucky, president of the local unit of the NSUI. A large number of workers visited Kaimbwala village and distributed eatables to poor people.

CM's convoy bullies family on road
by Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 30 — On a day when the nation was paying homage to its martyrs, Mrs Tina Vig, a widow of a gallant soldier, and her three-year-old handicapped son, underwent a "harrowing" time on the Chandigarh-Ambala road today.

Tina's husband, a Major in the Army, made the supreme sacrifice in Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir in 1997 while fighting secessionists and anti-national elements. She may not be able put behind what she, her parents, her two children and a child of her sister experienced on their way to a Ambala hospital this morning.

It was about 10 km from Ambala that her father's car, a Maruti (CH-01L 0666) was overtaken by a siren-shouting convoy of a VIP. Her father, Major Gen S.S. Grewal (retd), pulled his car to the edge of the road to allow the VIP to pass by. But that was not enough.

Though the two escort vehicles followed by the Mercedes of the VIP whizzed past their Maruti, the General and his family were virtually thrown off the road by the vehicle tailing that followed. A policeman, half protruding from a window and wielding a lathi, smashed the rear screen of their Maruti. The policeman and others also gave a dirty look to the occupants of the damaged Maruti as if they had committed "a grave crime".

The agony of General Grewal and his family did not end there. Yet another vehicle, which was at the tail of the convoy, had another group of policemen inside. One of them, also wielding a lathi, had a go at the front of the car. The "rubberised head" of the lathi hit the bonnet of the car, damaging it partially. Dumbfounded by the sudden attack, General Grewal tried to swerve his car off the road and skidded past a tree after hitting it from a side.

Mrs Tina Vig shrieked. The children were dumbfounded as the old couple on the front seats, too, was shellshocked. They stopped, came out of the car and found that Tina's youngest child, whose lower portion is paralysed, was bleeding from the head. Some of the broken pieces of glass from the rear screen had hit him.

Since Mrs Tina Vig and her two children were to catch Shatabdi Express after a session of magneto therapy at Ambala, the General and his family decided to continue the journey after recovering from the shock. A few more kilometres drive towards Ambala brought them to a police check post where the General wanted to lodge a complaint.

The Sub-Inspector on duty politely told him to forget about FIR as no one would register it and advised him "not to waste his time unnecessarily as nothing would come out of it. The convoy was of the Chief Minister of Haryana," he added.

The General enquired about the location of the police station concerned but was again advised to forget about the FIR and get his grandchild treated.

"As my widow daughter has to fly to Vellore from New Delhi tomorrow for the treatment of her son, I also decided against wasting my time at the police check-post. But the incident has shocked me. Is it what we got independence for? If a man like me can be treated like this for no fault of mine, the plight of a common man is not difficult to imagine," the General quipped.

"In spite of all assurances, including those by a former Defence Minister, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, when he visited Chandigarh several months ago, nothing has been done to mitigate the suffering of my widow daughter. And on the other hand, this is what she got. I just want to know what was our crime that we had to undergo such a harrowing time," asked the General.

Culture behind eastern artists’ ‘popularity’
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 30 — Eastern artists are drawing a lot of attention in the West these days. This is not merely because of the reason that the media has closed the distance between the two worlds but because the cultural content of the East is very strong.

These views were expressed by A. Balasubramaniam, an artist of international repute in print making and graphics, at a press conference here today.

The artists from Japan, India, Hong Kong and Thailand were doing particularly well. The 27-year-old artist who has made it big is in the city in connection with a two-day workshop of silk screen printing being organised by the Art Folio on February 1 and 2.

The winner of the prestigious Sapporo International Print Biennial Sponsor Award said he did not feel any difference in painting, graphic art or sculpturing. These are only mediums. If one knew the material one could do anything. "I experiment with different forms and can afford to do so easily at a young age", he claimed.

Balasubramaniam said that he abstained from giving titles for his creations particularly his recent ones. "If there is a title people start looking for the mentioned subject in the creation. This might hide an important aspect of the art form. Like one can talk about the music but the true feeling can only be felt while it is played".

Some of the important awards won by the artist include the second Egyptian International Triennial's Award, 17th Mini Print International Cadaques Award, Barcelona and the Charles Wallace India Trust Arts Fellowship. He was also on the jury for international mini-print exhibition in Barcelona in 1998.

Balasubramaniam graduated from Government College of Arts, Madras, and did a course in print making from EPW Edinburgh. He said he was into making sculptures in clay modelling during school days. "But when I was 13, I had decided that I wanted to follow this art as a profession. Very few institutions in India have degree on the art of printing", he averred.

Balasubramaniam's earlier works have lot of architectural impressions, clearly reflective of the Edinburgh influence. The second phase is that of landscapes. He is now working with holograms because they help in creating a three-dimensional effect.

From the schools
Rainbow created in classroom
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Jan 30 — Students of Kailash Bahl DAV Centenary Public School, Sector 7, created rainbow in classroom, depicted life under the ocean, presented the process of silk formation, cooked food using solar energy as improvised alarm bells rang out to inform of rain, of fire and of theft, here today.

No aspect of science remained untouched in the science exhibition put up by over 400 children of the school with only three days at the disposal of students working on workable projects and one day for the non-workable ones. Complete information about science and scientists with their inventions and discoveries was available at exhibition.

The "active volcanoes" oozing out lava caught the fancy of most parents and students alike. The digestive system, the respiratory system, the heart and the purification of blood were other projects on display. The problem of pollution was also well addressed.

A former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice D.V. Sehgal, inaugurated the science show. Admiring the scientific and experimental ingenuity of the young scientists, he said that such exhibitions helped in developing the scientific and experimental attitude.

The "Rain Alarm" by Aakriti Mahajan of Class VIII, "Green House" by Garima Bhagat of Class VIII and "Xerophytes" by Onkar Singh of Class III were declared first, second and third, respectively.

Free stationery distributed: A colourful cultural programme preceded distribution of free stationery to 80 poor students from project "Aasra", being run by the school, was organised at Government High School, Sector 40, here.

The programme was presided over by Mr DS Rahi, DPI Punjab (Colleges). He was all praise for "Aasra" and "Bori se Basta" started by the school for the welfare of the students. He gave away prizes to students who had won laurels in judo and karate at the state level besides to winners of competitions organised in the school.

The principal, Mr Bahadur Singh, informed the gathering that the project had been inaugurated by Mr D.S. Mangat, DPI Schools and Colleges, in 1998 and was doing very well since then.

Painting competition: An on-the-spot painting competition was organised by the Sector 37 branch of State Bank of India, at Government High School, Sector 37, here today. Nearly 130 students of the school, in the age group of 11 to 17, participated in it.

The results are: Group A (Class VI to VII): Ramesh Kumar 1, Pradeep Singh 2, Baljeet Kaur 3. Group B (Class IX and X): Manju 1, Sangeeta 2, Krishna 3.

Inter-school contests: The fourth inter school contests in poster making, essay writing and debate were organised by Rotaract club at Arts Gallery. Over 275 students from 13 schools took part in the competitions.

The results for the essay writing and poster making competitions will be declared on February 3. The results of the debate are as follows:

Group I (Class V to VII): Ms Neha Kapoor-Sacred Heart School 1, Ms Mannat Varaich-New Public School 2, Consolation: Ms Simrat Reen-St Peter's School and Ms Richa Bamzai-St International Public School.

Group 2 (Class VIII to X): Ms Ishita Aggarwal-Sacred Heart School and Mr Aaftaab Kharbanda-St Stephen's School 1, Ms Nimit Narula-St Stephen's School 2.

Consolation : Ms Harleen Mann-Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 35.

Rally: Children from various schools participated in a rally organised to spread the message of compassion and kindness towards animals by Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 35, in collaboration with SPCA, here.

President urged to intervene
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 30 — Hike in prices of sugar, rice and wheat has come in for sharp criticism from different quarters in the city and adjoining areas.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal in a press note today condemned the hike. "By imposing the hike in prices, the BJP Government has shown how much they are against the poor" Mr V.S.T. Malik, president of the local unit said.

"The BJP Government first deprived the poor people of onions and oil. Now they are on the path of even snatching away "roti", Mr Malik added.

The Kirti Samaj Forum in a press note termed the government step as "hasty and anti-poor". The government should have waited for some time and sought opinion from Parliamentarians during the Budget. To reduce the fiscal deficit, the government should cut extravagant expenditure, unearth black money and catch hoarders instead of troubling the poor, Mr R.P.Singh, senior vice-president of the forum, said.

It also said that the hike in urea prices would affect poor farmers. It urged the government to withdraw the hike.

The local unit of the Lok Shakti president, Mr Ravi Parkash Kansal, urged the Centre to withdraw the price hike.

The local unit of the Janata Dal has flayed the price rise of PDS items by the government. This anti-poor step will add to the burden of the common man who is already reeling under the high prices of vegetables and other basic necessities.

Mr V.P. Bharti, working President of the local unit, said the step would only benefit the traders. The price hike of urea was against the interests of the farmers.

The Citizen's Welfare Association of Panchkula said such hike in prices of the PDS items would crush people living below the poverty line and upset their monthly budgets. Mr S.K. Nayar, president, urged the President of India to intervene in order to bring down the escalating prices.

Raid yields Rs 45 lakh in Panchkula
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, Jan 30 — A whopping sum of Rs 45 lakh and certain documents was unearthed from a local family dealing in coal and plastics here today.

The raid was carried out by a team of the Income tax department, Chandigarh, following definite information about the "huge amounts of cash", department sources said tonight.

The raid was conducted in the house of Sood brothers in sectors 7 and 8. Two other brothers, partners in the family owned business, live in Rajpura, where they make plastic goods.

The raids that started simultaneously at Rajpura, Panchkula and Guwahati yesterday are likely to continue till Monday when the department expects to make more recoveries by opening some bank lockers .

While the sum of Rs 45 lakh is believed to be black money, jewellery has been left untouched as it was within the specified limits.

Teachers threaten to stop exam work
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 30 — Members of the Panjab University Teachers' Association gathered at the Vice Chancellor's office today to "express their resentment against the delaying tactics adopted by the government in implementing the revised pay scales of the teachers".

The teachers threatened that they were left with no option but to stop examination work in case the government continued with the "delaying tactics".

Blood donated
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 30 — Three hundred and fifty units of blood were donated at two separate camps organised in the city and Panchkula.

Around 300 units of blood were donated at camp organised by the State Bank of India, medical institution branch and the DAV college. Staff members of the bank and students of the college donated blood.

Lions Club, Panchkula Central, held a camp at Pinjore today during which 45 units of blood were collected.

Ravidass jayanti celebrated
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 30 — A procession on the eve of the birth anniversary of Guru Ravidass was taken out in Manimajra today.

The procession was led by "panj piaras". Hundreds of people took part in the procession which passed through various parts of the town. Kirtan darbars and a religious discourse, besides community kitchens, were also organised at the two Guru Ravidass temples in the town.

The Sri Guru Ravidass Gurdwara Parbandhak Sabha, Sector 30 A, will organise a kirtan darbar tomorrow in which ragi jathas will participate.

Rally on rights of animals
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 30 — A rally to highlight the rights of the animals was organised by the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA ) here today.

Students from a large number of schools and colleges participated in the rally that was flagged off by the local Mayor, Mr Kewal Krishan Addiwal.

The Mayor appealed to members of the public to treat animals with pity.

Loan camp: The department of Social Welfare organised a camp to disburse loans in Dadu Majra. Mayor Addiwal attended the camp.

Meanwhile at a separate function in Sector 41, he listened to grievances from residents.

College opened: The Mayor, Mr Addiwal, inaugurated a college in neighbouring SAS Nagar. He appreciated the role of such institutions.

Suicide bid by PGI patient
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 30 — A Moga-based man undergoing treatment at the PGI, here reportedly tried to commit suicide by hanging himself from a pipe on the fifth floor of the institute.

The man, Gurmail Singh, had been admitted to the male medical ward on the fifth floor. He reportedly climbed out of the window and used his turban to attempt the suicide.

Harassment case: A case of harassment has been registered against a resident of Bapu Dham colony. The Sector 26 police on Saturday registered a case under sections 506 and 509 of the IPC against Rajinder alias Billu for allegedly harassing Babu Ram and his minor daughter.

The police said a few months ago Billu had forcibly entered Babu Ram's house. He tried to repeat the same tactics, the police added.