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| Sunday, February 20, 2000, Chandigarh, India |
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Fest offers books,
multi-media kits CHANDIGARH, Feb 19 — A two-day book fest, organised by the Regional Institute of English (RIE), Sector 32, was inaugurated this morning. The festival not only had books, multi-media kits and other study material on display for both students and educators, but also various competitions for the children. The book fest was inaugurated by Mr K. A. P Sinha, Director Public Instructions (DPI) Colleges, who stressed that English had come to occupy an important place in India as a link language for inter-state communication. Mrs Brinder Aulakh Anand, Director of the RIE, said the fest had been organised to celebrate the month as the month of books. She also stressed on the relevance of English for special purpose courses for doctors, managers, telephone operators and even waiters, which the institute is planning to introduce shortly. Another highlight was a talk on 'The Love of Books and Reading Habits' by Dr Balan, Regional Director, Oxford University Press, New Delhi. He emphasised how reading a book was an act of interaction between the mind of the reader and the mind of the author and how a successful interaction required cultivation of the power of imagination. Books on diverse subjects were put up in four rooms of the institute. Also on display were educational tools, including pre-programmed fancy looking computers for school children. The following are the results of the various competitions held today: Fancy dress contest (3 to 7 years): Shaurya Vasista and Nayan Malik (1); Vaishali and Anshul Saini (2); Sandeep Kumar and Priyans Soni (3); Kushagra Vashist and Shekhar Sameer (Special Prize) Painting contest (8 to 13 years): Shubhojeet Roy, St Xavier's Senior Secondary School and Harshit Bal, St Anne's Convent School (1); Ashish Kashyap, Amar Jain Public School and Vijaya, GMH-28 (2); Jaideep Kaur, Manav Mangal High School and Gurjeet Singh, Mount Carmel (3); Harsimran Berry, Golden Bells and Vipender Negi, GMH-28 (Special Prize). Poster Making (14-17 years): Sonika (1); Kanika Behl and Kanu Priya (2); Deepak Uniyal and Sadhvi Bansal (3) Written Quiz (18 years
and above): Amandeep Shukla (1); Kunal Sharma (2);
Anubhav Kumar (3). |
Geopolitics
seminar from today CHANDIGARH, Feb 19 — The Centre for the Study of Geopolitics, Panjab University, will host the fourth international conference on Rethinking Boundaries: Geopolitics, Identities and Sustainability, here at ICSSR Complex, from February 20 to 26. The conference will be organised in collaboration with the Institute of the Regional Studies of California, San Diego State University, and some other foreign universities. Many critical issues surrounding international border regions will be addressed in the conference. More than 60 academicians and experts will participate in the conference, 40 of whom will be from foreign countries, including Finland, Germany, the UK, Russia and the USA. A former Prime Minister
of India, Mr I.K. Gujral will inaugurate the conference
on Sunday. The keynote address will be given by Prof
David Newman of Ben Gurion University in Israel, while
Prof M.M Puri, Vice-Chancellor of PU, will preside over
the function. |
School
holds annual function CHANDIGARH, Feb 19 — Stepping Stones Secondary School, Sector 38, celebrated its annual function here today. The programme was divided into junior, primary and secondary wings. The chief guests were Mr Jeevan Kapoor, a former professor of the PEC, Mr Maninder Singh, a Deputy Secretary with the Government of India, and Dr Chetna Vaishanavi from the PGI, respectively. The main attractions were dance by junior wing, gymnastics, skating and karate by primary wing and aerobics, orchestra and bhangra by secondary wing. Stalls having eatables, games, toys and books were put up. Most of these were managed by students. The function started at
10.30 am and concluded at 5.30 pm with Principal's
address. The objective of the institution was to prepare
students for competition, she said. The school would be
one of the region's best schools and it would not be
found lacking in facing challenges of the new millennium,
she added. |
Stone of
new school laid CHANDIGARH, Feb 19 — The foundation stone of a new public school, named after Mata Sahib Kaur, was laid yesterday at Sawara village, near Kharar, by Panj Piaras. The school, to be affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education, has been set up by the management of the Sector 34 Gurdwara Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib Management Committee. Sant Ajit Singh of
Hansaliwale also visited the site. |
Water
problem in six villages MULLANPUR GARIBDASS, Feb 19 — Low water pressure in more than half a dozen villages has irked the residents as their complaints have remained unheard by the authorities. The water pump in the village serves more than half a dozen villages. Over a period of time, the increase in population has resulted in greater use of water. The villagers complain that though water is supplied for about three hours in the morning and in the evening, yet the pressure has been declining. The villagers have demanded new pipelines in the area. They also complain that the present state makes it impossible for them to get water connections. Meanwhile, sources in the Rural Water Supply (RWS) said that a proposal in this regard, sent to the Deputy Commissioner of Ropar in February last year, had been rejected. The Rs 45-lakh project entailed construction of a reservoir, besides laying of pipes. The project could not be implemented for want of fund. Stressing the need for laying new pipelines, the sources said, that the existing pipes did not have the capacity to meet the increased demand. The sources advocated
the need for a reservoir for better distribution of
water. This would also solve the problem of low water
pressure. |
Region
lagging in literacy: Gujral CHANDIGARH, Feb 19 — Mr Inder Kumar Gujral, former Prime Minister, said the region was lagging in literacy, at “Yugantar 2000”, a meeting of Rotary clubs, here this evening. He said if the present trend continued, the region would become backward like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Mr Gujral said while he was the Prime Minister, he had asked the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, to give more importance to the literacy programme. He laid stress upon the need to educated the nation, especially the women. A good example was the case of Kerala, where good literacy rate among women had led to a check in population. The population growth in Kerala was 1.2 per cent as against the national average of 2.1. It was almost equal to that in the UK, Mr Gujral observed. The education drive should be launched with the help of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Mr Gujral said, citing the example of two districts in Haryana where the literacy drive run by an NGO was doing much better than that run by the government. Speaking on modernisation of the country in the past few decades, he said today India has launched a satellite that has been built in India by Indians. He recollected the time
when he had joined the Rotary Club in Karachi in 1944.
The growth of the Indian middle class is synonymous with
the growth of the Rotary movement in India. |
One convicted of
possessing liquor CHANDIGARH, Feb 19 — Convicting a city resident of possessing liquor, the UT Judicial Magistrate (First Class), Mr K. K. Goel, today directed him to be released on probation. The accused, Jeet Lal,
was earlier booked by the Chandigarh police under
Sections 61, 1 and 14 of the Excise Act. According to the
prosecution, the accused was carrying 40 pouches of
liquor on September 3, 1999 |
Mann regales audience CHANDIGARH, Jan 19 — Singer Harbhajan Mann was in the city today to perform on the occasion of the annual function of the district conference of Rotary International 3080 at Law Auditorium, Panjab University. The programme started much behind schedule. Mann started with his much-heard numbers. A long queue kept trying to get inside the auditorium to have a look at the singer. His numbers like Husan Jawani, Lalli and Galan Goriyan made the audience excited. Soft melodies like Loriyan were also appreciated by the audience. The show was meant for Rotarians but he promised his fans in the city that he would present a solo show on the Panjab University campus a month from today. This was Mann's second performance here. The first time he sang here was at Lohri Dhamaka at Parade Ground, Sector 17. Mann will also be seen
in forthcoming Hindi films like T-Series' Papa The Great
and Raj Kanwar's Farz. |
Jugalbandi atop a truck CHANDIGARH, Feb 19 — Famous French composer-pianist Marc Vella today performed a unique jugalbandi with sculptor Shiv Singh on city roads atop a truck. Vella, who is known for his musical fusions of classical with contemporary, said this arrangement was only "to produce a smile on the face of audience". And this sure did produce more than smiles on the faces of all those who had gathered to see and listen to all that was going on atop the truck. Curious onlookers gathered around to have a look and try and gauge as to what was happening. On his first visit to Le Corbusier's city and also the country, he said, "I love the country and the sounds and music that it has. And that is what I am trying to explore here". Interestingly, this is
not the first time that such a jugalbandi has happened in
the city. In 1990, about 10 city artists had got together
to paint along with the vocal recital of Bhimsen Sharma
at DAV College. |
Human
figures in many poses CHANDIGARH, Feb 19 — An exhibition of paintings, 'The Quest', of Swaranjit Savi opened on Friday at IndusInd Art Gallery, Sector 8. Savi's 25 works saturate the small gallery space, generating a feeling of congestion. Human figures in various
poses and postures are presented in stark colours of red,
yellow, blue and purple. Swaranjit Savi is a commercial
designer by profession. |
Blind
troupe comes to light SAS NAGAR, Feb 19 — It looked like any other performance of classical dances till the hosts of the show introduced the artistes to the audience. The artistes, who were members of Natyanjali, a centre in Bangalore for learning classical dances, were visually handicapped. Surprised! However, their performances left an impression of their indomitable courage on the minds of the audience. These artistes were performing at the annual function of the district conference of the Rotary International District 3080 at Law Auditorium of Panjab University in Chandigarh. Earlier in the day, the artistes visited Guru Krishan Singh Charitable Eye Hospital at Sohana near here. Mr Ashok Kumar Anantrajaiah, Director of Natyanjali, narrated how he took up the challenge of training blind youngsters in classical dance 14 years ago. " It all began when I visited an institute for the blind at Bangalore in 1986 and a blind person expressed his wish to learn bharatnatyam. For a moment I was taken aback, but, I took up the challenge," he said. He said though the classical dance was basically a visual art, devising a technique to teach these boys was a daunting task. "By understanding my body movement through touching, the boys mastered these. They have so far given more than 500 performances in the country and abroad," said Anantrajaiah. He found the boys to be more dedicated than normal persons. Every hand gesture and every footstep had to be mastered. The troupe was making efforts to get itself registered with the Guinness Book of Records for being the only group of visually handicapped persons performing classical dances. Asked about how they performed as a group on stage despite their disability, Busegowda, one of the artistes, said they measured the stage on which they had to perform and coordinated their footsteps accordingly. They were unhappy with the government for not providing them financial help. "Our only earning is what we get from stage performances," said another artiste, Ramadu. The troupe had been invited to perform in Britain next year on the occasion of the millennium celebrations of the British Arts Council. The artistes, apart from performing classical dances like bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi, also know bhangra and dandia. Meanwhile, the eye
hospital authorities honoured the artistes with mementoes
and declared them visiting ambassadors of the hospital. |
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