 |
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| Tuesday, February 29, 2000, Chandigarh, India   |
Bibi’s
defiance queers pitch for Badal Memo
against Tandon Punjab
may not achieve small savings target Bogus
agents go scot-free
SAD
to elect party chief on March 3 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Death-row
convict gets life term Patiala
civic body to challan violators of traffic rules RTP
staff union for new panel OPDs
closed as part of strike State-level
‘sangat darshan’
One
waylaid, shot ETO
crushed to death Missing
teenager traced 4
hurt in clash
Accept
demands by Aug 6: college bodies GND
University exams from March 6 Industrial
training placement cell set up ‘Take
a balanced diet, remain healthy’
|
Bibi’s defiance queers
pitch for Badal CHANDIGARH, Feb 28 — The SGPC President, Bibi Jagir Kaur’s open defiance and refusal to accept the validity of the hukamnama issued by the Akal Takht Jathedar has queered the pitch for the Chief Minister and Akali Dal President, Mr Parkash Singh Badal. He is caught in a no-win situation. Mr Badal cannot at the moment ask her to quit the SGPC post and thus show the Akal Takht Jathedar, Giani Puran Singh, that there is no disrespect to his position nor can he manage to oust the Jathedar and thereby placate the SGPC President. Bibi Jagir Kaur not only refused to accept the hukamnama issued by the Jathedar, but today organised a show of strength. There were SGPC members and to boost the big show, there was Giani Bhagwan Singh, Head Granthi of Akal Takht to declare that the hukamnama excommunicating Bibi Jagir Kaur issued from Guna in Madhaya Pradesh was not valid. Bibi Jagir Kaur from the precincts of Golden Temple declared that she would not be cowed by these declarations . No one could excommunicate her from the Sikh faith. Mr Badal who had called the meeting of the Political Affairs Committee on Saturday to discuss the issue with his colleagues, had also met the Jathedar to pacify him. he had given him sword that Bibi Jagir Kaur would soon come out from her “ekantwas” and write to him. He could hear her and pronounce “tankha” thereby ending the matter. The PAC which was not happy with at least three Jathedars, felt that the matter should be resolved as fast as possible. Mr Badal should personally intervene and see that everything ends amicably. After the entire affair had a happy ending, the PAC could consider streamlining the SGPC and the different Takhts. Mr Badal, aware of the defiance of the SGPC President was, however, hoping that she would finally go by the wishes of dominant opinion of the Akali Dal and the SGPC. He had met her more than once and argued with her. He had also sent emissaries to bring her around. In the PAC except for one minister no one supported her. the feeling was that both had been chosen by Mr Badal and they had wittingly or unwittingly landed him in a “major problem”. But that precisely is the price he has to pay for dabbling too much in the religious affairs of the SGPC and mixing religion with politics. For Mr Badal, there had been repeated bolts from the blue. First was the hukamnama and now comes the defiance. Mr Badal has another embarrassment to face. He had met the Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Puran Singh, and prevailed upon him that the matter should be sorted out. At Mr Badal’s insistence, Giani Puran Singh had agreed to allow other four high priests to participate in the meeting and also award a simple tankha. This open defiance and the presence of a good number of SGPC members had obviously upset the Jathedar. Even if Mr Badal decides to get the two out of their offices, he has ticklish issues to face ,who will replace Bibi Jagir Kaur or Giani Puran Singh? When Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra was removed from the presidentship of the SGPC, the choice fell on Bibi Jagir Kaur. Mr Badal thought she was mild and not very ambitious. The same way, it was a very difficult task to have Giani Puran Singh to head the Akal Takht. If the Bibi goes, then the choice may fall upon Mr Balbir Singh Pannu who has his own ambitions. Cooperation Minister, Ranjit Singh Brahmpura already has his eyes on the SGPC and is keen to promote Mr Pannu. And, for Akal Takht, it will be still harder to chose anyone that goes by the wishes of the Akali Dal President and the Chief Minister. But this is possible
once the present mess is cleared. |
Memo against Tandon CHANDIGARH, Feb. 28 — Several associations of industrialists, primarily belonging to Ludhiana and including “respectable” citizens, today submitted a memorandum against the Punjab Minister of Local Government, Mr Balramjit Dass Tandon, demanding an inquiry by the CBI into the “recruitments” made in various municipal corporations, councils and nagar panchayats in the recent past. The memorandum, bearing stamps and signatures, accompanied by newspaper clippings and a letter to the Chief Minister by the BJP MLA, Ms Lakshmi Kanta Chawla, has also alleged that Mr Tandon’s proteges had been nominated on various recruitment committees as non-official members when it came to the selection of officials — technical, administrative and judicial.What intrigues those who have submitted the memorandum are the “qualifications” of such non-official members, whose names and designations in the BJP are also mentioned. The memorandum recalls the time in 1977 when Mr Tandon was Industries Minister and plots were allegedly allotted by him in a “discriminatory” manner. Continuing the allegations, the second point is the manner in which wholesale transfers were done in the Health Department under him in 1997-98. As a consequence of the hue and cry raised then Mr Tandon was divested of the health portfolio. Mr Tandon, on his part, when contacted and informed about the allegations in the memorandum reiterated his as well as the the Chief Minister’s earlier stand that if any one had any complaint the same be submitted to the Lok Pal. Nevertheless, he said, what was contained in the memorandum was already pending in a court of law for judicial scrutiny. The matter being subjudice he would not like to comment. The recruitments, however, he said were done by the department of the directorate where “merit” alone was the consideration.” Many things happen in the directorates for which I can not be blamed or held responsible,” he added. On mass transfers in the Health Department then, Mr Tandon said those pertained, primarily, to class III and IV employees. When it was brought to his notice, the same were stopped. Again it was the directorate responsible for that mess since it had acted at the behest of MLAs and others, he added. The memorandum concludes
by saying that Mr Tandon be removed from the ministership
so that he did not interfere and influence the
investigation by the CBI. |
Punjab may not achieve small
savings target ROPAR, Feb 28 — With the reduction in the rate of interest on various National Saving schemes and commission of the National Savings agents on recurring and time-deposits schemes by the Union Ministry of Finance, it will not be an easy task before Punjab to achieve its target of small savings collection of Rs 2500 crore during the current financial year. According to sources in the Department of Small Savings, Punjab may not achieve this target in this financial year as it had collected Rs 2050 crore through small savings during the previous financial year when the rate of interest on the National Saving schemes was high and maturity period of various time-bound savings certificates was less as compared to the present. However, when TNS today contacted on phone the Directorate rate of small Savings, Punjab, at Chandigarh, an official admitted that due to abolition of Indra Vikas Patra in July 1999, decrease in the rate of interest on various national savings schemes and increase in the maturity period of time-bound savings certificates some difficulty might come in achieving the target of small saving collection of Rs 2500 crore yet he claimed that the target would be achieved by making earnest efforts. Sources also feel any type of shortfall in achieving the target may affect the annual plan budget to some extent s small savings contribute nearly 40 per cent in the annual plan budget in the shape of soft-term loan from the Government of India every year. It may be mentioned here that the State gets 75 per cent of the net collection of small savings deposits, collected in the State. On the one hand, the Union Government has reduced the rate of interest on small savings’ schemes while on the other the Punjab Government has been luring investors with fabulous prizes through lucky coupon schemes for the past several years to maximise its deposits under various national savings schemes. In the present circumstances, it will also be difficult for the big districts in the State to achieve their huge targets of small savings collections as the investors seem to be reluctant to get their savings deposited in the small savings schemes following reduction in the rate of interest. This trend among the investors has also been confirmed by the government authorised small savings agents. According to an agent, the small investors in rural areas who generally prefer to deposit the money in the village post office has now started taking great risk by depositing their hard-earned money with the private money lenders and such institutions in place of post offices as the private money lenders and institutions offer them higher rate of interest as compared to the post offices. Talking to TNS here, Mr Suresh Kumar Bhalla, General Secretary of Ropar National Savings Agents Welfare Association, said the mostly government employees who prefer to deposit their retirement financial benefits in the monthly income scheme (MIS) of national savings to earn monthly interest for domestic purposes had also suffered badly as their family monthly budget had been disturbed due to fall in the rate of interest in the MIS from 12 per cent to 11 per cent. Mr Bhalla also said that decrease in the rate of interest in Public Provident Fund (PPF), National Savings Certificate (NSC) and National Savings Scheme (NSS)-1992 in which employees generally invest to get rebate in income tax would also discourage the employees from depositing their savings in these schemes. He was of the view that employees would prefer depositing their savings in the General Provident Fund (GPF), Employees provident Fund( EPF) or tax savings bonds. Mr Bhalla also confirmed
that with the decrease in their rate of interest and
increase in the maturity period of various time savings
certificates like Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) and National
Savings Certificate (NSC) and other national savings
schemes, the deposits in these schemes had also started
decreasing as compared to the previous financial year. |
Bogus agents go scot-free JALANDHAR, Feb 28 — Faced with harsh ground realities like shrinking land holdings and lack of employment avenues, more and more people in this part of the Doaba region are falling prey to bogus travel agents, who make a fast buck by defrauding them of their hard-earned money by promising them greener pastures abroad. A large number of bogus travel agents or travel consultants, often working as sub-agents for a few Delhi-based big travel agents, lure youngsters and fleece them of lakhs in the name of sending them abroad. Usually, an amount ranging between Rs 1 lakh to Rs 8.5 lakh each is collected by youths wanting to go abroad. Their parents often arrange selling of their land or taking loans from their near and dear ones. But their dreams are shattered when after having spent months on preparing for interviews for visas and making countless rounds of Delhi, they realise that they have been cheated. Divulging the reasons behind the sharp rise in the incidence of this form of crime, a senior police officer pointed out that on the one hand, there was an urge among jobless youth to make a fast buck in dollar rich countries, on the other hand, the victims of bogus travel agents were afraid to come forward and lodge a complaint against the offenders for want of sufficient proof. “Sometimes, the victims do not get an FIR registered for a year as they keep trying to settle the matter with the help of relatives or mediators,” he said. “What encourages such elements is low conviction rate owing to lack of proof. Normally, the victims do not have any documentary proof which can establish that they had indeed paid the amount to a travel agent,” said Mr Amrik Singh, Incharge of the local Economic Offences Wing (EOW). Talking about the modus operandi of such travel agents, he said after taking the amount from the victims, they kept accompanying them to Delhi for some time. “After two to three such trips they assure them that their visas are ready. Then they hand over a photo-copy of the said “visa” to them, on the basis of which the victims are unable to go abroad. In such cases we are generally unable to do anything as a photo copy is not considered ample proof to establish the crime,” he said adding that such incidents were on the rise in the entire Doaba region. About the hurdles being faced by the EOW to bring the guilty to book, Mr Amrik Singh said, “As many as 99 per cent people do not want to involve themselves in litigation and want that we should get their money back through by hook or crook, , without adopting the due legal course.” According to the data available with the EOW, in 1999, as many as six cases were registered against travel agents for defrauding Rs 27, 80,000 from people desirous of going to countries like the USA and Canada. Six travel agents were booked in January and February this year. The total amount involved in such frauds during the current year was Rs 31,75,000, which is more than the amount defrauded by such elements during 1999, the EOW sources said. Sources in the travel
trade said the exposure of such frauds had not deterred
the bogus travel agent. Rather, they have enhanced the
rates charged. “Anyone who has to “go” to
the USA or Canada through such people has to shell out an
amount ranging between Rs 6.5 lakh and Rs 8.5 lakh, while
anyone intending to land in the Gulf countries has to pay
anything between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh,” said a
travel agent. |
SAD to elect party chief on March
3 CHANDIGARH, Feb 28 — A delegate session of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for electing its office-bearers, including the President, will be held on March 3, according to Mr Gurdev Singh Badal, Chief Electoral Officer of the SAD. In a statement, Mr Gurdev Singh Badal today said the session would be held in Teja Singh Samundri Hall, Amritsar. Delegates had been informed in this connection. Already, the process of organisational election at the district level had been completed. Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, is likely to be elected again. There is none in the party to challenge him at this stage. Already, his strong rivals, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra and others have formed a separate party, the Sarab Hind Shiromani Akali Dal. In fact, the election
was to be held in August last year. However, the Lok
Sabha elections and later Nawanshahr byelections came in
the way and the SAD had taken permission from the Chief
Election Commissioner to hold the election after the
Nawanshahr byelection. |
Death-row convict gets life term CHANDIGARH, Feb 28 — Gurmej Singh of Munuke village in Faridkot district was saved from the hangman's noose, when his death sentence awarded by the Sessions Judge, Faridkot, in a triple murder case was commuted to life imprisonment by a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, comprising Mr Justice J. L. Gupta and Mr Justice M.S. Gill. On November 1,1993, when the deceased Jagjit Singh, his daughter Charanjit Kaur and Swaranjit Singh, his daughter's son, and others were sleeping, they were attacked with a kirpan by the accused who continued to attack. As a result the three succumbed to their injuries on the spot. Two other women received serious injuries. As per the prosecution version, the motive for the commission of offence was that there was a money transaction between Gurmej Singh and Jagjit Singh, who were brothers. The accused had lived in Dubai and had been sending money to his brother. On return he demanded his money back and the deceased was saying that he had spent the money on the house. This infuriated the accused , who lost patience and committed the crime. Counsel for the
appellant had assailed the prosecution case on the ground
that there were 56 injuries on the three deceased and
these could not have been caused by one man. The Judges,
however, said the injuries were on the head, face, neck
and hands which showed that the attack was ferocious and
the victims when hit on the head were immobilised. |
Patiala civic body to challan
violators of traffic rules PATIALA, Feb 28 — The city Municipal Corporation will start challaning persons violating the one-way traffic regulations introduced in the walled city from the first week of March. The regulations are being run on a trial basis since last month to gauge the response of the public. At a recent meeting with the district administration and the police, the corporation decided that as enough time had been given to the public and shopkeepers for becoming conversant with the rules, the challaning process should be started to maintain discipline on the roads. Mr K.S. Kung, Municipal Corporation Commissioner, told The Tribune that the old walled city, especially the Dharampura Bazaar, Anardana Chowk, Adalat Bazaar and Quila Chowk areas, were the worst hit by the problem of over-crowding. The corporation has installed notices at all entry points to these markets in order to inform the public about the rules. Mr Kung said the movement of only four-wheelers will have restrictions. Special routes for them have already been advertised. The regulations have been enforced due to the increasing pressure of traffic on these bazaars. Incidentally, the markets are not as narrow as they seem. Due to encroachment by the shopkeepers, haphazard parking and presence of rehris, the road width appears less during day time, leading to traffic bottlenecks at various places. The corporation has also planned to regulate parking. A proposal has been made to park two-wheelers on one side of the bazaar on three days of the week and on the other side in the second half of the week. The proposal was subject to acceptance by the shopkeepers. A major hindrance to the acceptance of the one-way traffic regulations is the failure of the corporation to provide parking areas for the four-wheelers. The MC has several times announced schemes of constructing parking places or utilising vacant space for the purpose, but they were not implemented in letter and spirit. For instance, the construction of a parking space behind Kali Devi Temple to facilitate parking of vehicles using the Dharampura Bazaar route is yet to come up, though the work had started several months back. The residents of the city had not accepted the one-way traffic regulations run on trial last month. The major complaint was that the public had to cover a lot of distance in order to reach their destination. The shopkeepers had also
opposed the regulations. They had criticised the move as
it affected their business. |
Privatisation move opposed PATIALA, Feb 28 — The Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal has strongly opposed the proposed move of part privatisation of the Punjab State Electricity Board. In a press statement issued here today, Mr Prem Singh Chandumajra, General Secretary, said such a move would have an adverse affect on the employees, farmers and industrial sector of the state. He feared that with participation of the private sector the price of power supply will also increase and would put more burden on the masses, who are already reeling under high price rise and taxes. Mr Chandumajra said instead of playing into the hands of private companies, the state government should give attention to the projects of increasing transmission. He said projects like
Thein Dam were getting delayed for want of political will
to complete them. |
RTP staff union for new
panel ROPAR, Feb 28 — The Ropar Thermal Project Contractor Worker Union today demanded the disbanding of a three-member committee constituted by the Chief Engineer of the Ropar Thermal Plant (RTP) and formation of a new committee comprising senior officers from the PSEB headquarter to put forward the version of the PSEB before the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner (RPFC) at Chandigarh in connection with a fraud of Rs1 crore allegedly by two contractors in the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) of the workers engaged through contractors at the plant. Demanding this from the Chairman of the PSEB, Mr Raj Kumar Tiwari, president of the union, said the local RTP authorities had so far failed in protecting the interests of the workers as well as of the board in the case of EPF deposits and alleged that such a fraud could not be possible without the knowledge of the local authorities who were dealing with the matter for the past several years. Mr Tiwari also demanded that besides formation of a new committee to look into the EPF fraud case, this case should be handed over to the IGP (Vigilance) of the PSEB to expedite the criminal proceedings against the ‘erring’ persons as the local authorities had not acted swiftly even to lodge the FIR so far in this fraud case. Mr Tiwari further stated
that he had recently brought in to the notice of the
Chief Engineer of the plant that three other companies,
working at the plant, had also not been depositing full
amounts of the EPF into the accounts of the workers. He
said he had told the Chief Engineer that if timely action
was not taken in the case of these companies at this
stage, the possibility of another fraud into the EPF
could not be ruled out at a later stage, for which the
PSEB might have to face further loss of crores of rupees. |
Listing of houses from May 3 ROPAR, Feb 28 — As part of the Census-2001 programme house listing operation will be held in Punjab from May 3 to May 24 this year. This was stated by Mr Inderjit Singh, Director, Census, Punjab while addressing a meeting of the officers related to the Census work, here today. The director said 48,000 supervisors and enumerators would collect basic information in this phase from 38 lakh families in the State. He said door-to-door census work would be held from February 28, 2001. He said in the second phase the census work would be done form March 1 to March 5, 2001. He further said training of the staff to be involved in the census work would be imparted by March 31 next while training of the second phase would be give in April. The director said the
deputy commissioners had been given the powers of
principal census officers in the districts to ensure the
completion of census work in the stipulated period. The
executive officers of the Municipal Councils in urban
areas and tehsildars in rural areas had been made Census
officers. |
OPDs closed as part of strike PATIALA, Feb 28 — The OPDs at Government Rajindra Hospital and Dental College here were closed today as part of the ongoing strike of medical teachers who were demanding arrears of new pay-scales. Medical and dental teachers here, who are on strike since February 10, demanding arrears of the revised pay-scales also, staged a rally in front of the office of the Principal of Government Medical College here. Dr Ravinder Singh, Secretary of the Punjab State Medical and Dental Teachers Association said as the government had not budged from its “stubborn” attitude vis-a-vis the teachers’ demand, the association had decided to close the OPD work again. He said the association had earlier closed the OPD work on February 18 and 19 for two days only, keeping in mind inconvenience to the public, but, as no effort had been made by the government to diffuse the crisis, it had been forced to repeat the act for two days more. The one-hour rally was
well attended. Various leaders addressing the rally
condemned the adamant stance of the government on the
issue of releasing the arrears. The speakers said it was
the right of the teachers to demand arrears or new pay
scales in lieu of the service done by them. |
State-level ‘sangat
darshan’ CHANDIGARH, Feb 28 — The Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, has decided to organise and participate in a state-level “sangat darshan” programme at Nawanshahr on March 1 at 12 noon in the Deputy Commissioner office grounds. All ministers will
participate, says a press note. |
One waylaid, shot HOSHIARPUR, Feb 28 (UNI) — A motorcyclist was gunned down and his licensed revolver taken away by two unidentified youth near Raghwal village of the district last night, the police said. Bhagat Singh was returning home to his village he was waylaid and shot. His .32-bore revolver was taken away the killers but his two-wheeler was found abandoned near his blood-soaked body by his relative Dhian Singh on whose complaint a case of murder was registered. Another body, that of Amar Kaur, 65, was found with multiple cut wounds at her home in Purhira village on the outskirts of this town by his neighbour Jagjit Singh this morning. The neighbour said when he found Amar Kaur murdered in her house where she resided alone. The house was ransacked. Model town police today
registered a case of murder during robbery on a statement
of Jagjit Singh. |
ETO crushed to death FATEHGARH SAHIB, Feb 28 — Mr S.S. Brar, ETO Fatehgarh Sahib was crushed to death by a vehicle yesterday on the G.T. Road, Sirhind, while checking vehicles along with other officials of the department. According to Mr Jaspal Ram, ETO, he along with the deceased and other staff members had erected a naka at the road to detect the evasion of sales tax. At about 4.30 a.m. a canter coming from the Rajpura side was signalled to stop. Instead of stopping the vehicle, the driver hit the deceased standing on the road and fled away. He said due to fog the number of the vehicle could not be read. The deceased was taken to the local Civil Hospital where he was declared dead. Mr Paramraj Singh Umranangal, SSP, said the message had been flashed all over the state and police parties had been sent to nab the vehicle. He said the police has registered a case under Section 279, 304-A, IPC. Mr V.K. Janjua, Deputy
Commissioner and the excise and taxation staff, expressed
grief over the death of Mr Brar. |
Missing teenager traced BATALA, Feb 28 — The local police has succeeded in tracing 15-year-old Jaggi Singh, son of Mr Nirmal Singh of Bal village, who was missing since February 8. On February 20, Mrs Rattan Kaur, mother of the boy, had lodged a complaint with the Batala police station in this regard. As per the version of Mrs Rattan Kaur, her son used to work as daily wage earner with Mr Nirbhai Singh who operated a dairy from his home. She had complained that her son had gone to work on the morning of February 8 but did not return back in the evening. She had alleged that the dairy owner and three other persons had kidnapped her son. Accordingly, an FIR under Sections 364 and 34, IPC, was lodged in this connection. Jagjit Singh surrendered
before the police on February 24 and admitted that he,
along with Hardip Singh of the same village, had
conspired to steal bags of cattlefeed from Mr Nirbhai
Singh’s house. But while committing the act he
thought that he had been recognised by the dairy owner.
Fearing punishment, he fled to Amritsar where he worked
as a labourer. |
4 hurt in clash LUDHIANA, Feb 28 — Four persons were injured, three of them seriously, in front of L.M. Civil Hospital here this morning. According to information available, four men — Parminder Singh, Sukhminder Singh, Kulwinder Singh and Varinder Singh — were attacked by another group of men with kirpans, when they came out of the civil hospital. The attackers were in two Sumos, one without a number plate and the other bearing number (PB-08 B-0029). The four had come for tooth extraction. They were later admitted in the hospital. Parminder Singh alleged
that they had informed the police about one Anil Sharma,
who was involved in a fake currency racket. |
Accept demands by Aug 6: college
bodies AMRTISAR, Feb 28 — The joint action committee of the managements federation, principals federation and teaching and non-teaching unions of Punjab and Chandigarh today served a notice on the Punjab Government to accept their demands by August 6. It has warned that the action committee would be forced to intensify its agitation and responsibility of the loss of students studies and the chaos in colleges would rest with the government. A large number of teaching and non-teaching staff of these educational institutions in the Amritsar region held a protest rally and organised a dharna on the Guru Nanak Dev University campus and submitted a memorandum to the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, through the Vice-Chancellor requesting him and the Punjab Higher Education Minister, Master Mohan Lal, to intervene and save the colleges from virtual closure. The action committee
sought implementation of the promises in the election
manifesto that all colleges and posts would be brought
under the 95 per cent grant-in-aid scheme and pension and
gratuity schemes. |
GND University exams from
March 6 AMRITSAR, Feb 28 — Dr R.S. Bawa Registrar Guru Nanak Dev University informed here today that the practical examinations for BA/B.Sc. (part I, II, and III) would commence from March 6. He stated that roll
numbers and date-sheets to all the candidates have been
sent. Any candidate who does not receive the roll number
by March 1 should contact Deputy Registrar (examinations)
along with two passport size photographs. |
Industrial training placement cell
set up CHANDIGARH Feb 28 — The Department of Technical Education and Industrial Training, Punjab, has set up a placement cell at its Sector-36 office here. Headed by a placement officer, the cell is maintaining a liaison between the passed-out trainees and the industry. Set up under the guidance of the Director, Technical Education and Industrial Training, Punjab, Mr N.S.Kalsi, the cell was organising camps and interviews at 10 Industrial Training Institutes (ITI’s) in Punjab. Industrialists were being invited to the camps to recruit persons of their choice. A spokesman of the
department said tie-ups with companies abroad to export
manpower was also being planned. Recently the placement
cell had been computerised. |
‘Take a balanced diet, remain
healthy’ PATIALA, Feb 28 — The need to have a good health and take a balanced diet was stressed today at a function organised by the Government. Girls High School, Anardana Chowk, in collaboration with the Rotary Club to mark the celebrations of National Science Day here. An exhibition of foods along with detailed information about their benefits was also organised. Retired dietician M.J.S. Thukral explained the balanced diet required to keep one healthy and active. The students of the school also displayed colourful charts about a healthy diet. Mr K.S. Kung, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, who was the chief guest said though science had provided many advantages, on the other side it had affected the food habits of the masses. He said due to less knowledge of the food value, modern youth could not compare its strength to the youth of his times. Mr Kung said with the progress of science so many insecticides are sprayed on vegetables, that they have become slow poison. Moreover, the popularity of junk food has also damaged the diet habits of the masses. Mr Kung urged the children to acquire proper information about the affects on health from the food they take and also to educate others. On the occasion Mrs
Suman Sood, Principal of the school, announced special
awards for two teachers who had sacrificed their annual
casual leaves so that education of the students did not
suffer. Mr Kung gave awards to Mrs Virenderjit Kaur and
Mrs Anita. |
Genetic disorders discussed PATIALA, Feb 28 — On the occasion of Science Day today, the Directorate of Punjabi Development, Punjabi University, in collaboration with the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology organised a lecture on genetic disorders by Dr Jai Roop Singh, Professor of Human Genetics, at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. In his lecture, Dr Jai Roop Singh said there were about 6000 genetically-linked diseases and over 13 lakh children in India were annually afflicted by genetic disorders. He discussed matters like genetics and cancer, inherited infertility, single-gene disorders, miscarriage due to chromosomal anomalies. He also discussed gene therapy and research being done at global level in this field. Dr Singh said though 100 per cent success in gene therapy was not possible, it is now possible to predict genetic disorders. He pointed out that there was big potential for the misuse of genetic information by insurance companies, employment agencies, educational institutions and financial organisations. He said the possibility of misuse was always there, the need was to minimise it. In his presidential remarks, Dr Madan Lal Hasija, Director, Languages Department, Punjab, said there was urgent need of bringing scientific knowledge within the reach of the common man in the everyday language. Earlier, Prof Kulwant
Singh Grewal introduced the subject. Dr P.K.
Chattopadhyay from the Department of Forensic Science
supplemented the lecture. Dr K.S. Dhir, Dean, Academic
Affairs, presented a vote of thanks and Dr Dhanwant Kaur
conducted the stage. |
 |
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