EDUCATION

AIFUTA dharna on PU campus
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, March 28 —Teachers staged a dharna in front of the office of the Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University here today, protesting against the delay in the release of payment of arrears to teachers of universities in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

The rally was staged by the Panjab University Teachers Association on a call given by the North Zone Council of the AIFUTA. The teachers are protesting against the non-release of the arrears despite release of 80 per cent share by the Union Government. They are also demanding that the retirement age of teachers should be increased from 60 to 62.

The demands of the teachers include enhancement in the number of seats in the senate for elected representatives; CAS or feeder grades as per the UGC guidelines; increments for doctorates; ratifications of errors in pay fixation; ending gender discrimination of medical bills to dependants of women employees; and filling of vacant seats.

Addressing the rally, Prof P.P.Arya, President of the PUTA, welcomed the introduction of the pension scheme by the PU senate. Pension will be available to those retiring after March 31, 1998.The university will provide a guarantee money of Rs 20 crore so that the scheme remains viable.

Sources said the scheme had been introduced during the 80s. The last date for beneficiaries was not mentioned. This made the scheme non-viable. The cut-off date shifted to April 1, 1990. Even this was found unviable.

The proposal scheme this time has the approval of over 60 per cent employees during a random survey.The scheme is compulsory for those who join the services after October 2, 1993.

Dr Harjinder Laltu, Secretary of the PUTA, said the teachers should struggle against the “anti-academic approach” of bureaucrats and politicians.

Third night school opened
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 28 — Third night school has been opened by the Chandigarh Administration at Government Senior Secondary School in Sector 38-west, Dadu Majra Colony. Mr D.S. Saroya, DPI, (schools), inaugurated the school.

Mr Bhramjeet Kalia, District Education Officer, Ms Raj Bagai, Project Officer of the Non-Formal Centre, and Headmaster of the school, Mr Jagdish Kumar, were present on the occasion.

As many as 134 children attended the school on the first day.

Zira college students end protest
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, March 28 — Students of Government College, Zira, ended their agitation at Panjab University here today, following an assurance by the authorities that their college would be made a centre for the forthcoming annual examination.

Jaspal Singh and Manjeet Singh, students of the college, had begun an indefinite fast yesterday, protesting against the cancellation of their college as an examination centre.

Parents of the students had met the higher authorities in this regard. It was said that students would have to travel 150 km for each examination. These included girl students also.

A lack of regular staff on examination duty was said to be one of the reasons why the centre had been cancelled. However, it has been assured that the university staff will be deputed on special duty to ensure the smooth conduct of examinations.

Students met the Registrar of the university, Mr Paramjit Singh, and Dr Sodhi Ram, Controller of Examination, besides Dr Iqbal Nath Choudhary, Secretary to the Vice-Chancellor. It was said that the VC, Prof M.M. Puri, was also approached by the parents of the protesting students.

CULTURE

'Chandigarh shehar di kudi' released
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, March 28 — 'Chandigarh shehar di kudi', a new album of the upcoming singer, Sarabjit Cheema, was released here today.

Talking to reporters here, Sarabjit said he mainly sang the foot-tapping and folk numbers as he was a good bhangra artiste. And that was the reason why he always performed live on the stage as against the current trend of using recorded tracks in the live shows. Sarabjit said he was not in the number race and had maintained the steady pace by releasing one cassette each year. His current cassette was seventh in as many years, including the “Yaar nachde”, “Khatta doria”,” Mela vekhdiye”, “Main han put Punjab da”, “Billo teri tor vekhke” and “Ajj khande chon kaum saajni”.

Answering a question on the “cold war” between the artistes and the audio companies ,he said he had stuck to the SAS Nagar-based Raja Entertainers from the beginning of his career as he did not have any problems with the company. as far as the cassette promotion was concerned.

The Jalandhar-based singer, who also writes many of his songs, claimed that in spite of the cassette being released only a few days back, there was good response to it. The music for the album had been provided by Mohini and Dinesh.

Mr Maninder S Gill, Managing Director of Raja Entertainers, claimed that apart from promoting the established artistes such as Gurdas Mann, Hans Raj Hans, Malkiat Singh and Harbhajan Mann overseas, the company had promoted many a newcomer since its forays into the audio market in 1987. In fact, the company was working with at least 10 new singers at present, he said.

Promotion of the rich Punjabi cultural heritage at the national and the international levels, providing healthy entertainment and giving a platform to the young talent were among the main objectives of the company, he added.