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| Wednesday, June 7, 2000, Chandigarh, India |
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Substandard milk being sold in imitation packs LUDHIANA, The health authorities are seemingly unaware of the development or have turned a blind eye to the problem. As a matter of fact, Mr Sohan Pal Gupta, Managing Director of Milkfed’s Ludhiana Milk Plant, which manufactures Verka brand of milk and milk products, has already lodged an FIR with the police in this regard. A case under 51-B of the Copyrights Act and 420, IPC (cheating) has been registered against the culprits. But the police too seems to be taking its own time in proceeding against the culprits. The trick perfected by the imitators is to adopt brand names which sound and spell as close to “Verka” as possible. The milk is packed in polypacks which have similar blue and red colour scheme and logos and carry markings which closely resemble the original. The ISO marking carried on the original Verka packs has also been distorted in such a fashion as to convey a false and misleading impression of being the original. While the original Verka milk has a fat content of 4.5% and is sold at the rate of Rs 14 per litre, the imitation brands have a fat content of 3% only. However, these also carry the price tag of Rs 14 per litre. The FIR has identified some of the imitation brands as follows: “Verva”, “Volka”, “Verta”, “Viveka”, “Vatika”, and “Vehka”. The companies manufacturing imitation milk are based in and around Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Nawanshahr and Chandigarh. The FIR points out that Verka milk, which is in the cooperative sector, has been in the market for the past about 20 to 25 years. It supplies about 1.60 lakh litres of milk per day in Ludhiana. Another 80,000 litres of milk is supplied to Mother Dairy and the Delhi Milk Scheme. “Recently certain brands of private sectors have adopted the colour scheme and style with a fat content of 3 per cent in packets, which resemble the packs of Verka milk which has a fat content of 4.5 per cent. They have knowingly adopted this method to get the benefit milk with the less fat contents. The sole intention of the manufacturers of this milk is to confuse and cheat the public by adopting a printing and colour scheme similar to Verka milk”. Milkfed has started a campaign to educate the public about the hazards of consuming substandard milk. Warnings have also been issued to the public to be careful while purchasing milk. Milkfed’s milk plant at Ludhiana has a total of 736 milk cooperative societies with a total membership of 68,000 milk producers. A total of 6.50 lakh litres of milk is sold every day in Ludhiana. The Verka’s market share is 33 per cent. Of the remaining, as much as 70 per cent is claimed by unorganised milk vendors, while the remaining 25 per cent has been claimed by imitation milk vendors, who sell about 20-22,000 litres of milk every day, according to Mr Gupta. Ludhiana offers a vast market for imitation milk because of its large migratory population, including labour from Bihar and eastern UP, which is not very discriminating as regards the quality of the products. The manufacturers of imitation milk have adopted ingenious schemes to promote their sales and offer up to Rs 2 per litre as commission to shopkeepers selling it. He has also supplied to the police a list of outlets where duplicate milk is being sold. Some of the main outlets mentioned in the list are as follows: Middha Kiryana Store, Shivpuri, Ludhiana. Kapoor Kiryana Store, Mandir Wali Gali, Ludhiana. Makkar Kiryana Store, Shivpuri, Ludhiana. Tilak Dhari, Shivpuri, Ludhiana. D.P. Jain, Vishnupuri, Ludhiana. Des Raj, Mohalla Karabara, Ludhiana. Sunil Tea Stall, Karabara Road, Ludhiana, Daljit Singh, Sewak Nagar, Ludhiana and Roshan Lal, Industrial area, Ludhiana. Mr Gupta says that he has contacted a Delhi-based firm of lawyers to file a suit against the manufacturers of imitation milk in Ludhiana. |
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PAU lays stress on planning and LUDHIANA, In this crop season alone, the PBW-343 variety of wheat developed by the scientists of the university and released in 1994, now covers more than 80 per cent area under wheat cultivation. Similarly, the newly developed variety of paddy, PR-116, released earlier this year has gone very well with farmers of the state as also PR-114 and PR-115 released last year. Other than this, improvement in various crops like barley, maize, pearl millet, pulses, soybean, sugarcane, oilseeds, forage crops etc has yielded excellent results.The university scientists have also made vast strides in plant biotechnology, crop production, vegetable production, pest and disease management, weed management, food technology and weather forecasting and yield modeling. Even in the fields of bee-keeping, livestock improvement and animal health, farm machinery and dissemination and popularisation of improved agro technologies the university has come a long way. But it is not merely in the field of agricultural research that PAU has made a mark. The innovations made in the fields of teaching and training by the university have been well recognised, too. The highly competitive programmes offered by the university aim at producing well-trained graduates and postgraduates in agriculture, agricultural engineering, veterinary sciences, home science, with a broad base knowledge to meet the emerging challenges in agriculture and allied fields. Interestingly, it is also for the first time in the country that courses on plant clinic in B.Sc. Agriculture (Hons) was introduced. Other innovations in training include courses on artificial insemination for self-employment, training in hybrid seed production, distance education courses for young farmers/ farm women in agriculture and specialised training courses in subsidiary occupations such as bee-keeping, poultry farming, tractor repair and maintenance, fish farming, fruit cultivation, vegetable growing, farm forestry and rabbit rearing etc. However, with a severe financial crunch now hitting this premiere research institute responsible for making Punjab the granary of India, the university authorities are finding it increasingly difficult to fund its research projects. Says Dr M.S.Bajwa, Director of Research, PAU,”In order to ensure a steady pace of research, we are now focusing on planning, reviewing and reprioritising of our research projects. As part of this, the university has decided to initiate only those research projects that are valid and up to the requirement of the state.” He says we have identified thrust areas keeping in view the
present requirements and future needs and based on a specific time-frame. In order to stop repetitive research, we are reviewing experiments in each department and initiating the process of exchange of inter-departmental and inter-disciplinary information. In addition to this, work on crops and crop-based systems would be reviewed in order to assess the work accomplished and identify what needs to be done,” says Dr Bajwa. He also informs that the university scientists will now be asked to begin research experiments only after they have received money from the funding agency. It may be noted here that the funding agencies of PAU are the state government, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, APEDA, the National Horticultural Development Board, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the UNDP etc. In addition to this the university has decided to mobilise its own resources to bring down the deficit. More money will now be generated by increasing the number of NRI-sponsored seats in various departments and hiking the tuition fees. More money will be generated by increasing the yield of non-experimental area and the various seed farms in the university sub-stations. It may also be noted that the state government had been sent a proposal that a sum of Re 1 per quintal of any variety of a crop developed by the university and sold to the farmers by the state government be given to varsity to fund its research. It was also proposed that the farmers of the state benefiting from the increase in the yield of any crop return a sum of Re 1 per quintal of the increase in yield. However, both these proposals are still under the considerations of the state
government.
(Concluded) |
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Woman hurt following assault by servant LUDHIANA, June 6 — A woman sustained serious injuries during an assault by a domestic servant, allegedly in an attempt to rob the house, here last evening. The woman, Meenu Gupta, has been admitted to the Arora Neurosurgery Centre, while the servant was nabbed by the passersby outside the house. The incident took place around 5 p.m. in Fateh Singh Nagar near Dugri Road, when Meenu Gupta was alone with her four-year-old daughter, and her servant, Raju Bahadur, alias Tara Bahadur. According to the information available from police sources, Raju,a Nepali youth, had been employed in the Gupta household only three months ago. It is learnt that the accused Raju, along with another person from his native village, Anand, had been lying in wait of an opportunity to rob the house. Yesterday, after a person from her husband Sunil Gupta’s factory came home to collect the lunch and the victim, Meenu Gupta, retired into her room for an afternoon nap, it provided a perfect opportunity for the two accused to execute their plan. Police sources inform that the two accused first consumed some alcohol and then tip-toed into Meenu Gupta’s room. Meenu supposedly woke up with the commotion thus caused and when she questioned Raju, she was allegedly hit repeatedly with an iron rod on her head. Meanwhile, Meenu’s four-year-old daughter also sustained minor injuries during the scuffle. Hearing the noise, a neighbour and a few passers by came to Meenu’s rescue and soon managed to overpower the servant, Raju, even as the other accused Anand managed to make good his escape. Meenu was later admitted to the hospital where she was declared out of danger. She has sustained injuries on her head and a fracture on her wrist and fingers. Meanwhile, with yet another incident of a strike by domestic servant in a gap of just over one month, the need amongst the city residents for getting their servants registered with the police gains ground. This is probably the third time in just over a month that the domestic servant has looted the house of his employer — the first time being at Sarabha Nagar and the second case at Chander Nagar when the servant had fled with cash worth Rs 70,000. It is learnt that the registration of the servant as well as the tenant at the nearest police station becomes mandatory only when the Deputy Commissioner in his capacity as the District Magistrate passes an order to this effect under Section 144 of Cr.P.C. However, the police has been coercing the city residents off and on to get their servants registered at the police stations, but to no avail. It is reliably learnt that almost none of the city residents have indulged in this practice and hence the growing such incidents. It may also be noted that the police had started a beat system from February in Model Town and Sarabha Nagar in order to check the incidence of such crimes by having efficient patrolling by an officer in a small area called beat. However, with lack of response from the people, the efficacy of the police became stunted. When contacted, Mr G.S.Sandhu, SP City 1, lamented that people themselves had to come forward to take sufficient preventive measures to curb such crimes by their servants by registering them and in case of any such happening, the police can atleast check the stranger rolls and trace out the culprits from their native villages. He also cautioned that servants should not be employed without the proper verification and should not be given access to almost all areas of the house, which generally enables them to gather sufficient information about the family’s resources and where these are kept. |
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Colonies’ status: residents, civic body on warpath LUDHIANA, June 6 While a majority of the residents have filed their objections to the civic authorities protesting against gross injustice, they apprehend that certain vested interests wanted to see the move through which would open the floodgate for massive conversion of residential houses into factories and further expansion of existing units leading to more air and noise pollution and threatening people with hazardous industrial effluents. According to Mr Sher Singh, a resident of the area, the civic body under its earlier building schemes, had declared these localities as residential areas. “The move to convert these colonies into commercial/industrial areas is motivated. In the first place, the civic body had failed to check the mushrooming of small and tiny units and now the residents would be made to suffer for the corporation’s lapse,” he observed. Another resident, Mr Harbhajan Singh, lamented that even the existing industrial units in the area had made the lives of the citizens difficult. “You can’t imagine the kind of sufferings we have to live with. In addition to all kinds of pollution posing grave health hazards, the noise generated by the factories makes things worse for the sick and elderly people, besides causing disturbance to students.” The residents stated that sometimes in 1995, the civic body had initiated a move to shift the industries from these localities which was later dropped under pressure from industrial associations, the area councillors and political parties. Although, the resentment among the residents was quite visible yet the impression one gathered was that they were fighting a battle which was already lost. “How can a group of unorganised residents face an organised industry strongly supported by senior MC officials and politicians,” asked another dejected residents. The people of the two colonies, in their objections filed with the Municipal Town Planner (MTP), have challenged the corporation’s claim that the area had 70 to 80 per cent industries. They asserted that these were just around 5 per cent purely industrial units, while another 25 per cent were small and tiny units with residential portions for the owners within the premises. Says Mr Harcharn Singh: “The plea made by industry that it was not in a position to shift to designated industrial areas was not tenable. They (industrialists) should have known that they were running a risk by setting up factories in a residential locality.” The residents had suggested to the civic body officials that units with sanctioned loads of up to 15 hp causing no noise or air pollution might be allowed to function in these localities while those with sanctioned loads of more than 15 hp and those set up after 1995 be asked to shift to designated industrial areas but they have yet to receive a favourable response from the corporation. Mr Sher Singh has a point when he asks, “If the industry cannot be made to shift, does the MC want the residents, who have spent all of their hard earned money and savings to build houses, to move to other areas?” With the MC authorities, under immense pressure from industrial lobby and councillors, appear to be keen to go ahead with changing the status of these localities and the residents determined to oppose the move with all their might, only time will tell whether the citizens seeking to fight against an unjust move emerge triumphant or the industry, which should not have been here in the first place, manipulates not only to stay on but to expand further. |
A dream come true for Ludhianvis HELLO Ludhiana! So, finally we here are. For many among the citizens of Ludhiana, it is a dream come true. The demand for a Ludhiana city- specific newspaper had been growing for some time past. Other products available in the market somehow tended to leave their readers less than satisfied. Hence, the demand for a quality daily newspaper from The Tribune group of publications. It took us some time to get our act together. First of all, a study was commissioned to gauge the market. It confirmed what we already knew: There was a huge demand for a prestigious and credible publication in Ludhiana waiting to be tapped. Adequate advertising support will be available. After all, Ludhiana is the industrial hub of Punjab with thousands of units creating wealth for the nation and wanting their products to be publicised through a prestigious publication with wide circulation. We in The Tribune were acutely conscious of the high expectations the citizens of Ludhiana had from us. It had to be a quality product backed by meticulous planning, a strong and reliable infrastructure and an all-weather distribution network. Fortunately, it was all already available with The Tribune. A hunt was launched for a suitable printing press in Ludhiana where the newspaper could be printed and distributed locally. But when we found such a press was not available in Ludhiana, the Tribune Trust lost no time in buying a brand new printing press from abroad at a cost of a few crore of rupees. It is capable of printing up to 24 pages in colour on glazed paper. Once it was installed in the head office at Chandigarh, the editorial and managerial sides got together to tie up all the loose ends and firm up all arrangements. The go-ahead from the top came soon afterwards. The gung-ho spirit enveloped the entire The Tribune team which functioned like a well-oiled machine. The end product is now in your hands. Sophisticated, solemn and sober The function held on Thursday to mark the launch of Ludhiana Tribune in Darbar Hall of Hotel Majestic Park Plaza was solemn and sober, in keeping with the traditions of The Tribune. The Editor, Mr Hari Jaisingh, and General Manager, Mr S.D. Bhambri, along with the Additional General Manager, Mr O. P. Arora, were at hand to receive the guests at the function. It was heart warming to see the elite of the town turn up at the function. These included the Punjab Minister for Technical Education, Mr Jagdish Singh Garcha, the Ludhiana MP, Mr Gurcharan Singh Galib, the Mayor of Ludhiana, Mr Arpinder Singh Grewal, the Deputy Mayor of Ludhiana, Mrs Santosh Aneja, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr S.K.Sandhu, SSP, Mr Kuldeep Singh, Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University, Dr G.S.Kalkat, the Pro-Vice Chancellor, Dr K.S. Aulakh, local MLAs, Mr Satpal Gosain and Mr Heera Singh Gabria, the acting President of Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal, the Congress Party leaders, Mr Surinder Dawar, Mr Nahar Singh Gill, Mr K.K. Bawa, Mr Pawan Dewan, Jathedar Surjan Singh Thekedar, the President of the district Bar Association, Mr Harish Rai Dhand, leading industrialists like Mr Raj Awasthi of the famous Sportking group of hosiery industries, Mr M.S. Bhogal of the Bhogal group of industries, which is among the oldest cycle parts manufacturers in the country. An unexpected glitch in the distribution of invitation cards prevented a large number of people from attending the function. These included the former minister, Mr Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, a leading physician of Ludhiana, Dr Iqbal Ahuja, Janata Dal leader, Mr Harish Khanna, the wellknown Excise and Customs officer, Mr A.K. Sharma, and journalist, Mr Harbir Singh Bhanwar. Our sincere apologies. Sorry, we are Ludhianvis Every town and city has its own peculiarities. Ludhiana is no exception. There is a common trait running through all people alike, right from the affluent, down to the lower classes without any exception. No matter what is the occasion, Ludhianvis are habitual late comers. Be it a wedding party or a bhog ceremony, people stretch the scheduled time in accordance to their needs, nay habit. If a function is supposed to start at 8 in the evening, nobody will come before 9.30 p.m. Being on time means conveying to the people you had nothing else to do. But remember, Ludhianvis are too busy to be on time. People do not bother to be on time even on solemn occasions like bhog. If a ceremony is scheduled for 2 p.m., most of the people will start arriving by the time it is likely to conclude. Recently, the Deputy Commis-sioner, Mr S K Sandhu, conducted surprise checks in various offices to ensure punctuality among the staff. He has already called for an explanation from 12 absentee officials. Mr Sandhu may try his best to ensure punctuality, but the Ludhianvis appear to have got this in their blood. How can officials escape this trait? Someone has rightly pointed out that in Ludhiana IST does not mean Indian Standard Time. It means Indian Stretchable Time. The relief that
showers bring Since the summers have been unrelenting since April, the 100-odd water melon and melon vendors in the city did brisk business and these summer fruits which were traditionally considered as fruits for the poor, sold for an astronomical price of Rs 30 per kg. in the beginning. But no longer. A series of rain showers in the past two or three days has brought a downfall in their business and the prices of these water melons and melons has drastically come down to Rs 5 per kg. And the earlier rush in front of the vendors stalls in various parts of the city is no longer seen. Other than consuming these summer fruits, the city residents have also resorted to other ways of keeping cool this summer. Swimming is the favourite fad amongst the city residents and they can be seen swarming the various pools in the city— be it at the MC pool or at the pools for members of the Satluj Club, Lodhi Club or at the various resorts that have reserved membership. Lincoln at PAU At first it appeared as a very pleasant sight. A couple of youngsters were studying under streetlights near gate no. 2 of the Punjab Agricultural University on Friday around mid-night. It reminded one immediately of the great story of Abrahm Lincoln, one of the most popular US Presidents, who studied under streetlights in his days of penury. Admiring the determination of these students one could not help but asking why in this age of technology the students need to study on the road and that, too, at such an hour. But the reply changed the pleasant sight perception to a painful one. For the students were forced to adopt such a measure as the power supply to the university hostels was criminally irregular in the recent past. The students whose examinations were on said that in the absence of any alternate power supply system in the university, they had to make use of the Lincoln style, as next morning their examiantion was scheduled.Without disturbing them any more, this writer walked off reflecting that though the university was definitely helpless against the PSEB, it can think of searching for some ‘generator-wallah’. Tailpiece Seen written on the back of a truck on the G.T. Road: Gaddi Chadde
di, — Sentinel |
Inhuman living conditions for labourers LUDHIANA, June 6 — Srinivas had come here all the way from Gazipur in Uttar Pradesh, leaving behind his wife and four children to earn his livelihood. Little did he know that he will never return to his family. Cruel fate had something else in store for him. He fell victim to gastroenteritis along with four other migrant labourers.Unlike most unskilled labourers who come here from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Srinivas was a matriculate and had got ITI training. He had a job with a hosiery unit, which paid him a monthly salary of Rs 2200. In fact, he could not survive to collect his first salary. Srinivas and four others who died of gastroenteritis, are among thousands of labourers who work and live under sub-human conditions in the slums of Ludhiana in and around the industrial area. The living conditions at these places are pitiable. Most of these workers stay in the ‘jals’, specially constructed by people around the industrial area for the migrant labourers. One jal consists of 20 to 40 rooms. On an average, four workers share a single room. The rooms are not plastered. There is no ventilation. Each jal has no more than two or three latrines and bathrooms. The dark and dingy rooms present a sickening look. Even there is no outlet for the day- to- day wastes. So much so that excreta heaps are frequently seen in lanes. Moreover, water continues to stagnate there for months together. The workers have to literally hop and jump to cross a street or a lane. The workers appear to have reconciled to these sub-human conditions as they have no alternative. Each room in a jal costs Rs 450 per month. This includes the electricity and water charges also. It comes to around Rs 100 for each workers. On an average a jal owner gets Rs 15,000 a month. Given the extent of amenities provided, the amount is far too big. The jal owners simply construct a structure with bricks and leave it unplastered. One jal owner, explained on the condition of anonymity, that it was not possible for them to provide all basic amenities to the tenants. “We charge a meagre sum of Rs 450 per room, which is shared by at least three workers”, he said, while claiming that the workers got cheap and best accommodation. He claimed, most of the jal owners do bring to the notice of the municipal authorities poor civic conditions, but they go unnoticed. Since most of the labour is migratory, even political parties do not feel concerned about them. Shockingly, none of the leaders of any political party cared to visit the Fauji Colony in Sherpur area, where five deaths occurred due to gastroenteritis, besides over 700 falling ill. The local councillor, Mrs Rajpati Tiwari, has apparently done little to solve the problems of the migrant workers. It took five deaths to make her visit the locality. None of the labourers was prepared to speak or complain about anything. Gopal Prasad Gupta, working on a contract basis, has come here from Bihar. He said, “we leave for work in the morning and come back in the night, and we do not have time to complain to anybody”. The greatest problem in these areas is that the workers are unorganised. Although some ultra-Leftist organisations like Communist Party of India (Marxist-Lenninst) Liberation have their units in the area, they, too, have not been able to help in ameliorating the workers’ lot. This was said to be due to little cooperation from the workers. According to Ramesh Sharma, District Secretary CPI(ML) Liberation, the workers are concerned about their daily jobs. None of them approaches for any help. Despite that, Mr Sharma claimed, CPI(ML) Liberation was trying on its own to ensure that the workers were provided better working and living conditions.
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Summer workshop at KVM school LUDHIANA,
The workshop has been aimed at making the teachers computer literate. The training enables the teachers to operate the computers using Windows, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Power Point. Apart from this, knowledge of the Internet surfing, sending e-mails is also included. To develop a sense of creativity among students and to teach them the use of fabric colours on any surface like goods, glazed earthen ware, plywood, thermocole a fabric painting workshop is also going on. The students are also being taught glass painting, the use of various colour combinations and schemes, drawing and tracing out of patterns and designs. Besides, martial arts, coaching for the junior and primary students is also being carried out. The kids are being taught the basic stances,punches and kicks. To make the students bold and to fight against all odds they are given training of hard punches and kicks. The punches and kicks include close punch, front forward punch, back punch, round house punch, front kick, round house kick and flying kick. The students participating in the activities said these types of workshops help to unearth hidden talent and they feel encouraged. Learning martial arts is a great fun for them. |
Policeman beaten up, 3 booked LUDHIANA, June 6 — The focal point police has booked three persons allegedly for beating up a Punjab Home Guard and tearing his uniform while he was on duty. The cop had caught them for consuming alcohol and abusing policemen at a dhaba. According to the FIR registered at focal point police station against Sukhdev Singh, Partap Singh and Surjit Singh under Sections 365,332, 353, 186 and 34 of the IPC on the complaint of PHG Amrik Singh, it has been alleged that the accused were consuming alcohol and using abusive language at ‘Makhan Da Dhaba’ , when he along with HC Ashwani Kumar and constable Sukhdev Singh was checking dhabas at the Ludhiana Chandigarh road. It is learnt that the police apprehended the youth and Amrik Singh boarded their car alongwith them and decided to take them to the Civil Hospital for a medical examination.However, the accused asked the driver of their car to take it towards Chandigarh, and after they beat him up and tore his uniform, they managed to make good their escape after dropping the cop near Kohara Chowk. Travel agents booked: The police has registered a case of breach of trust and fraud against two travel agents, who all duped a man of Rs 3,50,000 on the promise of sending him to England.According to the information available, Jaswant Singh has alleged that the two travel agents- Raja and Kamal Dhillon had taken Rs 3,50,000 from him in lieu of sending him to U.K. and forged a visa on his passport for the purpose. He has further alleged that when he went to the Delhi Airport, he was arrested by the police as his visa was fake and that he was later released on bail. The police has registered a case under sections 406 and 420 of the IPC. Knife recovered: The police has recovered a kamanidar knife from one Om Parkash during a special nakabandi of the police near the Clock Tower on June 5. The police has registered a case under sections 25,54 and 59 of the Arms Act. |
Hans on top of Punjabi pop LUDHIANA, June 6 — Lokon main paak muhabbat haan, These are the views of Hans Raj Hans,an icon for both young and old Punjabi music lovers, who has successfully reverberated and woven a web of pulsating folk music and timeless melodies. Hans Raj Hans- who shot into fame a few years ago with the chartbusting number,” Laal garara,” is today aptly considered as the next best thing to happen to the world of Punjabi music ever since it was popularised and brought to the forefront of the Indipop scene by the likes of Gurdas Mann in the 80’s and Daler Mehndi in the late 90’s. Hans Raj Hans has more than a 100 music albums to his credit, with the most popular among them being “Jhanjar”, “Chorni”, “Aaja Nach Le”, “Tera Mera Pyaar” and “Ishq Di Barsaat”. The songs from his latest album, “Chorni”, like “Dil Chori Sada Ho Gaya”, “Kite Seeli Seeli Aandi Hai Hawa” et al are currently on top of the music charts. His good looks and melodious voice and his success notwithstanding, he still remains a down-to-earth person and is very courteous to not only media peresons but also to his fans. He says,” Actually success at this stage is sweet after all the long years of struggle. It is also morale boosting and enthuses me to work better.” Born at Shafipur village in Jalandhar district, he had first stint at the music instruments at the tender age of six. The humble singer, whom many an upcoming one try to emulate says he is still a student of the intricate ragas and strives daily to improve his earlier performances.He says he learnt the subtle touches of music from many musicians but is indebted to his first guru Ustaad Puran Shah Koti of the Patiala gharana. He, however, recalls that his parents and other family members were never appreciative of his love for singing and instead pestered him to leave singing and instead take a keen interest in his studies. “In fact my father had always wanted me to study to be a doctor, but I was so inclined to be a singer that I could not think of anything else and continued with my riaz.” He remembers how he eloped from his house at the tender age of 15 and roamed here and there before finally settling down with a musical troupe and began to give public shows in order to make a living. He later became quite popular when his soft voice touched the hearts of many and endeared him to them for life.Thus began his uphill climb to stardom and fame. Asked if he was still angry with his parents, he laughs it off saying that in fact now his parents are very proud of him and whenever he goes to his village he is welcomed with open arms and the villagers are proud that he has made a name for himself. Hans Raj Hans prefers penning the lyrics of his songs as it helps him express his feelings better and also relate better to the songs. He is also an expert in the playing various musical instruments like harmonium, tabla, flute and mandolin. |
Hosiery units sore with defence authorities LUDHIANA,
June 6
— Hosiery manufacturers in the city, catering to the needs of defence services for the past several decades, have alleged that the bureaucracy was conspiring to systematically eliminate the small-scale hosiery units by shifting orders to ordnance clothing factories (OCFs) and deliberately creating hurdles in the way of receiving supplies from local units. Addressing a news conference here today, Mr Vinod Jain, president of the Northern India Hosiery and Textile Manufacturers Association, stated that around 70 units, directly or indirectly employing 1.5 lakh workers, were supplying hosiery goods to defence services worth Rs 200 crore annually and the going was good till 1996 when the Union Defence Ministry decentralised the purchase operations. Thereafter, to the utter shock and dismay of the units concerned, a systematic campaign was launched by the bureaucrats under which orders were delayed and subsequently cancelled, lots were rejected over trivial specifications, inspections were not carried out for months together and then supplies were refused on the basis of delivery period having lapsed. According to Mr Jain, the motive behind the entire exercise was to create an impression that the hosiery units were unable to cope with the demands of the defence services so that the OCFs, even though lacking the expertise, technical knowhow and trained manpower, could enter the field. The plan to take away defence supplies from local hosiery manufacturers could have succeeded, if the OCFs were able to meet the requirements and produce the hosiery items of a reasonably good quality at competitive prices, which was not to be. Mr Jain claimed that in a report, The Controller of the Directorate of Quality Assurance (Ministry of Defence) had pointed out to the OCF, Shahjahanpur (UP) that the supplies made were sub-standard, not according to specifications in mass, texture, dimensions, finish besides being products of poor workmanship made from inferior raw material. In addition, Mr Jain said the OCFs, in the absence of necessary infrastructure and trained manpower, were getting hosiery goods fabricated from outsiders which further led to hike in the cost and in certain cases, the Defence Ministry was paying two to three times more to the OCFs in comparison to the local hosiery units. The unfortunate part was the the top brass in the defence services, including the Union Minister of Defence, Mr George Fernandes, were being misinformed by the bureaucracy. The minister, when approached by the association in 1998, had wrote back that “no items supplied by small- scale industry to defence services had been diverted to ordnance factories in recent years. The association has urged the ministry to streamline the purchase operations.
— K.B. |
Gastroenteritis: personal hygiene vital ACUTE gastroenteritis is characterised by nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhoea. In common parlance it is also known as food poisoning. Although gastroenteritis can affect any person any time, as an epidemic it is more prevalent in summer and rainy season. Causative factors: Gastroenteritis may occur due to the ingestion of inherently poisonous food or to the consumption of food or water, contaminated with chemicals or pathogenic bacteria and their products. Inherently poisonous foods include fungi, especially the ‘death cap’ fungus,which may be mistaken for the harmless edible mushroom and certain meat items. The chemical poison may contaminate the food in various ways such as by placing the acidic food items in zinc vessel with the consequent liberation of antimony of zinc Gastroenteritis of bacterial origin is the most common form of this disease which is further divided into two main groups such as the toxin type and the infection type. The first one is caused by exotoxin produced by the staph.Pyuogenes, which in great majority of instances, is transferred by a food handler who has a septic lesion of the hands or arms, or who is a carrier of the organisms in his nose or throat. The infection type gastroentritis is the most commonly found variety of the disease. The organisms mainly responsible for this type of disease belong to the salmonella group. Water, milk, puddings, ice creams or all other type of food can be infected by this bacteria. Clinical features: In all types of gastroenteritis the mucosa of the stomach and small intestine shows varying degrees of inflammation. It is common to find other members of the household or the locality also affected simultaneously and when this feature is present it makes the diagnosis easier. The symptoms in any single outbreak vary widely in severity depending upon the type and amount of poisonous substance ingested. The principal symptoms are nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain and sometime also blood in the stool. The body temperature may vary from case to case according to the type of infection. In severe cases there may be prostration,collapse and signs of dehydration. usually these symptoms start with in one hour of the ingestion of food, if it is infected with chemical poison and four to six hours after taking of the food or water or any other eatable that is infected with the bacteria. Severe dehydration can lead to acute renal shut down and also death. Treatment: Most cases are mild and can be treated at home with requisite dose of antibiotics,rest in bed and plenty of bland fluid drinks. Patients who are moderately or severely ill and show signs of collapse and dehydration should be admitted to hospital since fluid and electrolyte loss may require intravenous replacement under expert medical care. Symptoms normally pass off in a day or two if food is withheld,and initially only fluids, such as fruit drinks or tea are allowed. As the condition improves,semi-fluid low roughage containing diet of biscuits, bread ,rice, vegetable soups or other light lentils is allowed. Fresh coconut water and lime water added with little sugar and table salt can also replenish the lost energy whereas later on little juice of fresh mint leaves can be taken once or twice a day to improve appetite and digestion. The reduction in the incidence of gastroenteritis can be achieved by improving standards of personal hygiene. All bazaar food exposed to flies and dust must be avoided. In medical practice, one shouldn’t wait for pathology reports but immediately commence treatment,with replacement of fluid and electrolytes orally or intravenously, depending upon the condition of the patient.
— R. Vatsyayan |
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He survived hole in heart LUDHIANA, As good luck would have it, some of his friends suggested him CMC Ludhiana. Here Christianson was checked up by Dr T M Jaison, a reputed heart specialist and the Director of the CMC. Dr Jaison concluded that Christianson was having a hole in his heart. It was a congenital defect. The cost of hospitalisation was beyond the reach of Christianson. Somehow he met a girl Janny, from his native village. Janny was married to a French. She had recently come from France. She managed to mobilise finances for Christianson’s
operation. Christians on was operated upon by famous heart surgeon Dr Rakesh Sudan. The operation proved to be successful. Christianson started recovering. Remarks Dr Jaison: “Christianson has smiled off all the miseries of his past life and he will definitely inspire his fellow patients”. DMC starts eye care centre at Pohir LUDHIANA,
June 6 — To provide quality eye care services to rural patients at their doorstep, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital
(DMC) has started rural health centre at Pohir. The Department of Community Medicine and Ophthalmology have joined hands to run the services at a reasonable cost. The Centre was inaugurated by Mr Prem Nath Gupta. Nearly 20,000 villagers of
Jhamat, Rangian Rurka, Khere, Jagera, Nangla, Hazra, Kalahar, Pohir and Sahazan Mazra villagers will be benefitted from the centre. The centre will hold eye OPD on every Monday, Thursday and Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm. Medicines will be provided free of cost to the OPD patients. The special feature of the centre is the airconditioned operation theatre which will be equipped with modern machines. The fees charged will be low, the DMC sources said. Instead of going to Ahmedgarh for operations, the patients can have this facility
locally. Introcular lens implant services will also be done here and follow up consultation can be taken from the eye OPD on alternative days of the week. |
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