EDUCATION

Courses for unemployed youth
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, July 21 — The Government Institute of Textile Chemistry and Knitting Technology (Community Polytechnic Wing), Rishi Nagar, has started six-month-long courses for unemployed youth (boys as well as girls) of rural and urban areas.

The training will be free of cost and aims to help youngsters to start their own businesses or have jobs in industries. The extension centres where the courses are already on are Mundiani, Bhanot Punjab, Lalton Kalan, Chuhar Pur, Mini Chappar and Ladhuwal.

The short-term training, which is imparted at these centres, is in cutting and tailoring, fashion designing, textile designing, refrigeration and air conditioning, radio and TV repair house wiring and motor winding. The students will be provided certificates on the successful completion of course. The institute will also start short-term courses in computer operating/ computer maintenance and hand socks/ flat knitting from August 1. The admission will be on July 28. Detailed information regarding these courses can be had from Mr Kirpal Singh Bhullar, Project Officer.

Confusion over admission to B. Com (first year)
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, July 21 — Even though Panjab University has postponed the dates for admission to B.Com first year course, a few colleges in the city have ignored the varsity announcement and are admitting students in this course.

Mrs Jasbir Minhas, Principal of Guru Nanak Girls College told Ludhiana Tribune in response to a question that “we have given provisional admission to only a few bright students of our college. Earlier, we had put up on the notice board a merit list of a few toppers of our college. We did not want them to take admission elsewhere. But now there won’t be any more admissions and the complete merit list will be put up only on July 26, i.e., a day before the new date of admission”.

Regarding the intimation of extension of the date from the PU, Mrs Minhas said, “We have received no notification from the university regarding the postponement of the date of B.Com first year. Newspapers have been the only source of information for us”.

As per the guidelines issued on July 5, after the approval of the provisions by the academic council, some changes were introduced in the admission procedure. Students with plus two in commerce will get four marks for each subject of commerce. The CBSE students who have three commerce subjects in their syllabi will get 12 additional marks per subject. But students from the PSEB who have maths or statistics as the fourth subject will get 16 additional marks and thus will have an advantage over the CBSE students.

However, there is some confusion whether it is four marks or 4 per cent which has to be increased. Most of the colleges are preparing the merit list by adding up 4 per cent. Mrs Minhas says, “We are adding up 4 per cent in the pre-existing percentage of our students.”

Admissions to B.Com first year were earlier scheduled to take place from July 12 onwards and then the date was extended to July 18. Now it has been further extended to July 27. Therefore, students aspiring for admission to B.Com feel somewhat harassed.

It is learnt that from this year, students who have done plus two in arts will have the option to take admission in B.Com. Since the results of some of the students of plus two (Arts) have not been declared and, therefore, the date of admission for B.Com first year is being extended.

COURTS

Court order on dharna
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, July 21 — In an unprecedented move the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) had to seek the intervention of the court for restraining the members of various trade and industry organisations from holding dharnas and demonstrations within the 300 meters of the PSEB headquarters at Patiala.

The Additional Civil Judge, Senior Division, Patiala Mr S.K. Aggarwal on Thursday in an order on the application of the Punjab State Electricity Board said the representatives of various trade and industry organisations “are hereby restrained from holding demonstrations, dharnas and gheraos etc alongwith their members, workers and office-bearers of the Ludhiana Small Scale Manufacturing Associations, the Commission Agents Association Federation, the Punjab and Patiala Beopar mandal and also obstructing the entries and exits of the officers to and from the head office building working in the office”.

Reacting to the judgement, the representatives of various trade and industry organisations who were supposed to stage a dharna today in front of the PSEB office at Patiala said, they respected the court orders and decided against staging the dharna. However, they regretted that the PSEB chairman had sought the intervention of the court particularly when it had already been agreed with him that about six members of industry will personally submit him the memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister seeking withdrawal of the tariff hike.

Mr Harish Khanna, President, Trade and Industry Forum, alongwith several other representatives told in a press conference here today that he had talked to the PSEB chairman on telephone that he (Mr Khanna) alongwith five others will come and submit a memorandum at around 1 pm today. However, Mr Khanna regretted that the PSEB sought the intervention of the court. Mr Khanna released the copies of the memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister, which was supposed to be submitted to the PSEB chairman today at Patiala to the press here today.

SPORTS

TT titles for Sacred Heart boys, girls
From Our Sports Reporter

LUDHIANA, July 21 — Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, BRS Nagar, and Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar, won the girls’ and boys’ team championships, respectively, in the 9th Sahodaya Schools Complex Table Tennis Championship, which concluded at the KVM indoor stadium here today.

In the girls’ section, Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School defeated Tagore Public School 2-1 to clinch the title, while Kundan Vidya Mandir beat Alpine International 2-0 to emerge as the runners- up. In the boys’ section, hosts KVM proved no match to Sacred Heart Convent and went down 0-3.

Earlier in the semi-finals, KVM boys defeated Alpine International School 3-2 and Sacred Heart Convent got the better of BCM School 3-1.

Ms I. Kumar, Principal of Kundan Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, gave away prizes to the winners.

Ludhiana Open Chess

Ludhiana District Chess Association (ldca), will organise an open Ludhiana chess championship at Shastri Hall in the Guru Nanak Sports complex here, on July 29 and 30.

According to Dr R. Chawla, general secretary of the LDCA, the registration will close on July 29 at 10.00 am at the championship venue. The championship will be played on Swiss league basis for a total of five rounds and all participants are required to bring their own chess sets. The winners will be given cash prizes.

Shooting championship

The ninth Ludhiana District Shooting Championship will be organised by the District Rifle association from July 21 to 23 at St. Thomas School, Brown Road, here.

Competitions in 0.22 rifle, air rifle and air pistol in the seniors, juniors and sub-junior categories for men and women will be held.

Shooters desirous of participating in this championship may give their names along with entry fee by 12 noon on July 21 to Mr G.S. Garcha, General Secretary, at 29-L Model Town, ( Ph 431964) or Mr N.S. Bhogal, senior Vice-President at 580/3 Model Town, (Ph 405162).

A game of bet and ball

It raids on premises of cricketers. Bookies, officials too not spared. Today, these were the headlines of The Tribune. Tax sleuths raided the houses of the top Indian cricketers, 10 bookies and even the premises of former ICC President Jagmohan Dalmia.

The match fixing issue which had rocked the cricketing world was silent for a few days. But this news brought it back to surface.

The higher you go, the harder the fall. Great cricket icons Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Ajay Jadeja, Nayan Mongia and many more who were put on the pedestals and had the boys and girls thinking of them as demi-gods have fallen flat before them, leaving the cricket fans all over India sad and bewildered.

Had Cronje not confessed, and prior to him Shane Warne and Mark Waugh not admitted about their role in the murky shady dealings with the bookies, the whole thing would have been swept under the carpet. The Delhi police did a commendable job taping the conversation of Hansie Cronje with the bookies, and had the guts to bring out the story out.

Everyone was sceptical about the authenticity of the story till Hansie confessed. This created a lot of turmoil and shook the public, especially Indian public.

Though the game had its origins in England, for Indians, cricket is like a religion. During the World Cup, people used to be glued to TV sets. The sale of TV sets soared. Attendance in the schools and offices dropped drastically. Business activities also came to a standstill during the matches. It seemed that the young, old, men, women, students, had only one passion — Cricket. If TV was not available, people were glued to their radio sets.

There were yajnas and prayer-services before the World Cup started. Students made long banners, wishing “All the best”. When India played during the World Cup, most people were transfixed and waited with bated breath for India to win. But most of the time they were in for disappointments.

Cronje had pointed a finger at Azharuddin and moreover, Manoj Prabhakar had stated that Kapil had asked him to throw the game for Rs 25 lakh. Both of them denied these charges vehememently.

The CBI has taken up the inquiry and has summoned a few cricketers and interrogated them for hours and taken their statements. They are not disclosing anything before the whole inquiry is over. Meanwhile, many people have lost faith in cricketers.

A survey by this correspondent, mainly of students, revealed that the majority of the students were really shaken. Gauhar Vatsyayan, Deputy Prefect of a local convent school, said, “Cricket is no longer a game of bat and ball but it has become a game of bet and ball. This game should be delinked from the country’s honour.” Shweta said it was no more a gentleman’s game whereas Chandni said there was no suspense, and no fun left in the game.

“We used to think of cricketers as gods but now they stink”, said Ridhima. Parsuram, gate keeper of a school, said that his heart was broken and he had lost all interest in the game. Neha had this comment to make: “Now they will bet on whether it is going to rain or not”. Kashish, Roselyn and Pragya all felt that they were shattered and horrified at the betrayal by the cricketers.

Nargis, Samira and Radhika of Government College of Girls said, “We felt cheated and it is no longer fun to watch the cricket match, for we know that the match is fixed.” Zubin had to say that it was a very bad thing to happen to the cricket world. It has ruined the future of the game. He further said, “I have started watching football matches now. I have now become interested in billiards.”

“In a country when there is so much corruption, how could we expect our team members not to be corrupt?” asked Gursimran.

Here is a poem written by a school student, Sahil Goyal, on match fixing.

These are the days of sorrow,

for the game which might not be tomorrow.

When people start taking interest in a cricket match,

a fielder drops the catch.

Not because it was hit very fast,

but because he was given money for this task.

This is why peoples’ hearts are full of hate,

for the players, they once had thought to be great.

I hope this game gets its reputation back quickly,

by taking action against the people involved

in match fixing strictly.

— Asha Ahuja