EDUCATION

CHANDIGARH, Aug 25 — With this year’s PUTA elections ending today, one related activities on the campus came to an end.(see box for results) The campus of Panjab University had been a witness to a widespread campaigning for the past one month. These elections have never been contested hotly, but there seemed to be a sense of enthusiasm at the Law Auditorium, the venue of elections, today.

Till early seventies PUTA had elected its President by consensus and no voting was considered necessary. But things changed in 1974, when Mr Ramprakash, then a lecturer in the Chemistry Department, was elected president who finally went on to become a minister in the Haryana Government. Also elected that year was Ms Bhuvan Chandel as secretary of PUTA. She was the first woman to be elected to the leadership of PUTA. This team was re-elected the next year and since then PUTA has elected a number of lecturers as its leaders. “Incidentally it seems that the young office-bearers take a more comprehensive view of the situation as they have yet to go through the grilling process of teaching says Dr Satya Pal Gautam of the Department of Philosophy and ex-president PUTA.

PUTA results The new team of the Panjab University Teachers Association elected today is: PRESIDENT: Devi Sirohi, Lecturer, Department of History. SECRETARY: J.K. Chauhan, Professor, Department of Laws. VICE-PRESIDENT: P.K.Mittal, Professor, Department of Zoology. JOINT SECRETARY: Rajan Gaur, Reader, Department of Anthropology. TREASURER: A.K. Vashisht, Reader, University Business School. MEMBERS EXECUTIVE: GROUP 1 (Arts/Humanities): Sudip Minhas, Lecturer, Department of English. D.R. Sharma, Professor, Department of Sanskrit. |Archana R Singh, Lecturer, Department of Mass Communication. Charanjeev Singh, Lecturer, Department of Public Administration. GROUP 2:(Sciences): R.C. Sobti, Professor, Department of Bio-technology. Pushpinder Kaur, Reader, Department of Zoology. Ashwani Koul, Lecturer, Department of Biophysics. Narinder Kumar, Lecturer, Department of Statistics. GROUP 3:(Professional courses): D.N. Jauhar, Professor, Department of Laws. Indu Pal Kaur, Lecturer, UPIS. MS Dalal, Reader, Department of Physical Education. GROUP 4:(Evening Studies): MS Bajwa, Reader, Evening Studies. GROUP 5:(Department of Correspondence Studies): R K Gupta, Reader

There is always a certain amount of hesitation among the teachers to stand for elections. “It is considered a headache simply because responsibility increases, at least 4 to 5 hours have to be devoted to this work and then to top it all, the amount of answerability increases” says Rajiv Lochan, from the Department of History and ex-secretary PUTA. “But then there are also those who get elected simply because they want to get their own work done and this position helps them to achieve the same,” says J.M. Jerath, ex-president PUTA. “Also there have been occasions, when the leadership simply left the community in the lurch over an issue and openly sided with the authorities.” “This matter is rather serious since the relations of members with their association leaders are based on trust, says Dr Devi Sirohi, lecturer in the Department of History, who has been elected as the president of PUTA.

Dr Sirohi and her team contested elections on the issue of “teamwork and transparency of negotiations with the authorities”. Other contenders had also insisted that negotiations with the authorities should be given priority, which also raises the question of the methods being followed by PUTA to achieve their ends. Sometimes there has been a stress on negotiations and at other times it is dharnas and strikes. However, it seems that negotiations have yielded more results.

The issues have obviously changed every year with the leadership. In the sixties and seventies PUTA achieved medical benefits and the present rules for the university’s share in the Contributory Provident Fund on salary and not the basic pay. Democratisation and rotation scheme, reinstatement of arbitrarily terminated teachers were the other achievements of the seventies. New leave rules were approved by the University Senate in the late seventies but were implemented in 1986. During eighties new issues were taken up. Proper and timely implementation of the various phases of the Merit Promotion Scheme, release of interim relief, teachers welfare scheme, revision of pay scales and inclusion of PUTA leaders in the Senate, were some of the issues.

Early nineties saw emergence of issues like promotional avenues from reader to professor, amendments in the pension scheme, proper implementation of the career advancement issue of housing, improved facilities for academic work and proper maintenance of the campus etc.

The main issues in the present elections included implementation of CAS, increased senate seats for the university teachers, abolition of gender discrimination in health care and rectification of anomalies.

It is clear that a large number of the issues have remained the same and many of these demands have taken more than 5 to 7 years for these acceptance. “All this means that we need to be more alert, active and vigilant in the coming days. The leaders of the association have made repeated efforts to involve the community in creating an environment of free discussion and debate but the efforts have never received a commensurate response from the community. It is this inertia on the part of the community which needs to be changed,” says Dr Satya Pal Gautam.

Science seminar organised
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Aug 25 — The State Institute of Science Education Punjab organised two state-level competitions today at a school in Sector 41 here. First was a science seminar and its topic was ‘Health for all visions and realities’, whereas the other was a population education debate and its topic was ‘Strict family planning measures alone is key to population stabilization’.

The students who secured first position in district-level competitions participated at the state-level competitions. Science seminar was inaugurated by Dr Jagtar Singh ,DPI(S), Punjab, and he stressed on ‘sound mind in sound body’. He said science and technology should not harm our health rather it should promote it.

Population education debate was inaugurated by Mr Sohan Lal, Director SCERT, Punjab. He said overpopulation was the root cause of many problems faced by our country. Mr R.S. Sandhu, Secretary Education, Punjab, was the chief guest who gave away prizes to the winners. He stressed that education was the need of the hour which could check over population.

Mr Ravi Kumar Verma, National Consultant UNFPA (United Nation Funds for Population Activities) was also among the eminent guests. He stressed that family planning is a measure to check population, but it should not be strict. He appreciated the role of the Punjab Education Department for spreading awareness.

Ms Surinder Dhingra, Director, State Institute of Science Education, Punjab, welcomed the guests. The result of the science seminar is:

Jaspreet Kaur (Bathinda)1; Jaspreet Kaur (Amritsar) 2; and Deepika (Jalandhar) 3;

The result of population debate is : Navdeep Sandhu, Navreet Kahlon (Amritsar) 1; and Puneet Kaur, Harrup Kaur (Ludhiana) 2.

B.Ed admissions
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Aug 25 — In the ongoing admissions of B.Ed for three universities — Panjab University, Punjabi University, Patiala, and Guru Nanak Dev university, Amritsar — at Dev Samaj College of Education, students were admitted under different categories of teacher ward, border area and defence today.

Dr Satinder Dhillon informed that 39 seats are vacant in SC/ST category in Humanities group due to the non-availability of candidates with subject combination available with the colleges. In SC/ST category in sciall eligible candidates were called for counselling and 173 seats are vacant.

In sports category, a few seats are vacant in science, social studies/Hindi and music/Punjabi. In science group, 17 seats are vacant in terrorist-affected category, 11 in blind, 13 in handicapped category, 27 in deserted/divorced category. In humanities group, 13 in terrorist-affected, 12 in blind, 6 in handicapped category and 24 in deserted women category.

All eligible candidates were called for reserved categories and the seats are vacant due to the non-availability of subject combinations. The vacant seats in the reserved categories will be filled in the second counselling, date of which shall be notified later on. On August 26, the seats in general category shall be filled.

Students’ long wait for results
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 25 — Long queues of result seekers because of delay on part of university during the ongoing admissions could be seen in the Administration Block of Panjab University yesterday. The ‘RLA’ (results later) category besides others are suffering on account of non-eligibility for admission to the next class on base of merit lists.

Shilpa, a BA (III), student from Punjab, is a classic one. She applied for re-evaluation in October 1999. The result has not been declared formally till date. She said this was despite several visits to the examination branch.

On inquiry it was discovered that the re-evaluation branch had forwarded the result to the secrecy branch in December 1999. However, no result has been declared formally. A senior official of the university assured to go into details of the case.

Another classic case was of a mother of a candidate from Ludhiana who said that she has come to the office for more than 10 times. Her ward appeared in April 1998. The case was referred to a third examiner in case of one paper in English. There has been no further progress, she added.

Roopsi, Ritesh win debate contest
From Our Correspondent

PANCHKULA, Aug 25 — Ms Roopsi Jindal and Master Ritesh Verma students of class X of Manav Mangal School, Sector 11, Panchkula have stood first in the National Debate Competition organised by NCERT and UNFPA at the district level in Panchkula on August 22. The topic of the debate was “Strict family planning measures alone is a key to population stabilisation.” The competition was held at Government Senior Secondary School Sector 7, Panchkula. The winners were awarded a cash prize of Rs 150 each by Mr H.K. Verma and Mrs Rajesh Yadav of SCERT Haryana. These students will now participate at the state level competition in Gurgaon on September 6. After the state level competition, this competition will be held at the regional and national level.

Counselling on study in Britain
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 25 — The British Library, Chandigarh will be conducting a one-day counselling session on study in Britain on August 26 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The counsellor of the British Council Delhi, Ms Jugnu Roy, will do the counselling for the students which will cover all subjects being taught in Britain. There will be group briefing as well as individual counselling.

 PU results
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 25 — Panjab University today declared the results of the following examinations: MA History Part II, MA Economics Part I, MSc. Maths Part I, BBA Part I, LLB II Semester, LLB VI Semester, BSc. Home Science Part II, and MBA (Part Time) IV Semester.

 Parents teacher body

CHANDIGARH: The Parents Teacher Association, Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 35-D, Chandigarh is holding its general meeting-cum-biennial elections of its executive body on Sunday at 9 a.m. in the school premises. Elections will be held through draw of lots. A cultural programme will also be presented on the occasion.

COURTS

Illuminated guide maps for city
Court rejects application against MC
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 25 — The stage seems to have been set for the installation of the illuminated sector-guide maps in the city following the rejection of the application seeking interim injunction restraining the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) from implementing a pact with a Calcutta-based firm by a local court today.

In its order, Mr Naval Kumar, Civil Judge (Junior Division), said: "The applicants have failed to make out a prima facie case in their favour. The balance of convenience also lies in favour of the respondents as the corporation was going to lose nothing at this stage. Accordingly, finding no merit in the application, I hereby reject the same.”

The application for restraining the MCC from implementing the pact with the Selvel Media Services Limited for installing the guide maps in certain sectors, was moved by the Lawyers for Social Reforms. It was joined by Mr Subhash Kataria, a businessman, and Modern Advertising, an advertising company.

With a view to raise resource and to guide the general public, the MCC had invited sponsorships, for the installation of guide maps in the leading national dailies on October 10 last year. An important condition was that the firms were to be given the right to advertise their firms on the guide maps. The guide maps were to become the property of the civic body after a period of three years and the entire installation cost was to be borne by the firms.

After one firm backed out, two firms were allotted two zones for the installation of the guide maps. While Modern Advertising was allotted the zone comprising of Sectors 39 to 47, the Industrial Area (Phase I and II) and Mani Majra, Selvel was allotted Sectors 1 and 19 and Sectors 26 to 28. Thereafter, Modern Advertising also withdrew from the field in the wake of the strict condition imposed by the corporation.

In the meantime, Mr Kataria made a written offer to the corporation that he was ready to pay Rs 1 crore if he was given the permission to install the maps at his own expense for five years. However, it was submitted that it was not a PIL but certain forces were behind the applicants, who wanted to stall the process and initiatives of the MCC for generating the revenue and reducing its expenditure.

It was also contended that Mr Kataria never gave any offer to the public notices published in the newspapers. A perusal of the letter by Mr Kataria would show that he was imposing his own terms and conditions, which were not in consonance with the agreement executed with Selvel. The contract had been given on the basis of the agreed terms and conditions between the corporation and Selvel, the order said.

Meanwhile, the Finance and Contract Committee of the MCC, recommended to the House that the contract should be given to Selvel. The House will take up the matter at its meeting on August 30.

The Judge in his order stated:” If the respondents are restrained at this stage it will cause irreparable loss to respondents and general public. I find force in the submissions advanced by the counsel for the respondents.”

Sodhi Ram’s application allowed
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Aug 25 — Less than 24 hours before the Panjab University Senate meeting, the UT Special Judge for CBI cases-cum-Additional District and Session Judge, Mr Lakhbir Singh, today allowed the application moved by the Controller of Examination, Sodhi Ram, to attend the Panjab University Senate meeting to be held on August 26. The decision regarding the granting of permission to the CBI for the prosecution of Sodhi Ram is expected to be discussed in the meeting.

The accused Sodhi Ram was arrested along with four other accused Anurag Gupta, Sukhwinder Singh, Ashwani Gupta and Dhan Singh by the CBI for their alleged involvement in Panjab University paper leakage case. 

CULTURE

 Mangal bares grim realities of theatre
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 25 — He seemed to disdain draping grim realities with pretty phrases. So when he entered the lecture hall of the Institute of Tourism and Future Management Trends (ITFT) in Sector 17 today to speak on a rather subjective topic: "Art, culture, theatre, heritage and tourism," he chose to see art and culture in the light of the significant decline in the Indian values over the years.

The theatre buff and an actor himself, Mangal bared the harsh truths which mar the lives of those wedded to theatre in our society. He broke the tradition of strictly highlighting all that is rosy and sweet about India and its values and used his play — Theatre wallah urf pagal hai — to reflect the diseased Indian society which is ethnically marooned, caste ridden and hypocrisy infested.

Mangal also cited various dialogues from the classic satire in which he himself acted. "The play lays stress on the attitude of an average Indian who would watch meaningless cinema which gives me cheap entertainment, but who would never care to buy a ticket to see a play which is all about the ground realities", said Mangal. He said, "Anyone who is into theatre is treated as insane, is looked down upon and scorned, because he dares to talk reality. The masses want rosy pictures. They want anything which keeps them in the pleasing world of illusion and protects them from what is real. They are all hypocrites and they take turns to breed hypocrisy. And we, who care to show them the mirror, are the biggest fools in their eyes."

Through satire on the politicians of the country and their habit of pandering to people for serving their own interests, Mangal conveyed a strong point: "All about our culture which we were once proud of, has been thrown to the dogs. Today culture is on no one's mind. Theatre, which is linked inseparably to the promotion of art and culture, is nobody's baby. It lies abandoned, and so does everything else which reflects goodness."

It was, however, stressed that theatre needed to be revived because no matter from which part of India a person hails, he will understand the language of theatre. "In that context theatre helps to promote tourism. You can summarise an entire century to an audience by way of this medium which is extremely powerful," said Mangal.

Later presenting a memento to the actor, director of the institute, Mr Gulshan Kumar, said that Mangal Dhillon had been very honest about his perceptions of art and culture vis-a-vis theatre. The lecture was attended by many students of the institute.

Earlier during the day, Mangal had also conducted a press conference to counter the allegation levelled against him by the Department of Information and Public Relations. He denied having refused to pay back the last installment of Rs 6 lakh to the government, as alleged. "From the copy of the complaint against the under suspension of Joint Director Jagdip Singh Chauhan, it seems that I am being embroiled as one of the beneficiaries in the project concerning making of the film Khalsa, " said Mr Dhillon.

He stated that he had not caused any loss to the government, as imputed in the complaint and added that he expected a better reward from the Punjab Government for his historical contribution in the shape of Khalsa, instead of the false allegation levelled against him.