The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDUCATION

PAU library hit by cash crunch
By Surbhi Bhalla

LUDHIANA, Aug 31— The truncated annual budget of the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has seriously affected the availability of books, periodicals and journals in M.S. Randhawa Library on the campus, undermining teaching, research and extension activities.

''No institution can function effectively without a strong and rich library'' says the newly-appointed librarian, Mr S. C. Uppal. According to him, the library has reached a stage where it needs expansion of its building, in addition to purchase of new periodicals and journals.

Well placed sources stated that less than 2 per cent of the university's budget is being used for library purposes in contravention of the UGC guidelines which stipulate that at least 6 per cent of the university's budget should be spent on library. Accordingly, the purchase of books, periodicals and journals have been reduced drastically.

The purchase of periodicals for instance has come down to 200 from about 1400 purchased earlier.

Mr Uppal said the space problem had become so acute that it had become difficult to accommodate bound periodicals at one floor and library had no option but to follow the broken sequence. And the number of periodicals and books had decreased considerably. "For its proper development, it requires a sum of Rs 60 to 70 lakh, in addition to a regular grant of Rs 1 crore and above per annum to sustain the library services." he remarked. This will also satisfy the UGC condition of allocating 6 per cent of the total budget to the library.

The library has recently installed CD Roms," tech-lib-plus" software through the assistance of the National Informatics for creating data bases. Though the library has installed CD, yet the readers feel that they provide abstract services only, and not the whole text. Some students suggest that it would be better if the library subscribed to important CDs as well as journals in original because CDs were not accessible easily and functioning depends on number of computers as well as the supply of electricity. It may be noted that the library has only 10 computer terminals at present.

Mr Uppal also agreed to the suggestion of these students and disclosed that if CD roms data base and its journals are subscribed together, both will be available by paying a nominal amount.

Sources said no fixed amount was given to the library and it is on the decreasing side. It was also learnt that the purchase of some journals was dropped last year because of financial crunch.

The library could only get Rs 25 lakh this time from the university budget. An additional sum of Rs 27 lakh was reportedly given to the library from the NRI funds.

Students also complaint about the rather limited number of textbooks available in the library. Agreeing with the students, Mr Uppal stated that a corpus fund has been created to buy textbooks to strengthen the textbook section. For this all fresh admissions are being charged a sum of Rs 200 (undergraduate level) and 500 (postgraduate level) from this year.

The librarian also pointed out that the library and its staff also faced many other problems which need immediate attention. He said lack of promotion policy has resulted in stagnation of the library staff on the same cadres during the past 20 years.

Teachers plan new line of action
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Aug 31 — An emergeny meeting of the office-bearers of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union has been called at Amritsar tomorrow to plan the next line of action as the peaceful protest dharnas have failed to move the government regarding their long-pending demands.

According to a press note issued by Mr K.B.S. Sodhi, president of the union, the one-month long series of protest in the form of peaceful dharnas of non-government college teachers will conclude tomorrow when the teachers of the Guru Nanak Dev University area will sit outside their principals’ offices.

The demands of the teachers include the immediate implementation of pension gratuity scheme, updating of review of posts, complete parity to directors of physical education and librarians with lecturers, setting up of women’s grievances cells in the universities, relaxation in eligibility condition for posts of principals for teachers with more than 20 years of experience and the implementation of career advancement scheme w.e.f. from January 1, 1996.

The office-bearers of the union have also decided to hold a meeting with Dr H.S. Soch, Vice-Chancellor of GND University, tomorrow, to deliberate over the problems being faced by the non-government college teachers of GND University area.

In addition, the union office-bearers will also plan an action programme for all colleges of Punjab and Chandigarh to express their solidarity with the DAV colleges teachers movement.

In another press note issued by Mr Sodhi, it was stated that some malicious and motivated intentions were being planned to damage the image of the teaching community through the news items in recent editions of the dailies. He claimed that the news item was biased as the view point of not even a single teacher had been taken.

It was further stated that a CBI inquiry had been demanded into the Masters of Information Technology examination conducted by GNDU at Apeejay College of Fine Arts, Jalandhar, on August 20. It has been stated that some malpractices and unfair means were adopted by those who conducted the tests.

Principals call on minister
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 31 — A deputation of the Joint Federation of Managements and Principals of Non-Government Colleges of Punjab and Chandigarh met the Minister for Education, Punjab, Master Mohan Lal, recently. The deputation included Dr Ishwar Singh, Principal P.S. Sangha, Principal Ashwani Kumar and Principal Subhash Kumar. The deputation demanded the release of 95 per cent grant pending for January and February, 2000, and for the second quarter from June to August, 2000.They also demanded the release of HRA to the non-teaching staff on parity with their counterparts in government service as in the past, release of pending arrears for teaching and non-teaching staff on account of revision of grades w.e.f. January 1, 1996, release of salary under the 95 per cent grant-in-aid scheme for 26 days and the immediate implementation of pension and gratuity scheme.

‘Over 30 pc college boys take alcohol’
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Aug 31 — In India 30 to 50 per cent college going students take alcohol and this is a major cause of academic failure among male students. Added to this, 50 to 70 per cent males and 5 to 10 per cent females are alcoholic in India.

These revelations were made by Dr R. J. Dash, Professor and Head, Department of Endocrinology, PGIMER, Chandigarh while delivering the lecture on ‘alcoholism and its bad effects on health’, organised by the Health Education cell of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital at Dumra Auditorium.

Dr Dash said, after the fifties and sixties alcohol became a status symbol in society and got social approval. The films glorified them which led to the exaggeration of the problem and it took adolescents under its influence. He disclosed that 3 per cent alcoholics were skid row types who fall into gutters and on roads and 97 per cent were functional people who had families and jobs. In India, 3 per cent social drinkers later became hardcore alcoholics.

He emphasised that in every form whether as a cough syrup or as brandy, beer, champagne, the alcohol was harmful to health. Beer had 12 per cent to 16 per cent alcohol, table wine had 14 per cent to 20 percent alcohol whereas whisky included 40 per cent to 43 per cent alcohol content. He said it was not advisable to give even the few sips of brandy in winters to the children as it had an alcohol content.

Dr Dash revealed that alcohol makes a person fat as one bottle of whiskey contains 300 calories and fried snacks taken with it also added to the calories content. If taken empty stomach alcohol could cause irreparable damage to the liver. Unfortunately in India 50 to 60 per cent people take alcohol before taking food. While alcohol should be avoided at all costs, in case one takes it, it should be taken after the food as food reduces the intensity of intoxication. It also affects the thinner persons quicker than the fat persons and reduces the life span of person from 10 to 15 years.

He expressed his unhappiness over the fact that though according to Indian law selling of liquor was prohibited to the people below the age of 25 and advertisement of alcohol was strictly banned, the rules were being violated with impunity and no one was there to check it. Everyday so many people died due to road accidents and liver damage caused by alcohol. He said that alcohol was the biggest threat to the world and mankind because it not only destroyed the individual but also the family, society and humanity.

Mr Prem Nath Gupta, secretary managing society, DMCH, Mr Balraj, vice-president of the society, Mr T. S. Kanwar, Chief Administrator DMCH and Dr Parminder Singh were among those present on the occasion.

CULTURE

Scintillating sitar vadan by Niladri
From A Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Aug 31 — The long-awaited Virasat-2000, which sought to draw the attention of the younger generation towards the need to preserve and promote rich cultural heritage, took off yesterday by a wonderful solo performance of sitarist Niladri Kumar at Pal Auditorium, PAU.

The SPIC-MACAY Ludhiana Chapter, brought Niladri to perform before the Ludhiana audience. The young sitar player from Mumbai left the audience spellbound. He swayed the audience by his sense of rhythm and perfect music. Niladri wove magic on the sitar.

He started the evening by playing raag Jhanjhoti, an evening raaga, which has love, passion and shringar. He was accompanied by Somnath Mukherjee on the tabla. The fingers of both artists moved deftly and swiftly.

Though Niladri has got bulk of his training from his father, he seems to have imbibed outside influences and has a modern outlook in his music. The audience was mesmerised by wonderful performances by Niladri and Somnath.

Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, Niladri answered the question whether classical music had any future in India. He said, “Of course, it has a future for it has such a deep-rooted past. No one can uproot it. Bhangra pop has its root in classical music and Daler Mehndi has knowledge of classical music.”

Niladri started his training at the age of four from his father Kartik Kumar, a disciple of Pt Ravi Shankar. He likes to perform abroad, but he gets satisfaction in India. He says, “In foreign countries, we get a lot of applause, but in India we get a lot or wah wah that is more appealing and heartening for artists than the applause.”

On being asked about the state of disappearance of gayaki gharanas, he said, “Earlier the masters were so powerful that a whole city like Gwalior was called Gwalior Gharana after the name of one powerful maestro. Those artists never ventured out. But now, things have changed. We are visiting foreign countries. We are getting influences from all gharanas. I think it is a good thing that music is not dead. Punjabi people fete an artists. I am happy to be here.”