EDUCATION

New vocational courses at PRC
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 2 — The Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre (PRC) at SAS Nagar will introduce new vocational courses for its inmates. While a course on sewing and tailoring has been initiated recently, a radio and TV technician course is in the offing, while another course for producing computer technicians is being planned.

Sources revealed that a team from the Ministry of Social Welfare was here a few week back to inspect the premises and work out modalities for initiating the courses. A major issue for starting these courses is finance. The PRC reportedly requires funds to the tune of Rs 10 lakh for initiating these courses. Funds will be made available by the Central Government and the Army.

The PPC has an annual outlay of about Rs 12 lakh, but keeping in view the spiralling costs, sources add that the centre has been facing some difficulty. Funds for its running were allocated from financial grants by the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces Flag Day Fund.

The Punjab Government, a few months ago agreed to provide budgetary support of Rs 3 lakh annually to the PRC. A provision for the same is said to have been made in the state government’s budget under the planned expenditure head. The Punjab Government had earlier allocated a plot of about 10 acres in SAS Nagar as a permanent site for setting up the centre.

Besides boarding and lodging of inmates and their families, PPC’s expenditure includes rehabilitation measures, procurement of training aids and recreational means and medical facilities. The centre has several workshops, where inmates or their family members can work and produce items of common use, including hosiery items. Other items like candles and greeting cards are also made.

The PPC was established in 1978 for rehabilitation of paraplegic and tetraplegic ex-servicemen with a view to motivate them to become self-supporting citizens by providing them suitable vocational training and medical care. It houses 19 inmates including seven from Punjab, three each from Himachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh two from Nepal and one each from Haryana, Rajasthan, Assam and West Bengal. These are soldiers who had been injured while on active service and have no other means of livelihood.

Workshop ends with display of works
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Oct 2 — The ten-day regional round square conference on ''My responsibilities towards the environment'' at Vivek High School, Sector 38, ended today with a final display of the creative items made by students.

Nearly 80 students from nine school participated in the conference. The children discussed observations which came across on the last day of the conference. Creative ideas of their own were formed to make the best use of waste products like broken glass, left over stitching material, plastics, newspaper cuttings, dry flowers, leaves and other things.

Students were thrilled to have hands-on experience of recycling paper at a plant in the school. The students remarked that, ''We never knew that such innovative things could be made out of waste material.''

The group from each school planted a sapling in the school. Students and teachers were given momentos and wrist watches, informed Ms Daman Duggal , Vice- Principal of the school.

The closing ceremony was presided over by Dr B.N.Goswami, eminent critic and art historian. Eminent guests and personalities were present to have a view of the creative work displayed by the students. Dr Goswami appreciated the school towards making students environment friendly.

Mrs P.K.Singh, Principal, proposed the vote of thanks and hoped that children would leave with a meaningful message and knowledge. She also thanked Mr B.D.Attri for helping the students. She said, ''The exhibits of the workshop make us aware of the importance of the three Rs — reduce, recycle and reuse waste. Whatever the students have learnt at the workshop must be developed, perfected and spread among others. Each individual must consider himself an extension of the environment and not independent of it.''

Gandhian Studies Dept launches website
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 2 — The Department of Gandhian Studies, Panjab University, organised a special lecture on “Gandhi’s answers to the challenges of the 21st century” by Prof. Ramjee Singh, an eminent Gandhian scholar. The function was presided over by Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, MP. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof K.N. Pathak launched a wesite http://gandhianstudies.puchd.nic.in on the occasion. Professor Pathak congratulated the department for making its activities known on the Internet.

Delivering the keynote address, Prof Ramjee Singh noted that the 20th century had been the century of violence and wars and what was required was the development of a universal religion as told by Vivekananda, the religion of man as given by Tagore and Guru Nanak and an equal respect for all religions as propounded by Mahatma Gandhi.

Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal released the book “Gandhian Approach to Integrated Rural Development” by Dr Ashu Pasricha of the Department of Gandhian studies and emphasized that the future of the country will be safe only if Gandhiji’s ideals are followed in true spirit.

Ramanujan’s theories discussed
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 2 — A five-day international conference on number theory and discrete mathematics, in honour of mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, was inaugurated by the Vice-Chancellor, Panjab University, Prof K.N. Pathak, at the university physics auditorium here today. More than 80 delegates from India and abroad are taking part in the conference, which has been organised by the Centre for Advanced Study in Mathematics of the university to mark the International Year of Mathematics.

The Vice-Chancellor lighted the traditional lamp. He quoted Laplace, where he had exalted the role of Indians in contributing to the world an ingenious method of expressing all numbers by ten symbols and each symbol receiving a value of position as well as absolute value.

Prof. A.K. Aggarwal, convenor of the conference’s organising committee, welcomed and introduced the delegates. He remembered the contribution of S. Ramanujan in number theory mathematics.

Talking to TNS, Professor Aggarwal said he was thankful to the university and other sponsors for helping in organising this conference. “Panjab University has contributed tremendously to number theory mathematics, with the works of Professor Bambah and Professor Hans Raj Goyal. So it was the right venue for such a conference”, he said.

The keynote address was delivered by Prof B. Brendt of the University of Illinois, USA, on the life, the three notebooks and mathematical contributions of Srinivasa Ramanujan. He also talked about the lost notebook which was discovered many years later.

Talking to TNS, Mr Brendt said, “Ramanujan has been one of the greatest mathematicians of the world and a lot of my work is based on his works. In the first five books which I have written on Ramanujan, I have tried to prove his theories. The sixth collects and comments on Ramanujan’s letters. The seventh book is an edited volume, collecting the proceedings of the international conference in the USA in 1987. We are working on another edited volume on Ramanujan, where we are incorporating many of little known articles on him.”

In the first session, which was chaired by Prof R.P. Bambah, Prof M. Waldschmidt of France spoke on multiple zeta values and C. Krattenhaler of Austria spoke on schur functions. The other speakers of the day included Mr V.C. Nanda, Mr N. Sharda, Mr S.D. Adhikari and Mr S. Srinivasan.