Wednesday, November 1, 2000, Chandigarh, India |
NFL compulsorily retires 10 employees Punjab not given its due: CM Farm
front: challenges ahead-IV Farmers lift rail blockade Fertilisers found substandard Science City hunts for partner |
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All-India bank
strike on Nov 15 PATIALA, Oct 31 — On the call of United Forum of Bank Unions, more than one million bank employees and officers throughout the country will observe an all India bank strike on November 15 of this year. The strike will be observed by all public sector banks, co-operative banks, foreign banks and private banks.
SAD activists burn Kamaljit’s effigy PHAGWARA, Oct 31 — Akali activists led by Jathedar Gurmukh Singh, circle president, SAD, today burnt an effigy of Kamaljit Singh, the alleged husband of Harpreet Kaur, daughter of Bibi Jagir Kaur, SGPC President, and copies of Jagbani, a Jalandhar-based Punjabi daily, for defiling the dead by publishing objectionable matter and photographs. Delegates to back Sonia: Amarinder
BJP’s ‘sarb dharam’ drive Two children
burnt alive
Panel raps Punjab on SC, ST atrocities
Going from pillar to
post for exam results Teachers oppose student appraisal
scheme Punjab seeks 2 more
homoeopathic colleges PCCTU to step up stir
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NFL compulsorily retires 10 employees ROPAR, Oct 31 — Taking action on the report submitted by the personnel department of the Nangal unit of National Fertilisers Ltd (NFL), the management of the company has decided to compulsorily retire 10 employees who had allegedly tampered with their service records and had got their date of births changed. As per the memorandum issued yesterday, the General Manager of the Nangal unit had passed the orders to retire Shingara Singh, Dhani Ram, Harbans Singh, Krishan Chand, Maha Singh, M.L. Kapoor, Kabul Singh, Ram Surup, Ramesh Chand and Jagdish Ram today. As per the initial entries in the service books of these employees, they were to retire from a period ranging from 1996 to 2000. However, after tampering with the records, nine of them have served illegally in the organisation for a period from eight months to four years, beyond their tenure. As reported earlier in The Tribune, 41 employees of the NFL in connivance with officials of the personnel department got their date of birth changed. The scandal came to the fore in February when the personnel department compulsorily retired the principal of a school run by the company on the charge that he had already retired as per the original entry. After the incident, the NFL decided to scrutinise the service records of all its 2,500 employees. On the basis of the inquiry, the department submitted a report alleging that the service records of 41 serving employees had been tampered with. A source said most of such cases occurred between 1965 and 1970. As per the procedure adopted during the period, the date of birth of any employee was ascertained through an attestation form submitted by him in which he declared his age. The form was verified through police inquiries and by a certificate from doctors. On the basis of these, the date of birth was entered in the service record of the employees. However, some employees later submitted the school-leaving certificates showing different dates of birth and, in connivance with the authorities, got the initial entries changed. Sources said after the publication of the news, the CMD of the NFL directed the local authorities to take action on the report submitted by the personnel department. Following these instructions the General Manager of the Nangal unit sought legal opinion on the matter. He was advised to treat the date of birth entered on attestation forms as genuine. The NFL has now decided to retire all accused employees. The sources in the personnel department alleged that this decision came only after spending Rs 25,500 on legal advice rather than consulting the personnel department.
Punjab not given its due: CM CHANDIGARH, Oct 31 — “Punjab is
incomplete. It suffers from infirmities due to policies pursued by the Congress, which always gave it a step-motherly treatment. Even the nation has failed to give the state its due in view of its sacrifices and contribution to freedom struggle and defence.” This is a quote from an interview Punjab Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal gave to TNS on the eve of “New Punjab Day” here today. In a reflective, reminiscent mood, he traversed through the corridors of time to say that all though the “anti-Punjab and anti-Punjabi” attitude of the Congress had harmed the interests of the state. Punjab remained “vulnerable” because of its location on a sensitive, live border with Pakistan. The country did not give Punjab what was genuinely due to it what to speak of special treatment. What is there to celebrate if it is “incomplete”? Is there not a contradiction that Punjab has not got what all the Akalis struggled for so long. Becoming pensive he said: “Yes. The parent state has been denied its exclusive Capital. Punjabi-speaking areas still remain outside. Disputes persist. Inconsistent Congress policies ignored principles of language, culture, contiguity and administration. This has harmed Punjab’s economic interests”. Mr Parkash Singh disclosed that to meet the needs of the Majha area, remodelling of the Uppar Bari Doab canal, a Rs 180 crore project is ready. Another project is Athar Canal to be built along the Sirhind Feeder with off-take point at the Harike confluence of the Sutlej and the Beas. This 35 km long canal will cost Rs 53 crore. Every drop of water is to be conserved. Mr Parkash Singh does not subscribe to the widely held view that Akalis have “compromised” on Udhamsingh Nagar by accepting the Uttaranchal Governorship for its senior leader, Mr Surjit Singh Barnala. “This is a wrong perception. After the death of Mr Darbara Singh, who was Governor of Rajasthan, Punjab was to get a berth. Earlier the name of Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa was considered. He joined the Union cabinet. Now it is Mr Barnala. Do not read too much into these things. One can not get everything all the time”. — PPS. |
Farm front: challenges ahead-IV LUDHIANA: Problems that beset the agricultural sector are well enumerated. Men who matter, from farmers to scientists and bureaucrats to politicians, know these and occasionally even express concern over these. These men even talk plausible, practical solutions. The bottom line is where and how to begin solving these problems given their magnitude. Like farmers, policy-makers also turn to agricultural universities for basic inputs. The latter prepare “official” notes and shuttle files up and down to convince the powers that be what to do and why. The irony is that agriculture is a state subject. But all major policy-related issues are decided in New Delhi. These issues relate to fixing “targets” regarding area, production, procurement and the prices of inputs and outputs (produce). Take Punjab. For the peasantry, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) is the repository of all its hopes and aspiration. What the university suggests and recommends is taken at its face value. But the government of babus and bureaucrats decided major issues that threaten the very future of agriculture and the existence of farmers with the approval of politicians. Thus, over a period of time, a communication gap has been created. With the changing international food and market scene, upcoming technologies and regimes like the World Trade Organisation (WTO), agriculture and allied sectors are acquiring new contours. Punjab, nay Indian, farmers feel edgy. Official machinery is used only for firefighting operations when it comes to dealing with men matters. This happens repeatedly. This resulted in an ad hoc system operating everywhere. Agriculture is no exception. PAU’s concern over the implications of the WTO is understandable. Its feeble voice did not find an echo in the corridors of power in Chandigarh till the other day. Much before Punjab and Haryana appointed a joint commission, headed by Dr Y.K. Alag, to prepare a policy on the WTO, a seminar was held on the “WTO vis-a-vis Punjab Agriculture” jointly by PAU and the Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi, in May last. The state Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, and the institute Dean, Dr B. Bhattacharyya, were present. The seminar proceedings are now available. In all, 13 recommendations were made. Understandably, one expects divergent views on the same topic when intelligent men meet to discuss and debate. While some favoured the adopting of “green box” and “blue box” policies, others wanted these to be countered with “food security”, “social system” and “rural poverty” box policies. The seminar suggested what “should” be done. The question is who is to do what, when, where and how? It is time a nucleus of experts is formed to “educate” all men at the cutting edge, to create awareness and allay the apprehensions of farmers about maintaining quality and standards for meeting international specifications. Among the salient recommendations were: evolve a mechanism to safeguard the profitability of the foodgrain sector; and impose bound or unbound rates of tariff on agricultural items. Out of 1,429 items on which restrictions have already been removed, or are to be removed by March 31, 2001, at least 825 are agricultural items. There is need for “pocket-specific” specialisation, including the agro-processing industry, because of location (climatic) advantages and the development of appropriate biotechnology with inbuilt bio-safety measures to ward off possible dangers of growing genetically modified crops. To be competitive, lower transportation and handling costs, minimise losses; build a strong road, rail and port infrastructure; and construct state-of-the-art silos for automatic cleaning, grading and storage of foodgrains to ensure quality and minimising losses during a prolonged storage of 3-5 years. A periodic review should be done of investment and subsidy policies related to agriculture which may attract WTO provisions. The Head of the Economics and Sociology Department, Dr Joginder Sigh, says the production of major crops has stabilised, profit margins have come down and the fragmentation of land holdings makes these uneconomical. This pushes more farmers below the poverty line each year. Dairying, as a subsidiary enterprise, is burdened with uneconomical, unwanted animals. Lack of institutional credit and high investment in farm machinery has pushed up the cost of production. The problems that already persist are further aggravated by uncertainties of the market and the weather. Where lies the hope? Dr Joginder Singh says in the suction of population from agriculture (primary sector) to the secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy. “Policy measures to increase the farm size, make agriculture export-oriented, expansion of institutional credit to meet the requirements of farmers and an integrated price and food subsidy programme are the most desired steps to ease the situation”. Besides all this is the growing menace of drug abuse in villages. Sarbjit Singh of the Languages and Culture Department, under the supervision of rural sociologist, Dr A. K. Gupta, and B.R. Jindal, conducted a study on drug abuse. It is a telling comment on where farmers and youth are headed. Data was collected at random covering 300-old women, representing 15 districts, who attended the kisan mela at PAU in March last. Nearly 50 per cent male adults in villages are addicted to one or the other drug or intoxicant out of which 23 per cent are habitual. Adults include husbands, brothers and sons of the interviewed women. The range of drugs varied from opium to ‘bhuki’, morphine to alcohol, charas to ‘jarda’ and cough mixture. According to the survey, on an average, per household, the expenditure per month on drugs is Rs 734. At least 12 per cent spent up to even Rs 3,000 per month. Drug addiction is leading to increased litigation, extortion and murder. The way out suggested by interviewed women is “closure” of liquor shops in villages. Surprisingly, men do not want to give up, they admit. Rising liquor consumption in Punjab should be a matter of concern. There is a cess on liquor to raise funds for education. Dr
G.S. Kalkat has suggested another modest cess of Re 1 per quintal of marketed surplus in rice, wheat and cotton to be charged from farmers. The money thus raised should be used for operational research at PAU in view of the financial crunch it faces. His suggestion is pending with the state Financial Commissioner, Development, since October, 1999.
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Farmers lift rail blockade AJITWAL, (Moga), Oct 31 (PTI) — The Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta) sponsored four-day-old rail traffic blockade between Moga and Jagraon here was lifted this afternoon. The lifting of the blockade followed an assurance given by the DIG police Ferozepore range Hardip Singh Dhillon that criminal cases against the farmers would be withdrawn. The SSP Moga, Dr Shard Satya Chohan also accompanied the DIG. The DIG according to official information, assured the agitating farmers of a thorough probe into the alleged lathi charge on the farmers on October 25 injuring some of them. Further action, according to the DIG, would be taken after the enquiry regarding the withdrawal of criminal cases registered against 14 farmers. Later, farmers laid token road block for one hour in front of the market committee and staged march through the streets of Ajitwal and
Kokarikalan. |
Fertilisers found substandard AMRITSAR, Oct 31 — The Agriculture Department has declared two samples of fertilisers as “mis-branded” while three samples of insecticides have been declared “substandard” on analysis. Show cause notices have been issued to dealer, distributors and manufacturers of these brands. Defaulters will be prosecuted, the Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO), added. A total 208 samples of fertilisers and 162 samples of insecticides were scrutinised in the presence of flying squads. The CAO said the current rice yield was expected to be 3,150 kg per hectare as compared to 3,108 kg last year. The department was supplying 3,650 quintals of wheat seed to the farmers on subsidy of Rs 200 per quintal. Out of 250 bio-gas plants, 105 have been installed so far. The farmers have been advised to adopt allied agricultural activities such as bee-keeping. Training for which will be organised from November 6 to November 13. The CAO said under the self-employment and rural development schemes, the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, had adopted Padhari Kalan village. As many as 36 bio-gas plants had been installed and 60 bee hives boxes given to the farmers on subsidy. At least 16 block-level farmers training camps and 160 village-level training camps have been organised. |
Science City hunts for partner KAPURTHALA, Oct 31 — The fund-starved Science and Technology Department of Punjab has started looking for a partner in order to part privatise the upcoming Pushpa Gujral Science City on the Jalandhar-Kapurthala road. The department has been forced to look for outside support due to the high annual maintenance cost of the project, estimated at around Rs seven crore. Talking to the TNS on the occasion of inauguration of the city office of the project on Kartarpur road yesterday evening, Mr P.K. Bhaumik, the Director General of Science City, said that parleys were on with a number of companies and global tenders in this connection were likely to be floated soon. “An MoU to be signed by the Science City authorities and the successful bidder is being drafted by the Secretary of the Punjab Science and Technology Department, but the problem is that we want a genuine partner”, said Mr Bhaumik. Work has started on the
project. |
All-India bank
strike on Nov 15 PATIALA,
Oct 31 — On the call of United Forum of Bank Unions, more than one million bank employees and officers throughout the country will observe an all India bank strike on November 15 of this year. The strike will be observed by all public sector banks, co-operative banks, foreign banks and private banks. The reason for the strike is — bank privatisation, voluntary retirement scheme and reduction in retirement age. In the event the government, despite the warning strike, moved any bill as declared in the forthcoming winter session of Parliament, there would be another strike followed by many others culminating into an indefinite strike as revealed in an official press release. In a letter to the Prime Minister, the unions pointed out that the real issue of bank’s health was non-recovery of bad loans, which together with overdue interest had crossed staggering figure of more than Rs one lakh crore, mostly due to the private sector. |
Delegates to back Sonia: Amarinder PATIALA, Oct 31 — Punjab Pradesh Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh today said party delegates from Punjab will support Mrs Sonia Gandhi in the race for party presidentship . In a statement here which was released on his behalf by his political secretary Harchand Singh Barsat, the PPCC President said Mr Jitender Prasad, another contestant for the post, not play into the hands of forces out to weaken the Congress
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BJP’s ‘sarb dharam’ drive PHILLAUR, Oct 31 — The Punjab unit of the BJP will organise a “sarb dharam sambhav” campaign from November 1 to December 31 throughout the state. This was stated by the president of the state unit of the BJP, Mr Brij Lal Rinwa, while talking to mediapersons here today. Mr Rinwa said booth-level meetings would be organised in all villages and towns during this period. He ruled out the possibility of mid-term poll in the state and predicted that the SAD-BJP government would not only complete its full term, but also come to power again the next Assembly elections in the state. He said SAD-BJP alliance was as solid as a rock, as it was based on principles and not on selfish politics. Mr Rinwa said the appointment of the president of the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Mahila Morcha and Kisaan Morcha would be done shortly.
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Two children
burnt alive KARTARPUR (Jalandhar) Oct 31 — In a tragic incident, Bittu Sharma hailing from Bihar lost two children when a fire enguifed his jhuggi in Katri gate locality here yesterday. The incident took place when Bittu, his wife and three children were sleeping. The cause of the fire could not be ascertained so far. As soon as Bittu felt the heat of flames, he pushed out his wife and one-year-old daughter out of the inferno, but the wind and the
presence of material like straw and polythene spread the fire. By the time, the fire was brought under control, his children Kishore (12) and Fultarni (10) had died. The bodies have been sent to the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar, for a postmortem examination. |
Martyr’s statue
unveiled JALANDHAR, Oct 31 — The statue of Lieut Sachin Kumar Khindaria was unveiled by Lieut Gen Kamal Davar, GOC Vajra Corps, at Kot Kishan Chand Chowk here today. Sachin Kumar Khindaria was commissioned in December 1997. He died protecting a post on October 31, 1998.
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Police transfers, postings CHANDIGARH, Oct 31 — Postings and transfers were ordered in the Punjab police today: Mr Narinder Sharma has been made DIG, Investigation, Lok Pal. Mr C.S.R. Reddy is now DIG (ORP), Economic Offences Wing, Vigilance Bureau; Mr Tejinderpal Singh, SP, Anti-smuggling CID, Amritsar; Mr Mukhwinder Singh Chhinna SP, Control Room, Chandigarh; and Mr Satpal Singh Sidhu, Zonal SP, CID, Patiala. |
Vinod Sharma
Punjab zoos’ chief CHANDIGARH, Oct 31 — Dr Vinod Sharma has become the Chief Warden (Zoos), Punjab. He joined his new assignment today. This appointment has come after the government decided to vacate the cadre post of director, MC Zoological Park, Chhat Bir. He was officiating director there. |
Teachers oppose student appraisal
scheme PATIALA, Oct 31 — Student appraisal of teachers, which was passed by the Punjabi University Syndicate last week, has been opposed by the Institution’s Teachers Association which has urged the Vice-Chancellor not to implement the scheme claiming it could be used to victimise teachers. The university authorities are, however, determined to go ahead with the scheme saying it is a necessary pre-condition of the National Accredition and Assessment Committee (NAAC) which will give accreditation ratings to the institution by December end. The university today formed a three-member committee headed by the Pro Vice-Chancellor and comprising of the Dean, Academics and the Registrar to determine the modalities under which the scheme would be implemented. The university teachers, who have already met the Vice-Chancellor to express their reservations about the scheme, are also likely to call a meeting of the general house of the Punjabi University Teachers Association, to discuss the issue and decide on further action in this regard. PUTA has reservations about the manner in which the scheme will be implemented as the university authorities have disclosed that a demand for such a scheme had been put forward by the main student organisations on the campus. Teachers feel if the student bodies are to be involved in the implementation of the scheme the whole issue is likely to become politicised and some teachers may be singled out for victimisation. They said this scheme had been discussed earlier also during the tenure of Dr J S Puar and had been rejected adding implementing it was optional as teachers were already conducting self appraisal under the Career Advancement Scheme. PUTA president Dr Bhupinder Singh Khaira said the Vice-Chancellor had been apprised about the fears of the teachers about the scheme. He said the Vice-Chancellor had assured them that the scheme would not be implemented. Vice-Chancellor Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia when contacted said the non implementation of the scheme was not in his hands and that he had not made such a commitment. Dr Ahluwalia said the teachers had, however, been assured that the scheme would only be implemented when all its modalities had been worked out. He said the three-member committee formed for this purpose would submit its report within six weeks. He said the committee was expected to give concrete suggestions regarding the proforma to be made for appraisal under the scheme, whether there was any need to distinguish between languages and life sciences and determining how the management would appraise the proforma received by it. He said effort behind this exercise was to ensure that the scheme was implemented in a scientific manner. The Vice-Chancellor also said the implementation of the student appraisal scheme was a pre-condition of the career Advancement Scheme of the UGC. He said if student appraisal was given a go by the CAS itself would be threatened as the university could not tell the UGC that it would only partly implement the CAS by only asking teachers to file their self appraisal reports. Meanwhile students of the university are happy that they would finally be able to access their teachers. Talking to a cross section of the students on the campus it was revealed that the scheme was welcomed most by students of the life sciences departments. These students said at many times they had to toe the line of the teachers for fear that they would be given poor marks in the internally accessed practical assignments. They said now for the first time they would have some check on the teachers who would have to give them the requisite teaching hours besides provide quality teaching. Many others felt instituting student appraisal of teachers would foster more interaction between teachers and students and break the traditional feudal attitude of some teachers. |
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Punjab seeks 2 more
homoeopathic colleges PHILLAUR, Oct 31 — The Punjab Government has urged the union government to set up two homoeopathy and two Ayurvedic colleges in the state to provide better medical education. Stating this here yesterday, Punjab Health Minister Baldev Chawla said he had raised the demand at a meeting of state health ministers in Delhi. Dr Chawla said the state government would soon set up a medicinal plant board with the help of the forest and agriculture departments. Dr Chawla demanded uniformity in fees of
Ayurvedic and homoeopathy colleges throughout the country. |
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PCCTU to step up stir FEROZEPORE, Oct 31 — Members of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union (PCCTU) have vowed to intensify their agitation in support of their demands in various parts of the state. The teachers, who boycotted work in at least eight colleges of Moga and Ferozepore districts to participate in the first phase of the agitation held in front of the DC’s office here resolved to stage demonstrations in the assembly constituency of the Higher Education Minister as well. Later, in a memorandum to the Chief Minister, the PCCTU demanded the implementation of the pension-cum-gratuity scheme, the release of arrears and 95 per cent government grant for 25 unaided colleges.
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GND
University results AMRITSAR, Oct 31 — The results of supplementary examinations of BA part I, II and III, conducted by Guru Nanak Dev University in the first week of October, were declared today. Disclosing this, the registrar, Dr R.S. Bawa, said the result gazettes would be available on November 1 in the afternoon.
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