EDUCATION

Silver jubilee function of school
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Nov 27 — A cultural programme was organised by Tagore Public School, Aggar Nagar, here last evening, as a part of its silver jubilee celebrations.

The programme began with a welcome song, followed by a qawwali. A choreography was also presented in which changed social scenario was highlighted. One of the main attractions of the function was a song by Yudhvir Manak, an alumnus of the school, who sang a song from his latest album. A guest item was also staged in which a dancer performed with fire on her hand. The programme concluded with a bhangra performance by senior section boys.

Prizes were distributed to the students who secured top three positions in their classes in the last session. Mr Chiranji Lal Garg, Minister of Science and Technology, Punjab, was the chief guest on the occasion. Mr Maninderjit Singh Bitta, Chairman of the All India Anti-Terrorist Front, Mr Surinder Kumar Gupta, President of the school, Ms Manju Parkash, Principal, Mr Amrit Lal Aggarwal, Manager of the school, Mr D.J. Jain, and Mr Jinder Pal Gupta were also present on the occasion.

Science symposium organised
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Nov 27 — The Bharat Jan Gyan Vigyan Jatha, Ludhiana, organised a symposium on ‘Science in the service to common man’ at the SCD Government College in which scientists and students of various schools and colleges participated.

While inaugurating the symposium, Dr L.S. Chawla, former Vice-Chancellor of Baba Farid University and President of the Indian Doctors for Peace and Development, said the developing countries could progress only if the benefits percolated to the people of the remotest areas. He expressed concern about the rise in population.

In his presidential remarks, Dr G.S. Kalkat stressed the need to educate every farmer about recent developments in agriculture. He said the farmers needed to be made aware of the receding water level.

Presenting his paper, Dr G.S.Dhaliwal, Professor of Ecology, Punjab Agricultural University, said there was an urgent need for a change in lifestyle to check ecological imbalance. Dr Arun Mitra, General Secretary of the jatha, called upon the youth to develop scientific temper and told them not to accept anything without trying and testing it.

Students of six schools participated in the science model contest in which students of Guru Ram Das Model High School stood first and Guru Nanak Girls High School, Model Town, stood second in the group of high schools. In the senior secondary group, students of Kundan Vidya Mandir clinched the first prize, while second prize went to the students of Ramgarhia Senior Secondary School.

In a group discussion on the topic of symposium, the team of Kundan Vidya Mandir bagged the first prize, while the students of the BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School won the second prize. Among colleges, the students of the College of Agriculture, PAU, were declared first, while those from the Government College for Women stood second.

Mr Sher Singh Aulakh, President of the jatha, stressed the need to organise such discussions.

Dance and fancy dress contests
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Nov 27 — Dance and fancy dress contests were held in a monthly function organised by the Love Dale Club at the Students Home, Punjab Agricultural University, here yesterday.

More than 120 children from Classes LKG to V participated in the solo dance contest. The kids danced on the tunes of various latest Hindi, Punjabi and English numbers. In the first group of the LKG students, Mangul Pahwa stood first and Mili Ahuja was declared second. Jaideep Singh and Vasudha, both from UKG, were declared first and second, respectively. Vibhu and Tamanna of Class I clinched the first and second prizes, respectively.

In the group of Class II, Param Anand stood first and second prize went to Kritika. Shreya Arora and Soumya Jain were declared first and second, respectively, in the fifth group comprising of students from Classes II to V.

In the dance contest, children from several schools participated, while the participants in the fancy dress contests were from Love Dale Montessori. All the contestants of the fancy dress competition were given prizes.

A treasure in old books
From Asha Ahuja

LUDHIANA, Nov 27 — Sunday Bazaar, around the Clock Tower, offers you second hand books on almost every subject under the sun. You can pick up a treasure for less than Rs 25.

There are the workers of Charles Dickens, Monet and Toulouse Lautrec. You can pick up Harold Robins’ Carpet Beggars’ or ‘Park Avenue 79’ or even an old classic like ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ for a mere Rs 15.

There is a wide variety of magazines and they also go rather cheap. Back issues of foreign magazines cost no more than a few rupees. Sometimes two or three of these are bunched together and offered for Rs 15.

Savita, who runs one of these stalls, says that most of the people are casual browsers, while the real buyers are very were few. Unless you appear to be a genuine buyer, some booksellers refuse to quote the price of more than one book. “First decide which book you want, and then I will tell you the price”, an angry old bookseller told this reporter.

Vishal, another stall-owner said: “Many people buy religious books. The price ranges between Rs 5 and Rs 25.” Besides, computer magazines and magazines on cooking are popular and available in plenty. Hindi novels are abundantly available and at a low price.

Billa, another dealer, said that sometimes he would let his customers exchange books after they had read them. “The customer returns two books and takes away two from us. After reading them he can return them and pick up another two. We almost work like a lending library”.

Mr Jarnail Singh, a buyer, said, “I come here every fortnight to pick up magazines and books. I generally buy National Geographic, Time and Newsweek. I spend around Rs 150 on magazines and books.”

A college student, Sunny, said that he liked to pick up horror stories. Vishal, another buyer, claimed that he had purchased from these stalls books that date back to the times of Aurangzeb.

The booksellers say that the reading habit is on the decline, which has dwindled their income.

Futher down the market towards the railway station, the nature of the product changes. Rehri markets there sell audio cassettes for Rs 10 each. These cassettes contain old as well as modern songs. You can also pick up a cassette of bhajans. A rehri owner said: “We get these cassettes from the local market. A music company that wants to wind up, sells the cassettes to us cheap.”

College teachers’ strike continues
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Nov 27 — The teachers of the Master Tara Singh Memorial College for Women continued to sit on dharna for the third day to protest against, what they call, the partisan attitude of the college management.

The teachers are demanding that the college management adopt the same yardstick with regard to appointment of a college lecturer as they had done in the case of the Principal.

The teachers said they were sitting on dharna only in their free periods and were attending to their classes regularly. It may also be mentioned that the teachers had served a legal notice to the Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University and the DPI (colleges), principal secretary and president of the managing committee, on Friday last, with regard to the extension given to the Principal.