EDUCATION

City boys shine in Singapore
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Dec 23 — Four city boys who had gone to Singapore for taking computer education at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, have bagged first prize at the Advance e-Business Applications competitions this year.

Arun Puri (20), V. Anand (19), Pathik Gupta (21) and Amol Dabhalkar (20), all in third year of computer engineering at the NTU, had developed a one-step media and entertainment system that allows users to watch streaming video, video conference and chat.

Arun Puri, who was in India a few days ago, told Ludhiana Tribune, “Through the media centre different groups of people in different locations would be able to watch one video in a virtual private room. “ He maintained that if one wanted to share a special video with family and friends, who are all at different places, they would be able to watch it together and would also chat online about it at the same time.”

Their system comprised a virtual cinema hall where people could watch movies while they chat and do video conferencing.

PCCTU to protest against exploitation
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Dec 23 — Women lecturers of all women colleges affiliated to Punjab University will hold a dharna on December 26 outside the senate hall of PU, to protest against the alleged exploitation at the hands of managements of these colleges.

Talking to media persons here today, the president of Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union, (PCCTU), Prof K.B.S. Sodhi, said that in a number of women colleges the revised grades had not been implemented and teachers were being paid the old grade of Rs 2,200-4,000 which had ceased to exist from January 1, 1996 and got converted into Rs 8,000-10,000.

Prof Sodhi said that non-implementation of UGC grades to women lecturers amounted to their exploitation and the union had been demanding setting up of grievance cells in universities to put an end to it. He said that they were also being denied maternity leave and earned leave in a number of colleges.

He further said that in Ludhiana district alone, such colleges were aplenty and included Khalsa College for Women, Model Town; Khalsa College for Women, Sidhwan Khurd. He said that the union was planning to approach the Women Commission for its intervention in such cases.

Meanwhile a deputation of PCCTU has been invited by Master Mohan Lal, Minister for Higher Education on December 27 to discuss their demands .

Inter-college garden competition
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Dec 23 — The lawns of Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women, Gujjar Khan, Model Town, were adjudged the best in an inter-college garden competition organised by Municipal Corporation a few days ago.

The college, having three lawns, got first prize due to the plan, upkeep and cleanliness of the lawns. The lawns, having a variety of chrysanthemums, dahlia, pansies and gladiolus are maintained by the college gardener Sat Narayan.

The lawns, having palm trees, Ashoka trees, bougainvaillaeas and Calcutta grass, caught the eye of the horticulture experts of the Municipal Corporation. The Principal of the college, Ms Anup Kaur Bansal, said the college participated for the first time in the competition.