EDUCATION

State Literary Council meeting
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, Jan 4 — A meeting of the State Literary Council was held today where the progress report of the Government of India’s Continuing Education Programme, which was launched in November 1999, was tabled.

The council met under the chairmanship of Ms Vineeta Rai, Adviser to the Administrator. Those who attended the meeting included, the Member of Parliament, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, the Mayor, Mr R.K. Goyal, and the Home Secretary-cum-Education Secretary, Mr R.S. Gujral.

Mr M. Ramsekhar, Deputy Commissioner-cum-Chairman, District Literacy Council, apprised the council about the working of the 400 continuing education centres throughout Chandigarh mainly in villages and colonies. He informed the house about the revised norms for funding of the project received from the Government of India. The proposed programmes put before the council included different types of vocational training and awareness programmes in addition to literacy programmes.

It was also decided in the meeting that the councillors and the elected panches would be involved in the functioning of continuing education centres.

Students’ bid to stop VC’s vehicle
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — A students organisation of the evening college at Panjab University today tried to stop the Vice-Chancellor’s vehicle when they were protesting against university’s indifferent attitude towards them here today.

K.R. Sharma, a student leader, said that the students were being barred from participation in cultural festivals and sports events, besides other regular campus activity. The fee break-up clearly showed that they were being charged for these extra-curricular activities and they want their money back, sources said here today.

CULTURE

Six plays on govt policies
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — Six plays staged by the Haryana Public Relations Department at the Yavanika Open Air Theatre this morning reflected various government policies relevant to the contemporary society in the state.

These plays were part of the state-level competitions being organised by the department. The remaining four plays would be organised tomorrow.

The programme opened with prayer by Suraj Bhan, an employee of the Public Relations Department. The melody, inter alia, said Tere pujan ko Bhagwan based on Raga Bhairavi.

Suraj Bhan was followed by a troupe from Jind. This troupe had a satire on society which remains unbending about it’s demand for dowry. The pivotal character in this play, Mr Satbir Singh, refuses to take dowry, defying his mother’s wishes. With a view to achieving this motive of the government to fight the dowry system, the play laid emphasis that there was hardly any difference between man and woman.

Another play Sahi Rastha by the group from Sonepat highlighted the role of gram panchayat in the development of the village infrastructure. It is gram panchayat which persuades government officials to release water connections, buliding of schools and other overall development.

Written by Manpal Singh Dangi and directed by Bhim Singh, the play ended in a note of optimism that gram panchyat always played positive role in uplifting the village life.

Sahi Faisala staged by the Kurukshetra group was yet another political play which portrayed the role of Lok Adalat in resolving petty disputes. The play was written by Suraj Bedi and directed by Harikrishan Sharma.

The group from Bhiwani presented a patriotic play on Shaheed Udham Singh and the group from Gurgaon staged a play Ahsaas on the theme of respecting the elderly people. Another play Ahsaas staged by the group from Narnaul portrayed eradication of illiteracy through various government schemes.

Inaugurating the event, Mr Sher Singh Barhshami, Political Adviser to the Haryana Chief Minister, praised the Public Relations Department’s effort to bring the entire Haryanvi culture under one platform. Stressing the need to revive the traditional culture and folk dance and folk songs, Mr Barhshami said that the traditional folk media enjoyed an edge over the much-hyped electronic media.

Local singers join the bandwagon for 
cutting albums
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Jan 4 — With Punjabi pop becoming very popular, a lot of local singers are aiming to cut their albums with local music companies.

According to Atul Sharma, a music director who runs a recording studio, a majority of wannabe singers who approach the studio are either without talent or proper grooming. The number of such aspirants is growing day by day. There are about eight to 10 recording studios in the city and all of them are doing brisk business, promoting these artistes, he added.

Cutting an album might be easy for the affluent class but staying afloat in this line depends entirely on the talent and hardwork of the artiste, said Karren Jasvir who recently released his first Punjabi pop album “Dhai Lakh Di.” Karan who had formal training in semi- classical music under Prabhjyot Bali said a lot of determination besides talent is required to make some mark in this profession.

Jasvir who struggled for about four years to cut his first album said the artistes who are ready to spend money to see their name in cassette covers should concentrate more on grooming themselves. However, in today’s world one can have a pop album done by spending about Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh depending on the quality, said Atul Sharma.

Sushil Bawa who has been struggling to make his mark in this line for long feels a lot of “unprofessional” people have infiltrated into this profession, making it hard for the audience to differentiate between good and bad work. A trained singer in classical music, Bawa is interested in cutting a pop album as “it has market value.”

Application of sophisticated technology in pop songs is one of the major factors which has inspired even the “non-artistes” to have their own album, said Joe Batth , a DJ and of “Main nahi khelda” fame. The technology has become such that a lot of voice stretching can be done and flows can be eliminated, said Batth.