EDUCATION

Non-teaching staff threaten boycott
From Our Correspondent

KHANNA, Feb 17 — The executive committee of the Private Colleges Non-Teaching Employees Union (Punjab and Chandigarh) has threatened to boycott the forthcoming annual examinations of Panjab, Punjabi and Guru Nanak Dev Universities if their demands are not met in time.

Their demands include benefit of house rent allowance, release of arrears of revision of pay scales, implementation of pension-cum-gratuity scheme. The committee also decided to observe strike in all the non-government affiliated colleges on February 20 in support of their demands, as per statement of Mr D.K. Manro, district president, PCNTEU.

Mr Manro appealed to Mr Mohan Lal, Minister for Higher Education, and Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister of Punjab, to intervene in the matter and get the arrears of pay and allowances released at the earliest.

Inter-college poetry recitation contest
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Feb 17 — Students from 11 colleges participated in an inter-college poetry recitation contest held at the Government College for Women here today.

Each college was represented by two students. While majority of the participants recited poems in Punjabi, few spoke in English and Urdu. Six participants recited self-composed poems.

Anmohar of the Arya College for Boys recited his poem Aurat. Kumud Chandra of SD Government College recited Urdu poem, Hamara pyar. Bikramjit Singh of the same college recited the poem, ‘The best period of man’s life is said to be childhood, but I fear that the saying does not hold any more good.’

Kanwaljit Kaur of the Master Tara Singh Memorial College for Women was declared first. Harvinder Kaur of Guru Hargobind College, Gurusar Sadhar, secured second position. Third prize went to Bikramjit Singh of SD Government College. Jaskanwal Sohi of the Khalsa College for Women won a special prize for her self-composed poem. The overall trophy was clinched by the students of Sant Baba Bhag Singh Memorial Girls’ College, Sukhawant, Moga.

Mr Amarjit Singh Dua, lecturer in the Punjabi Department of the host college, was the chief organiser of the contest. Ms Inderjit Gill Vashisht, Principal, gave away prizes to the students. 

650 kids participate in fancy dress contest
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Feb 17 — Nearly 650 tiny tots of Guru Nanak Public School, Sarabha Nagar, participated in a fancy dress competition held today.

The participants included kids from Classes LKG and UKG. While some of the participants were dressed up like Hrithik Roshan and Daler Mehndi, there were others who acted like doctor, king, granthi ji, jathedarni, soldier, policeman, labourer, balloon seller, fairy and Miss World.

CULTURE

Talk on reassessment of Punjabi novel
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Feb 17 — A seminar on the ‘Reassessment of Punjabi novel’ was organised here today by the Ludhiana chapter of the Punjab Sahit Academy. The seminar was attended by leading litterateurs who dwelt on various aspects of Punjabi novel. In his inaugural address, the president of the academy and former Chief Secretary, Mr Amrik Singh Pooni, termed the seminar as a step towards assessing the Punjabi novel.

Participants at a seminar on “Reassessment of Punjabi novel” organised in Ludhiana on Saturday.

He pointed out that the seminar took note of all aspects and developments relating to Punjabi novel during the 20th century.

Prof Niranjan Tasneem, the convener of the seminar presented a critique on the ‘Narrative modes of Punjabi novel’. He emphasised on the aesthetic significance of a work of fiction.

Dr Harbhajan Singh Bhatia presented a paper on the appraisal of the novels of Swaran Chandan, Darshan Dhir and Harjit Atwal.

Dr Sarabjit Singh spoke about the trendsetting novelists of the last decade particularly those like Gurdial Singh, Ram Sarup Ankhi, Karamjit Singh Kussa and Niranjan Tasneem. His paper focussed on modernism and Punjabi novel. He opined that the Punjabi novel depicted the changing patterns in the social, political, cultural and economic fields. He said that the traditional and modern novel existed side by side.

Dr Sukhpal Singh Thind evaluated the significant works of the Punjabi novelists during the last century and expressed his concern in this regard.

Sahitya Academy Award winner Ram Sarup Ankhi presented a resume of the five papers presented in the seminar and passed his remarks on the views expressed in these.

In his concluding remarks eminent novelist Jaswant Singh Kanwal, who presided over the seminar , highlighted the achievements of the Punjabi novelists who were alive to the changing social and political scenario in the country and abroad.

Earlier introducing the subject, Mr Prem Singh Bajaj highlighted the activities of the Punjabi Sahit Academy, Ludhiana, and said the current seminar was second in a series planned for this year.