 |
|
| Thursday,
May 24, 2001, Chandigarh, India
|
|
||||
Agri-technocrats stage dharna Ludhiana, May 23 Addressing the dharna, Dr Satnam Singh, general secretary of the action committee, observed that till 1990-91, the Centre was granting direct subsidy to manufacturers. After the decontrol of fertilisers, the subsidy was restored in 1992-93 but in the absence of a clear cut policy on the issue, ambiguous and vague instructions were issued by the government from time to time. As a result, physical verification of the sale of fertilisers was not possible and it was done on the basis of records produced before the agri-technocrats by the dealers concerned. The activists of the committee, speaking on the occasion, called upon the government to cancel the cases registered by the Vigilance Department. They further urged the government to streamline the system of government procurement of foodgrain, the minimum support price and the public distribution system and to take special measures to prepare the farmers for the challenges posed by the WTO regime. Dr Satnam Singh announced that the committee would be forced to intensify the agitation if the government failed to concede their demands, without any further delay. |
|
BKU flays Central Govt’s move Ludhiana, May 23 In a press note issued here today, the secretary general of the union, Mr Manjit Singh Kadian, said that it was because of the efforts labour by our farm scientists and the farmers that the country was self- sufficient in foodgrains. At one time , the country was so short of foodgrains that it had to sign the humiliating PL-480 pact with the United States. It was because of the Jai Jawan , Jai Kissan slogan given to the nation by Lal Bahadur Shastri that the country became self-sufficient in foodgrains. But the latest move of the government to entrust the purchasing of various crops to the state government was aimed at extricating itself from the present arrangements which would not be tolerated and allowed to happen by the union, he added. He further said that the national executive of the union was making plans to carry on the struggle against non-fixing of minimum support prices for various crops in proportion to the general price index. And the union was fully confident of forcing the government into purchasing the coming crops of paddy, cotton etc. Meanwhile, the union expects at least 50,000 farmers to take part in the May 25 protest rally at Matka chowk, Chandigarh, at which the union would press for a minimum of 12- hour power supply to farm tubewells, release of more water in irrigation canals and the distribution of the same on the basis of equality among other things.
‘Sow recommended varieties of rice’ Ludhiana, May 23 The scientists at the Regional Research Station, Kapurthala, including Dr
T.S. Bharaj, Dr G.S. Mangat and Mr Omvir, have advised the farmers to grow only those varieties recommended by PAU. These include PR-106, PR-114, PR-111, PR -108, PR-106, PR-113 and PR-115. They further said that the farmers should grow the PR-116, PR-115, PR-114, PR-113 and PR-111 varieties only in the bacterial blight-prone areas. In the areas where sheath blight and white-backed planthopper attacks are common, PR-108 should be grown. The scientists said that for multiple cropping and delayed planting PR-115 gave the best results. They said that a thorough research on cultivation and production of paddy in the state had revealed that although some varieties of rice cultivated during past years led to a quantum jump in rice production, the quality of rice was not up to the mark. They said that those varieties possessed coarse grains leading to poor grain quality. The scientists advised that PR-115 should be preferred over PR-103 as the former was resistant to blight diseases and took 125 days to mature. It produced better quality grain and the yield was 25 quintal per acre. Dr Bharaj said that the crop should be cultivated by following the recommended cultivation techniques. He said that the saplings of paddy should be sown during May as recommended by PAU. The transplantation techniques should be followed strictly as recommended. For example PR-116, PR-114 and PR-113 should be transplanted between June 10 and 20, whereas PR-115 between June 20 and 30. |
|
|
Farmers attend
training camp Samrala, May 23 |
PAU students call off strike Ludhiana, May 23 In the morning, students staged dharna in front of Thapar Hall for almost an hour, following which they were told to meet the Dean. The Dean assured the students that he would arrange their meeting with the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Gurdev Singh Badal, within a fortnight. The students did not attend the classes today but they said that the strike had been called off and that they would join their classes from tomorrow. The students also said that if the university authorities would fail to arrange the meeting with the minister within 15 days, they would again go on strike. The students had been on strike since May 9 as they had been demanding a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture to insist him on immediate filling of the posts of District Agriculture Engineer. A meeting was earlier arranged with the Education Minister, Mr Tota Singh.
Students’ parents
end protest Ludhiana, May 23 In the morning, representatives of the parents and members of the management met the SDM, who asked them to resolve the matter amicably. He also asked the management to reduce the funds as much as posssible. In the meeting, Mr Ashok Oswal, chairman of the managing committee, agreed that several annual funds, including the Red Cross fund, welfare fund and audio-visual funds, would not be levied. It was also decided that building fund, sports fund and computer fund would be significantly reduced. Mr Oswal also said the post of principal had been advertised and interview would be held soon. Following the meeting, the parents formed a five-member coordination committee. It would hold meetings with the chairman of the management regularly to discuss the problems faced by them or their wards. |
|
It’s homework time for
students HOLIDAYS! holidays! The students rushed out, shouting, pushing, jostling, happiness writ large on their faces as schools had closed for summer vacation much to the relief of students. The students are upset that the holiday period has shrunk from two months to a little more than a month. Moreover, the joys of holidays have been robbed by the loads of homework from different subject teachers. Vacation is the time when students want to be free from the burden of studies and want to relax from the tension of studies. Parents also want that teachers should give homework to the children so that they are kept busy and do not get out of touch with studies. But the problem is that the creativity of the children is never encouraged. During the routine the syllabus is so vast that children are under great pressure to learn the entire syllabus. Moreover, daily homework and tuitions hardly leave them with any time to pursue hobbies or carry on some creative activities. Vacation is the only time when the students can pursue their hobbies, play to their hearts’ content, read books, watch movies without the tension of studies. But alas! the students are not so lucky. Ludhiana Tribune spoke to students from different schools to find out their reactions about the holiday homework given to them. Uday Bhan of New Public School said, “I find the holiday homework very boring. All the teachers take a great deal of pleasure in making our lives miserable by telling us to make charts, models and to learn tables, revise all the lessons. I just want to ask, if they were students would they enjoy doing homework? I finish the homework in two three days. Rest of the days, I just enjoy playing cricket, video games. Moreover, the homework given is very unimaginative. Why can the teachers not devise interesting homework for us?” Gaurav Dhand of Class VI of Sacred Heart Convent School said, “Can you imagine no holiday homework has been given to us this year? I still cannot believe it. My teachers have just told us to do little bit of reading. So I am going to enjoy by watching movies and playing video games.” When asked whether he would not get out of the touch with studies, he replied, “No, No, I will remember my lessons.” Priya Bedi of Class IX from Kundan Vidya Mandir School said, “We are loaded with holiday homework. Each subject teacher has asked us to make charts, diagrams and projects. The history teachers has asked us to make models of a historical building like Qutab Minar. It is so difficult. First I will have to cut the cardboard and then give grooves, stick paper and then finally paint. My mother will have to help. I certainly do not enjoy this kind of homework because I do not like drawing. Why can we not be left to join some hobby classes? I just like reading English lessons and going to the hill stations for holidays.” More or less, the students moving on the roadside and standing in groups were planning to finish the homework in a few days and then forget about studies for the rest of the holidays. Tanya of Class VIII of K.V.M. School said, “Teachers should give limited and easy homework which we can do on our own without the help of our parents. The homework should be enjoyable and should teach us something useful. For example the teachers can ask us to make a scrap book where we can paste the leaves, flowers and learn about their names. Why can they not allow us to do our own thing instead making us tense about doing the homework throughout our vacations. Moreover, which teacher corrects the homework?” Raman of Class VI said, “I like drawing so why do not the teachers tell us to do things of our choice and give us a chance to explore our creativity. I really do not like any homework during the holidays. It is so silly to force young children to write page after page. Most of us finish writing 40 pages in one day only. Then, we have to do calligraphy in Hindi and Punjabi too. I want to go to gym, to exercise, to swim, play
scrabble, and watch movies but homework keeps us busy. Moreover, parents are always nagging us to do our home work” Mrs Anupam Chibba, a teacher of KVM, said that they try to give more creative work like making of scrap books, charts. “But the children want something new. Why can’t the teachers ask them to use computers, download internet, gather
information. The students can paint, play games, make greeting cards, play music and make animated figures on computers. Hardly any such kind of home work is given to students. Year after year, the students are asked to make models, charts. The students are bored and so are we, the parents”, said Sanchi, a parent. Another parent, Mr S.K. Mittal said, “Why can’t they make their homework interesting? The teachers have been giving hackneyed homework for years. Even I used to get the same type of
work. Why can’t teachers tell them to make a newspaper of their own. In the newspaper they can make cartoons, write family news, stick family pictures, do some activity, record weather, write poems and cut out interesting news and paste them.” It is essential that homework given to the students should help them to
think, create and develop love for knowledge. Home work should be motivating and make the children happy doing it. |
Hariharan weaves magic with his music Ludhiana, May 23 Hariharan started the music extravagance by rendering a song from his favourite album, ‘Kaash’. ‘Kaash aisa koi manzar hota, mere kandhe pe tera sar hota’, he crooned sofyly. Mostly in the first half of the concert, he sang gazhals from his albums. His gazhal — ‘aadhi raat guzar gayee, jaane neend kidhar gayee’ went down well with the audience. The hallmark of his gazhal singing was use of classical music and rendering of ‘alaap’ in his full throated voice. He displayed his mastery in singing by raising his voice to a crescendo and then dropping it to a soft whisper. His interaction with the audience thrilled them. He asked the people to join him and the audience responded enthusiastically. Ajay Parsanna played magical notes on his flute and added beauty to Hariharan’s singing. The jugalbandi between Hariharan and flute delighted the listeners. On sarangi Kamal Ahmed, too, showed his mastery. Ratan Prasanna, too, got ample chance to show his mastery in the songs like, ‘yeh lamhe, yeh mausam and apni naav jidhar gayee’. Salim Ahmed, the tabla player ably assisted him. During the second half, Hariharan chose to sing his popular numbers from films. ‘Mere pas hai tu’ from the film ‘Taal’ won him a lot of applause. The patriotic song, ‘Bharat hum ko jaan se pyaara hai’ gave him ample scope to prove his versatality as the song required to sing in full throated voice and then to sing in a caressing manner. His song from ‘Border’, ‘Mere dushman, mere bhai’ was greatly appreciated. In spite of being a Tamilian, he has mastered nuance of Urdu gazhal. His piece de resistance was a song from film ‘Maachis’ — Chappa chappa charkha chale. Thus ended one of the great musical evening by a great, versatile singer,
Hariharan. 155 attend hockey trials Ludhiana, May 23 Mr Charanjit Singh
Raheja, sports secretary of the, PSB Sports Board, said that 50 players, in the age group of 18 to 21 years, reported for trials for the PSB team while 105 player, in the age group of 15 to 18 year, reported for the trials of the PSB Hockey
Academy. Olympian Ajitpal Singh, one of the members of the selection committee, said that about 47 players was short-listed today and the selection process would conclude by tomorrow evening. Mr Singh stated that the selected players would get a stipend of Rs 1,500 per month and all other expenses like sports equipment and education would be borne by the bank. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
