AGRICULTURE

‘Farmers facing economic crisis’
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 15
“Due to highly intensive farming, lack of appropriate infrastructure and small land holdings, the farmers of the state were facing economic crisis,” said Dr K.S. Aulakh, Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University, while he was discussing the matters of agriculture with Mr T.K. Dass, Member, Board of Direct Taxes, Government of India, who was on a visit to the PAU alongwith the senior officers of the board.

Dr Aulakh said more than 70 per cent of the farmers were not able to earn the average per capita income of the state which was around Rs 16,000 per year. Dr Aulakh pleaded for incentives to the farmers in the form of subsidies which were permissible under the WTO.

Dr Aulakh also told Mr Dass that the university was now concentrating on evolving new technologies in alternative crops like pulses, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables, cotton, and enterprises like dairy farming, poultry farming and bee keeping.

Mr Dass appreciated the role of the PAU in ushering an era of the Green Revolution and making the country self sufficient in food products. He also visited the museum of social history and the experimental farms of the university.

CULTURE

Ludhiana needs an art gallery
Asha Ahuja

Ludhiana, June 15
The project for an art gallery in Guru Nanak Bhavan has been pending for the past two years.When the bhavan was inaugurated by Mr Parkash Singh Badal, he had assured that the gallry would be readied in a few months, but the project has been dragging its feet. The art gallery is desperately needed.

“Man does not live by bread alone.” There is definitely more to life and art is definitely an important aspect. By art one means paintings and other performing arts which are equally essential for the allround development of a human being. Ludhiana has a populace of more than 25 lakh. Though over the period of time, Ludhiana has got just two theatres for staging plays in Punjabi Bhavan and Guru Nanak Bhavan and sadly there is hardly any art gallery worth its name. Virasat Bhavan, a sort of museum to preserve the art and heritage has an art gallery, but it is away from the city.

In the past few days, four local artists held painting exhibitions and one photographer displayed his photographs. But due to lack of a proper art gallery, the artists had to display their works of art in some commercial places or some popular clubs. The lack of art gallery proves a setback to artists who cannot afford to spend money on hiring central places by paying heavy rentals. The good response to the art exhibitions is a testimony to the fact the Ludhianvis do appreciate art and would welcome more art exhibitions.

Guru Nanak Bhavan was started in April, 2000, with great fanfare. It has a huge auditorium and a stage. The work on computerised library has started as to Municipal Corporation has released some funds for 9000 square feet library which will be built at a cost of Rs 90.30 lakh. The main Municipal Library will be shifted to the Bhavan and since it will be hi-tech library, the consultancy is being provided by the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie. But the incomplete work in the art gallery belies the claims of the government. Mr Darshan Singh, secretary of Guru Nanak Bhavan, says that the government does intend to complete the art gallery. It has lofty plans of getting art-de-facts from abroad to beautify the art gallery and is trying to raise funds for the completion of the art gallery.

Nafiz, a student says: “Ludhiana is culturally defunct. So many colleges offer ‘art’ as subject for graduation courses. After their studies, they want to pursue art as their profession. But after spending time and labour on paintings, where are they going to display their works. The artists need both appreciations and money to survive. It is really sad that artists have to display their creations at melas.”

Raj Kumar, a businessman, says: “When I built my house , I needed some paintings to adorn the walls. Since there is no art gallery in Ludhiana, I could not find any paintings, I had to go to Delhi to buy paintings. Since Delhi has many art galleries and many market places that sell works of arts, I had to spend a lot of time picking and choosing the paintings of my choice. I could have saved a lot of time and money if we had a permanent kind of art gallery.”

Kuljeet Singh, an artist, feels that for want of an art gallery in the city their economic condition is not good. He says: “If we had a proper place to display our works regularly, then perhaps we would be able to sell a greater number of paintings and be better able to support ourselves. We, the artists , definitely want an art gallery where we can display our works.”

One known artist finally took to sketching of portraits on Sunday evening revelers at a busy up market. He charged Rs 100 per sketch. There was always a crowd waiting to have themselves sketched.

“The city does need an art gallery. Aesthetics are as important for the development of human beings as any other important thing like food, education. Art is inherent in human beings. Man from time immemorial has been pursuing art. I feel all the like-minded residents of Ludhiana should work towards making a few art galleries to provide platform for the artists to display their talent,” says Manpreet Juneja, a librarian of Sacred Heart Convent School.

Exhibition of knitwear and shawl designs
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 15
The International Wool Secretariat, organised an exhibition on knitwear and shawl designs in the Wool Club office here today.

The wide range of latest designs of knitwear and shawls developed by the students from various institutions were displayed.

Aparajita Sengupra (NIFT, Mumbai), Shubh Shree Kathiik, (NID, Ahmedabad) and Ananya Chaudhri (NIFT, Mumbai) were won the first, second and third prize, respectively, in the design contest and Neha Malhotra, Nimisha Mishra and Rupali Aggarwal were adjudged as first, second and third prize, in the shawl design competition.

Mr Chander Shekhar, Inspector-General of Police, Punjab, was the chief guest. He said that to face the upcoming threat of the WTO, the industry had to amend the ways of the old traditional system and should benefit from such exhibitions.