The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

AGRICULTURE

Farmers advised to take to dairy farming, fruit growing
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 7
Thousands of farmers thronged the Kandi Research Station of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) at Ballowal Saunkhri village to participate in the kisan mela organised by the university to educate the farmers in the latest agricultural technology.

Addressing a large gathering of farmers, Dr Kirpal Singh Aulakh, Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University, advised the farmers to adopt agro-forestry, dairy farming, and fruit growing in addition to crop production, in order to supplement their income and also to improve the environment.

He told the farmers that the arrangements for propagation and sale of good quality fruit plants have been made at that Kandi research station in order to increase the area under fruits in the Kandi region. More than 1,000 plants of papaya, litchi, mango, lemon and guava were available for sale during the mela. Dr Aulakh also urged the farmers to follow the recommendations of PAU scientists to conserve moisture and store rainwater in tanks to check soil erosion. He warned them if sufficient green cover is not provided on slopes, the valuable soil resource will be ruined in the long run, thus making the land unfit for cultivation.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Govinder Singh Nanda, Director, Research, PAU, highlighted the research recommendations for the Kandi area. He advised the farmers to grow safeda and sardar varieties of guava, GS-6 galgal, sanour no. 2 ber, and chakiya amla. He also threw light on the improved varieties of maize, wheat, gram, bajra, sesamum, moong, ash and barley.

He advised farmers to purchase books prepared by the university and adopt scientific practices of growing fruits, field crops, vegetables, forest trees and others enterprises like dairy farming, poultry etc. Dr Sukhdev Singh, member, Board of Management, PAU, and former Agricultural Commissioners, Government of India advised the farmers to visit the kandi research station regularly.

PAU develops new spraying machine
Kanchan Vasdev
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 7
Claiming to have ushered a new beginning in mechanised farming the Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), has developed a new machine that will help the farmers in speedy spraying of various insecticides and pesticides on the crops.

The Head of the Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Dr I.K. Garg, said the machine was the first of its kind in the region and was all set to replace the manual sprayers that were much more slower and labour consuming. The working of the sprayer was demonstrated in front of the mediapersons here today.

He said that the machine was very convenient to use as it was very light in weight. He said that the self-propelled sprayer for weedicide and other chemical applications was suitable for spraying on wheat, vegetables and other crops.

He said that the machine was much more efficient than the knap-sack sprayer as it covered a wide area of 22 feet in one go. The machine was operated by 5 hp diesel engine and was controlled by the operator from the handle. The estimated cost of the machine had been calculated to be Rs 50,000 for the farmers.

Dr Garg said that the ground clearance of the machine was 50 cm and the boom height could be adjusted from 60 to 130 cm to suit different crops. The machine had two narrow rubber wheels which were powered from the engine through the gears and chain extensions. The third wheel was also provided at the back which helped in supporting the machine.

The sprayer consisted of a tank of 100 litres capacity, roller type spray pump and a boom with 12 nozzles. The nozzle spacing could be adjusted to suit different crops. A provision had also been made to adjust the track width from 90 to 105 cm. The sprayer had a capacity to cover about one hectare per hour when operated at a speed of about 2.5 km per hour.

The pump pressure could be varied up to 300 psi. The initial trials showed that sprayer was highly useful for uniform and effective spraying. It also reduced the labour requirement substantially in comparison to knapsack sprayer.

PAU to work for improving quality of produce
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 7
Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has decided to direct the future research towards improving the quality of the farm produce so that the farmers are able to compete in the international market.

According to Dr G.S. Nanda, Plant Breeder of the PAU who has taken over as the new Director of Research, the emphasis of the university would be to evolve new varieties and technologies for scientific cultivation, processing and packaging of fruits and vegetables.

He said this change for the betterment of the farmers was the need of the hour. Stating that the other challenges before the PAU were to minimise the cost of production through judicious use of the inputs like fertilisers, pesticides and weedicides, Dr Nanda said the farmers also required to develop a rational and scientific temperament and follow the advice of the scientists.

Dr Nanda who was the Head of the Department of Plant Breeding prior to his joining as Director of Research, is accredited with developing 16 varieties of wheat which include high-yield and multiple disease resistant varieties. The most famous variety, PBW-343, is currently being grown on over 4 million hectares in the North-West India since its release in 1995. A large-scale adoption of this variety has alone resulted in an additional benefit of over Rs 1,200 million annually. He has also published 197 research papers including 40 published in foreign journals.

Owing to his contributions which have also been applauded by Dr Borlaug of CIMMYT, Dr Nanda has been awarded “Disinguished Professorship in Agriculture” by the PAU. He has won the Team Research Award of the ICAR and the FICCI Award for individual initiative in life sciences.

Dr Nanda is also a fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He has recently been awarded a gold medal for his achievements by the PAU. He was also given the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award by the Union Government and the state government also presented him a Parman Patra.

EDUCATION

PCCTU continues relay fast for fifth day
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 7
Agitating over the non-implementation of their demands, the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union continued their relay hunger strike outside the mini secretariat for the fifth day.

The union members from Moga and Muktsar who were sitting since yesterday were replaced by members from Mansa and Bathinda. Union representatives from Ramgarhia Girls’ College, Millerganj, joined the dharna. Ms Harmit Kaur, Principal of the college, and Mr Bhajan Singh, president, Democratic Teachers’ Front, supported the striking teachers and said that they should continue to protest against the ‘anti-teachers’ policy of the Punjab government.

Prof K.B.S. Sodhi, president of the union, and Mr Kuldip Singh, president of the district council, said that they were demanding implementation of pension gratuity scheme, payment of arrears worth Rs 30 crore, 95 per cent grant-in-aid to unaided colleges and parity of DPEs and librarians with lecturers. He said that the relay fast would continue till September 11, which will be followed by a rally. He said that if their demands were not implemented, the teachers would be compelled to intensify their struggle.

BHMS students submit memorandum to DC
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 7
The agitating homoeopathic students pursuing the BHMS degree submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr S.K. Sandhu, today in which they have threatened to resort to hunger strike if their demand that their supplementary exams should be conducted by Baba Farid university was not accepted.

Over 120 students of Sri Guru Nanak Homoeopathic College have been sitting on a relay strike opposite the Mini Secretariat on the G.T.Road since yesterday. They condemned the “biased” attitude of the authorities and alleged that two years ago when the BFU came into existence, it had conducted the MBBS and BDS examinations, then why it was reluctant to hold examination of homeo students, they asked.

The students also alleged that they were hurt over the “rude behaviour” of the Medical Education Minister, Mr Manoranjan Kalia. “We were rounded up for more than five hours at Chandigarh yesterday, without any fault of ours”, said one of the agitating students.

The students maintained that students of Lord Mahavira Homoeopathic College will also join them by the evening in their strike.

CULTURE

SPIC MACAY’s cultural extravaganza
Asha Ahuja

Ludhiana, September 7
The Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture amongst Youth (SPIC MACAY) heralds North Virasat 2001 — a mega cultural event spanning more than two months and covering the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and UT. During this cultural extravaganza, exponents of India classical music and dance, eminent scholars, folk artists and master craftsmen will provide a rare glimpse into the richness and variety of the Indian cultural heritage. Since all these programmes are organised only in educational institutions, the movement seeks to appeal to the young energy of the students, seeing the value of the formative years in school and college — to be custodians of one’s own culture and to appreciate and internalise the subtler values enshrined in the arts.

Mrs Manveen Sandhu, the coordinator for the north, released the information regarding North Virasaat 2001 at a press conference organised at Kundan, Vidya Mandir and disclosed that since UNO had declared the Year 2001 as the ‘Year of Volunteers’, the Virasat 2001 is dedicated to two greatest volunteers of the century — Mother Teresa and Bhagat Pooran Singh — and the theme is — ‘Pursuit of the Sacred’. Appropriately, the hidden agenda of the movement remains to inculcate amongst youth a sense of service in a truly voluntary spirit. Already with the success of last year’s Virasat, a change in trend is evident as the youth participation has increased and educational institutions are willingly coming forward to host classical programmes.

Next year, SPIC-MACAY, a volunteer organisation, celebrates its jubilee year. Mrs Manmeet said that the SPIC-MACAY chapter had seven modules, which are: (a) lecdem — lecture-cum-demonstration by the artist; (b) baithak — in this students sit around the artist and enjoy the performance); fest — festival and concerts; (d) yoga camps; (e) gurukul — this is a novel scheme. The meritorious students are screened and stay with an artist and learn the art or dance or pottery free of cost. If they like to continue, they can enroll with the artist; (f) talk series — in this series luminaries like Satish Gujral, Gurmeet Rai and others will talk to the students.

This year, the first programme is being sponsored by the Ludhiana Sanskritik Samagam, an organisation to foster performing arts. LSS aims to bring art and culture to the public of Ludhiana where as SPIC-MACAY promotes the love and understanding of art and culture amongst the students. With this unifying motive of encouraging the traditional forms of performing arts, the first presentation is by Pandit Vishwamohan Bhatt on September 12 at KVM School. Bhatt is going to perform with his son Salil Bhatt for the first time in Ludhiana. This is the example of Virasaat. The father is passing his knowledge to the son. Recently, Mr Vishwamohan Bhatt and Salil Bhatt performed at Agra during the Indo-Pak Summit.

Mrs Manmeet informed that around 16-20 programmes by famous artists like Shovna Narayan (dancer), Gurmeet Bawa (singer), Wadali brothers (Sufi singers) Mangyars, a tribe of Rajasthan, Niladhri Kumar, a sitarist, and many more will be performing in schools and colleges.