The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

PU faculties meet to discuss syllabi"
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 31
Members of various faculties of Panjab University met on the university campus here today to discuss the issues relating to the syllabi of various subjects in those faculties.

The faculties which met today included arts, education, business and commerce, design and fine arts and science. Since the deans of the faculties are yet to be elected, the seniormost professors of the departments chaired the meetings.

At the meeting of the Faculty of Arts, the courses for MA in Gandhian and Peace Studies were referred back for reconsideration to the Board of Studies as many of the members felt that writings and thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi seemed to be absent in some of the optional papers.

Prof Bhuven Chandel emphasised that the department should have used its imagination to include Indian writers on Gandhi than concentrating on political scientists who had nothing to do with Gandhian thought and practice.

Dr M. Rajiv Lochan added that Gandhi’s writings were far more simple and intelligible to the common reader in comparison to the obscure interpretations of the academic scholars.

Mr Satyapal Jain stated that Gandhi’s conception of Ram Rajya as an ideal state was totally missing in any of the papers. Therefore, the faculty advised the Department of Gandhian Studies to take note of these suggestions and reformulate the syllabi.

There was a detailed discussion on the need to rethink afresh on the relevance, utility and significance of the many vocational courses started in the colleges in the light of the UGC support for such courses.

Dr Satya Pal Gautam suggested that the UT Administration and Government of Punjab be approached to review the grant of teaching position in the colleges in the light of emerging areas and challenges of globalisation and liberalisation for vocational and add on courses proposed by the UGC. This was accepted by the faculty.

At the meeting of the Faculty of Education, the recommendations of the Department of Physical Education to abolish the physical efficiency test for admission to masters courses in physical education was refered back to the department.

At the last meeting of the Faculty of Education, some members were of the view that the criteria of physical efficiency test were so harsh that some accomplished sportspersons had not been found ineligible for admission.

Instead of reviewing the criteria and standard of the test, the department had chosen the easy path of abolishing the test altogether.

The faculty did not agree with this view, and advised the department to reconsider the norms of the physical efficiency test and retain it.

At the meeting of the Faculty of Commerce, heated discussion took place regarding the proposal of centralisation of admissions to masters courses in commerce. while some members were in favour of the centralised system of admissions to M.Com at places where more than three colleges affiliated to the PU offered these courses, there were others who thought that these admissions continue to be done at the level of the college. The final decision on the matter has been deferred till March 2002.

At the meeting of the Faculty of Science, a new course in physics in instrumentation was passed which would start from the next session.

Mr Charanjit Chawla also suggested that the students appearing in the various PU examinations should be given the option of seeing their marked answer sheets on demand. This suggestion was agreed to by the faculty and will be sent to the PU VC for approval.

DAV-7 students present patriotic songs, dances
Justice Sehgal felicitated
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 31
The principal, staff and students of KB DAV Centenary Public School, Sector 7, accorded a warm welcome to Justice DV Sehgal here today at a felicitation function held to hail his appointment as Lok Pal, Punjab.

Organised at the school premises, the students gave a lively presentation of dance items which began with a fusion dance which saw students swinging to a peppy remix while a handful of others gave a classical dance item.

Steeped in nationalism, the next item was an action song where students pledged their love for their motherland and vowed to protect their frontiers from enemies. Students dressed in colours of the National Flag and representing the defence forces and chief religions of the country danced to “We love You India”.

The cultural programme concluded with the beats of the dhol and a Punjabi pop number resounding in the background even as children dressed in bright colours enlivened the show with bhangra.

Speaking at the function, Mr GP Chopra, President of the DAV College Managing Committee, said that DAV institutions were “clearly the best” since they focussed on developing thinking of the students in stead of confining to teaching and learning.

He added that the tedious exercise of selecting the best staff for DAV institutions all over the country was also responsible for the excellent academic results of DAV institutions. He congratulated Justice DV Sehgal on his appointment as Lok Pal and said that the appointment was an honour for the DAV organisation.

The others who spoke on the occasion included Principal BS Bahl, Senior Vice President, DAV College managing committee, Prof Paramjit Singh, Registrar, PU, principals of various DAV schools among others.

Earlier, the Principal of the school, Ms Madhu Bahl, highlighted the achievements of Justice Sehgal in the field of education and judiciary. She presented him with a shawl and citation also. Principals from other DAV institutions also felicitated Justice Sehgal.

City girl gets Harballabh sangeet award
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, December 31
City girl Swati Sharma, a student of the MCM DAV College, Sector 36, has won Sri Baba Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan award held at Jalandhar. Swati , who belongs to a musical family, played Santoor in the “Vishesh yov category”, which is reserved for children with musical heredity.

Swati , though belongs to a family of sitar players, got fascinated with santoor after she played in a youth festival last October. Swati is learning Vilayat Khan gharana style of sitar under her teacher Deepa Sharma. It was a composition on Raag Megh Bhairav that won her the prestigious award at Harballabh.

Swati is planning to pursue her career in santoor.

COURTS

YEAR-END REVIEW: CONSUMER COURTS
Helping consumer to emerge king
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, December 31
The UT Consumer Court passed many significant orders in 2001. It fined dry cleaners for spoiling sari and suit, directed Railways authorities to pay compensation for poor services besides directing travel agencies to pay compensation for causing harassment to consumers.

The UT Telecom Department was directed to pay compensation to city residents for deficiency in service. The court also passed many orders directing insurance companies to pay insured amount to consumers.

Coming down heavily on automobile companies for deficiency in service, the court directed these companies to pay compensation in many cases. The court also directed various finance companies to pay maturity amount to investors.

In a major decision, the UT Dispute Redressal Forum-II directed the Northern Railway to pay a compensation to a resident of SAS Nagar, who remained locked in a toilet of Shatabadi for half-an-hour.In another case, the UT Consumer Court directed the chief commercial manager of the Northern Railway, New Delhi, to refund the cost of railway ticket and pay a compensation of Rs 1,000 to a city resident for issuing ticket although the train had already been cancelled.

The court directed Lilly White Dyers and Dry Cleaners through its proprietors and others to pay a compensation to a city resident for spoiling her suit. In another case, Krishna Dry Cleaners, Sector 47, were directed to pay a compensation of Rs 5,000 to a complainant for spoiling her suit.

Finding the UT Telecom Department guilty of deficiency in service, the court directed its General Manager at Chandigarh to pay a compensation of Rs 7,500 to a complainant and refund the rental for a period of two-and-half-month charged from him.

Bhatia Watch and Electronics were directed to refund a sum of Rs 900 being the price of a watch, to a Gurdaspur resident and to pay an amount Rs 250 to him as compensation for harassment. In an interesting decision, regarding a complaint about the presence of a burnt bidi in a bottle of a cold drink, court dismissed the appeal moved by a city resident.

The court also directed the chairman-cum-managing director of the JVG Group, Vijay Kumar Sharma, to pay the maturity value on various amounts deposited by 12 complainants.

CULTURE

Capturing Himachali splendour in photographs
Parbina Rashid

Chandigarh, December 31
Prof Ravinder Pal Kalra is a man of simple taste, a trait that is reflected in his photography, a collection of various landmarks of Himachal that he has captured with his manual camera over the past 10 years. The artist, in order to reach out to the masses, has recently launched postcards, posters and greeting cards based on his photographs.

Prof Kalra is toying with an idea of leaving his job as a college teacher to become a full-fledged photographer. “So to pursue my passion wholeheartedly and support my family through it, I have decided to go commercial,” he says.

Prof Kalra started photography as a hobby. “I visited the unexplored areas of Himachal on my scooter and captured the serenity of the place with my manual camera,” he says.

The replicas of his photographs displayed at Punjab Kala Bhavan, where he interacted with mediapersons yesterday, speak for themselves.

Untampered by the modern gadgets, Kalra’s photographs show his excellence in photography.

“The speciality of my photography is that I do not use a flash even,” he says.

Sharing his experience when he was allowed to click a rare piece of painting in Tabo Monastery he was strictly forbidden to use flash.

“I used a special apparatus to capture the beauty of the painting kept in dark surroundings, the effect was as good as using of a flash,” he adds.

The series that he calls “Glimpses of Himachal” portrays not only the glory of Shimla, Kinnaur, Chamba and Manali, but also carries some rare pieces of art from Tabo Monastery and barren beauty of the valleys of Lahaul Spiti.

Besides clicking the picturesque spots of Himachal, he also writes a column on travel and tourism called “Ghumakar Nama” for a Punjabi daily.

Prof Kalra, who hails from Jalandhar, already has four solo exhibitions of photographs to his credit.

He is currently holding an exhibition of picture postcards, greeting cards and calendars at Kalagram which will continue till January 15.