Pauta calls the new Budget ‘anti-employee’
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, March 8
The Punjab Agricultural University Teachers Association (PAUTA) has condemned the Union Budget tabled by the Finance Minister in the Lok Sabha. Calling it an “anti-employee” Budget the teachers maintained that the if the proposed Budget was accepted as such, it would severely affect the university teachers in particular and employees in general.

The president and general secretary of PAUTA, Dr Hari Singh Brar and Dr M.L. Gupta in a statement today said that the teachers would have to suffer due to the reduction in income tax rebate on the saving under Section 88 as well as the proposed surcharge on the income tax.

“Moreover, the dearness, medical and city compensatory allowances paid to compensate the hike in price index and other specific expenditures incurred by us are also taxed, which is an other injustice being meted out to the teachers community,’’ the teachers held.

Stating that the new income tax proposal was a direct financial blow to the university teachers, PAUTA said that it was going to severely affect the national savings and hence the development of various states.

The office-bearers have also written to the Union Finance Minister as well as the Prime Minister and have demanded that the minimum gross salary of Rs 1 lakh should be exempted from income tax and the status-quo regarding the income tax rebate on saving under Section 88 be maintained.

They have further demanded that the dearness, medical, city compensatory and other such allowances paid to the employees should be exempted from the income tax, adding that instead of squeezing the salaried class there should be strict scrutiny of the tax-evaders and legal action be taken against them to promote revenue collections.

Seminar on career options
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 8
A seminar on ‘Job opportunities and career planning in IT’ was organised at Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology, Gujarkhan Campus, here today.

Mr U.S. Kanwal, resource person, said that IT is a growing field and provided tremendous potential for job opportunities. He said that with coming in of various multinational companies like Microsoft, Intel and CISCO in India, there would be large requirement of professionals in IT sector.

Mr Kanwal said that the tenth five-year plan makes a projection of nearly 23.67 lakh jobs in the field of IT. He advised students to imbibe a strong academic and professional foundation and choose appropriate fields of specialisation in order to equip themselves with relevant capabilities for jobs in IT sector.

The lecture was followed by an interactive question-answer session on the topic wherein Mr Kanwal answered the queries put forward by the students. Dr A.S. Bansal, director, highlighted the significance of choosing the right career by students at an early stage.

When beauty meets suffering 
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 8
“I have tried to portray the emotions, passion, talent, beauty and sufferings of women in most of my works. And I get the inspiration from day to day life”, said city-based talented painter Prerna Behal, a youngster brimming with youthful exuberance and whose style evokes awe from connoisseurs of art.

Prerna will organise her first exhibition of Modern Art Paintings, pots and lamps at Lakshmi Ladies Club. This two-day exhibition will be inaugurated tomorrow by MP, Lala Lajpat Rai. Prerna has already put up her exhibitions at Chandigarh and Amritsar. She said: “Appreciation is the greatest gift for an artist”.

Her works at display will be ‘Expressing emotions’, ‘Heaven on earth’, ‘A new planet’, ‘Untitled’, ‘Tree of life’, ‘May you be the mother of 100 sons’, Her routine’, ‘Harsh reality’, ‘Golden moments’, ‘Kalyugi beta’, ‘Oasis in Thar’, ‘A complete world’, ‘Pratiksha’, ‘The blissful moments’ and ‘Gossipers’.

Her work ‘Gossipers’ is an inspiration from Picasso. “The painting is in cubes. How women folk gather in countryside and chat for hours”, explained Prerna.

‘Harsh Reality’ depicts the physical as well as mental state of a woman. She is yearning to come out from the four walls of her house. She does not want to stay back and just work for hours.

The painting ‘Display for fun and display for food’ depicts two sides of women. “One woman is a prostitute, who exposes her body for food and home. There is another woman, a modern woman. She has everything but she exposes herself for mere fun”, said Prerna.

‘Tree of life’ shows a positive approach towards life. The artist said that life was not just sad but there were happy moments too. “A night is always followed by a day. At times, a tree has dry leaves and there are fresh leaves also”, Prerna said.

The budding, promising and upcoming artist Prerna is a gold medallist in fine arts. She has successfully transposed human emotions on to the canvas.

Her creation, ‘May you be blessed with 100 sons’, truly depicts the Indian mentality. “The society has passion for boys. In this work, a begging woman is accompanied by her sons. One is begging with her, another one is on her lap and the third one in the womb. She has no money but she is not worried. She is happy because her sons are with her”, said Prerna.

‘Golden moments’ depicts the happiness of a husband and wife. “There is absolutely no place for any other in their lives”, said the artist.

A lady is continuously looking at the door in front of her. ‘Pratiksha’ depicts wait for father, husband and then son in the old age. ‘Is this your state of mind’ shows the different phases of life. “At one time the human brain wants to achieve all the heights and at other times, it feels low and disgusted”, added Prerna.

Her other works include ‘Faces’, Musical concert 1 and 11’, and hand-painted pots and hand-painted lamps.

Mushaira in Sahir’s memory
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 8
The Sahir Memorial Society, organised a mushaira on Wednesday evening in Sahir Auditorium, S.C.D. College, to pay tribute to Sahir Ludhianavi.

Poets from Mumbai and other cities participated in the mushaira. Mr B.S.Parihar, general secretary of the society, said Sahir abhorred war. He always championed the cause of the downtrodden. He lent a biterory touch to Hindi film songs.

Surjit Patar, Punjabi Poet, paid tributes to Sahir for his tremendous service to Urdu poetry. He recited a couplet in Punjabi to Sahir’s memory. ‘Hundi si ek shakh kidhar gayee, ees pathran de shehr vicho sheesha kithe gaya.’ Iftikhar Imam Siddiqui, who had specially come from Mumbai, enchanted the audience with his couplet. ‘Tu harfaon mein bol raha tha, mein padna seekh raha tha, bas tera hi naam likha tha, mein likhna hi seekh raha tha, ek teri ungli ke sahare chalna seekh raha tha.’ Inderjit Hasanpuri another well-known Urdu poet, recited,’Tera nahin hein jag vich jawab ne Punjabene’. Jigar Jalandhri’s couplet. ‘Hasratoono ka ho gaya hai is kadar dil mein hajoom, saans raasta dhoonthi hai aane jaane ke liye’ was praised by the audience. Noorjahan read the couplet, ‘Kal tak siron par makkano ki bheed thee, ab hal ye hai ki sahere deewar nahin.’

Kulwant Jagraon said, “Had Sahir been alive, he would have been upset over Gujarat riots. He was a man who wanted world peace.” Commenting on the bloodshed in Gujarat, he said, ‘Dher ne lashan de lage, khoon de darya wage, kis jagah mein ghar banava, pathran de shehr vich.’

Other poets who participated in the mushaira were Balraj Komal, Zuber Riswi, Noorjahan Sarwat, Prem Kumar Nazar, Azad Gulati, Gurbhajan Gill, S.V. Kapil, H.K. Lal, Raminder Sahil, Sardar Panchi, Jaswant Zafar, Ravinder Bhathal, Mehmood Alam, Zahid Abrol. Satish Kant, Aziz Parihar and Sukhwinder Amrit.

Mr A.S. Turna, Principal of SCD college, said the college was proud that Sahir was its student. The chief guest, Mr Kuldip Singh, (PCS), SDM Ludhiana, said that whole of India is proud of Sahir’s contribution to Urdu poetry. He was a great humantarian who wanted peace at any cost.