The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

PAU prepares to get accreditation
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 15
In view of the three-day inspection of Punjab Agricultural University by a Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) team, preparations are on at the campus these days. A team from the council will visit the university from April 17 to 19 and assess its academic and administrative functioning for giving accreditation.

The ‘Peer Review Team’ of the council headed by Prof V.L. Chopra, national professor of ICAR and its former Director General, along with six other members, including Prof H.S. Nainavatya, ADG of ICAR, Dr Mehra Singh, Dr Amresh Kumar, Dr Partap Singh, Dr Ram Mohan and Dr R.Vatsla, would visit all five colleges, libraries, research and students’ farms, farmers’ service centre, residences, hostels, sports, cultural and health units of the university as well its research stations during the visit.

While earlier self-study reports had been sent to the ICAR by the university and its five colleges giving details of the academic programmes, research activities, admission procedure, co-curricular activities, seminars and workshops organised by the university during the last decade, the team would now verify the facts mentioned in the reports.

The report of the university was compiled by Dr K.S. Sekhon, Dean, Postgraduate Studies, who is also the coordinator for institutional accreditation. Dr G.S. Chahal from the Department of Plant Breeding, compiled the report for College of Agriculture. Dr S.K. Roy, Head of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Histology, prepared the report for the College of Veterinary Sciences. Dr M.K. Dhillon, Head of the Department of Family Resource and Management, designed the report for College of Home Science. Dr S.K. Munshi from the Department of Bio-chemistry, prepared the report for College of Basic Sciences while that of College of Agricultural Engineering was compiled by Dr B.R. Sharma.

The reports contained complete details of student development programmes of the constituent departments for the past 10 years, their achievements at national and international levels, scholarships, stipends, fellowships, placements, participation in curricular activities, including NCC, NSS and sports. Composition of members of faculty, their achievements, awards and honours, publications and research areas have also been mentioned.

Details regarding various learning resources including reading material in libraries and equipment in laboratories had also been stated in the reports. Outstation services of the university through extension departments, KVKs, kisan melas, communication centre and farm advisory centres had also been given. A chapter on the impact of the university research in crop improvement, crop production, seed production, soil management, dairy and poultry farming and agri-engineering technology was also a part of the report.

Various schemes for human resources like career advancement scheme, personnel policy, recruitment policy and employees welfare policy had also been given at length.

While the ICAR team was likely to reach the university by the evening of April 16, the team would take a round of the university colleges on April 17. Next day it would move to research station at Kapurthala and day after at Jalandhar.

‘CBI cop’ gets what he deserves
D.B. Chopra

Ludhiana, April 15
Posing as an officer from the CBI at Delhi, he tried to hoodwink a couple of housewives in a Focal Point colony into fulfilling his sexual lust but fate had something else in store for him. Not only was he exposed by the alert colony residents but also beaten to their hearts’ content before finally exonerating him and warning him not to be seen in the area again.

It was about two weeks ago, when a migrant working in a steel rolling mill on the Metro Road started visiting the colony after being misinformed by somebody that he could find a woman of his choice there for the asking. A migrant woman, whose husband had sustained accidental burns about six months ago and had fully recovered, was surprised when the masquerader entered her house and said he had come from Delhi to investigate the incident. He introduced himself as Vijay Kumar, a CBI officer from Delhi, and told them that he was staying at hotel Dhawan outside the railway station.

Though a semi-literate, the woman could not help wondering about the role of the CBI in the accidental fire case involving her husband, especially when he had fully recovered.

Having failed to achieve his objective of fulfilling his sexual lust, the man went to another woman in the colony while her husband was away to work and started making inquiries of a general nature. The woman told him to see her husband later.

The man arrived the next day and met the woman’s husband. He repeated the same ploy of being a CBI cop who had come to the city to investigate certain cases. Since the colony resident was not involved in any case, he asked the imposter about the purpose of his visit at which he said that he was staying at Dhawan hotel and he was in need of some ‘entertainment’.

Somehow, the colony resident asked him to come the next day and in the meantime told the whole story to a close friend who also arrived the next day when the CBI man arrived with the confidence that he had hit the bull’s eye and he would get what he craved for.

When he was asked to show his identity card by the harried man’s friend, the imposter tried to snub by telling him that it was none of his business. He was an officer and he did not need to carry his ID card with him all the time, he said.

In the meantime, some more residents of the colony, who had gathered at the spot decided to take him to the police station. On the way to the police station, he was slapped and thrashed by almost all the colony residents. When the cops at the Focal Point police station gave him a demonstration of their persuasive methods, the masquerader revealed his real identity. He was detained at the police station and his employers informed about his misadventure who came to his rescue. The gentleman, whose house the masquerader had been visiting for three days, decided not to make it official on the request of the steel mill’s manager. Though no proceedings under the law were initiated against the imposter, he was warned that he must not be seen in the locality again. Interestingly, however, the cops did not subject the imposter to further interrogation to find out his other possible ventures as a CBI cop.

PSEB federation to boycott today’s strike
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 15
The Employees Federation of the Punjab State Electricity Board ( PSEB), at an urgent meeting held here today, decided to boycott the strike of April 16, called by the Leftist unions. The union members decided to report on the duty as usual “against the non-cooperative attitude of the Leftist unions to resolve the employees demands.”

After the meeting, Mr Surjit Singh Goraya, state vice-president of the federation, said that the federation had always believed in joint action against the “anti-worker policies” of the PSEB, other state governments, including the central government. It had actively participated in the agitation organised against the privatisation of the Rajasthan Electricity Board in Jaipur, and against the Electricity Act in Delhi and other places as well.

Mr Goraya alleged the trade unions affiliated with the CPM and the CPI had broken the unity of employees, and were the main culprits for the splitting of the already formed struggle committee.

The leaders claimed that a lot of demands had been met due to the efforts of the federation, and negotiations with the board management during the past five years. However, a lobby in the board was against the subordinates and was trying to sabotage the demands of the employees.

The leaders said that the employees federation condemned the Centre’s policies for income tax and Labour Act etc. Mr Goraya condemned the Board for not solving pay anomalies, 23-year-scale and for not providing three increments to the subordinates on the pattern of engineers. The federation also condemned the abolition of about 10,000 posts of subordinate employees.

He said that the Federation would protest only with black signs on their shirts on April 16.

Work at a standstill in Improvement Trust
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 15
Confusion prevails in the office of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust since the dissolution of all improvement trusts in the state, following which work in the office has virtually come to a standstill.

Residents do not know whether their works are getting delayed in routine or the order of the High Court over the dissolution of the trusts has anything to do with this delay.

Moreover no official of the trust is generally available in the office during office hours. Visits by Ludhiana Tribune to the office during the past week revealed that the ADC, Ms Rakhi Gupta Bhandari, who has been given an additional charge of the Administrator of the trust was busy with work in the Mini-Secretariat. Even the Executive Officer, Mr P.K. Goyal, was always said to be either in the DC’s office or out on some assignment.

A harassed resident, requesting anonymity due to obvious reasons, said he had been regularly coming to the office for the past many days, but the clerk concerned always made the same reply that the file was not moving as the signatures of the chairman were required. He said it was the political tussle between two parties that was causing inconvenience to the general public.

Another such resident said a clerk had told him that no work would be done in the office till the further directions of the court. He said the clerk had told him that the court had directed that the administrators of the trust would not take any policy decisions.

“He directed me to come after 15 days. From this you can well imagine the pace of work in the offices” he said.

Several attempts were made to contact the Executive Officer of the Improvement Trust, Mr P.K. Goyal, but he was not available in the office. The ADC, Ms Rakhi Gupta Bhandari, who is presently the administrator of the trust, was also not available till evening.

14 pc more voters for MC poll in city
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 15
Number of voters in the industrial hub of Punjab has gone up by almost 14 per cent since the last general elections. As against 8.02 lakh voters, who exercised their franchise in the last Assembly elections, the number of voters for the forthcoming municipal elections has gone up to 9.13 lakh.

According to Mr A.K. Sinha, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), who is also the District Election Officer for civic elections, the staff deployed for revision of electoral rolls in the city went door to door for fresh enumeration of voters from April 1 to April 8. The ward-wise draft electoral rolls were displayed in the offices of Assistant Returning Officers (ARO) in the Mini-Secretariat so that people could file objections, if any, by April 17. The final voter list would be published by April 30.

Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, Mr Sinha told that the Subdivisional Magistrate (East) was the ARO for ward numbers 3, 4, 6 to 19, 23, 25, 26, 33 and 35 to 39, the Assistant Commissioner (Grievances) for ward numbers 47 to 66 and 68 to 70 and the SDM (West) for ward numbers 1, 2, 5, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27 to 32, 34, 40 to 46 and 67. The concerned AROs would receive objections from voters of their wards.

Subsequently necessary corrections would be made in the electoral rolls.

During the last municipal elections, held in May 1997, before Mr Parkash Singh Badal and Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra parted ways, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP coalition had contested 35 seats each and had won 20 and 18 seats, respectively.

The Congress candidates were successful at 16 seats, followed by 14 Independents. The Bahujan Samaj Party, which had fieled 37 candidates, came a cropper with only two of them making it to the civic body.

Put together, out of total votes cast in the 1997 MC election, SAD got number of votes at 1,22,252 (28.9 per cent), the BJP candidates received 1,03,585 votes (24.5 per cent) and the Congress got 98,720 votes (23.3 per cent). Independent candidates in fray garnered a significant 86,218 (20.4 per cent) votes followed by the BSP which got 11,363 (2.6 per cent) votes.

MCPI lambasts Modi for Gujarat violence
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 15
The Marxist Communist Party of India (MCPI), while expressing concern over the communal violence in Gujarat, has held the state Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, responsible for what it termed as ‘organised carnage’ of Muslim community.

The state committee of the MCPI, which met here today under the presidentship of Mr Prem Singh Bhangoo, observed that the top BJP leadership including Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had gone out of the way to shield the Chief Minister who had poisoned the whole atmosphere for the vested political interest to pursue the Hindutva agenda and has caused serious set back to the secular image of the nation and feeling of insecurity among the minorities.”

The party described increase in the MSP of wheat as insufficient and inadequate, while taking note that adequate arrangements were lacking in mandis of Punjab for procurement of wheat. It has urged the state government to make adequate arrangements for lifting of wheat immediately and ensure better MSP to the farmers.

Old rural Punjab lives here!

Punjab is known for its rich cultural heritage. With the growing western influence, the essence of Punjabi culture seems to be getting lost. Yet an instinct to ensure the survival of this great culture still remains. A heritage museum of rural life of Punjab at Punjab Agricultural University reflects this instinct. The museum presents a true picture of rural life of Punjab.

The foundation stone of this museum was laid on March 1, 1971, by Dr M.S Randhawa, the then Vice-Chancellor of the University, who conceived the idea to collect and preserve each and every item concerning the cultural heritage of the villagers. It was completed at a cost of Rs 5,50,000 on November 30, 1973. The building of the museum was designed by Mr S.S Sekhon and Mr H.S Chopra after a thorough study of traditional buildings in the old towns of Punjab like Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal Sahib, Jagraon, Zira and Sunam.

The museum building has been constructed in the old style of architecture of the 18th century. It looks like a traditional haveli. The double-storeyed building covers an area of 4,000 sq feet . A hundred-yard-long, red-stone paved footpath leads to the main entrance, the doors of which are studded with bronze nails. The display of paintings, models, objects and photographs and other illustrations creates an absolute ambience of rural Punjab.

The first room contains archaeological finds like pieces of Harrappan, Aryan, Gupta and mediaeval(1700 BC to 200 BC) pottery and specimen of old coins. The other room contains utensils for different purposes like cooking, eating and drinking, carrying and storing water. A big parat, lota, gagar, waltoha, degcha, chakla velna, bowls, glasses and other kitchen utensils are on display.

To make the atmosphere lively, extracts from punjabi folk songs have been displayed near the object (meri kachche ghare di beri je rab paar kare) concerned. Outside the room in a corner is an open kitchen with a low perforated mud partition with all necessary equipment like a parat, an old type chulha, tawi, dat, peerhi, a mannequin of housewife making chappatis and another mannequin carrying gagar( bronze pot). In the courtyard (locally called a verah) a rath is also displayed. The entire wall space of the verandah is embellished with murals of folk life. A huge pitcher like container made of six layers of camel leather with a lid and locking arrangement is one of the rarest collection.

The adjoining room has a spinning wheel, grain bins of mud, and the mannequin of a girl making a trousers string and a hand gin used in the homes to separate vices from the seeds. The implements and devices used in the making of cloth in the village can also be seen there. In another room a beautiful mannequin of a girl grinding grain on a handmill is also shown. There is a rice husking apparatus and different types of baskets of reeds and cotton threads are also on display.

Another room shows the entertainment part of village life. There are musical instruments, including sarangi, dholak, sitar, tumba, vanjhli, nagara and algoza. Next to this room is the room of a young wife complete with a cradle for the baby. It has a large cot, the sort that was given in dowry in old times. There is also her vanity boxes. The old mustard oil lamp along with its stand is also their. wooden toys are also on the display.

After passing through another room containing decorations and harnesses, jhuls for cattle, horses and camel and saddles, trinkets, bells, necklaces of beeds and other decorations for the domestic animals. At another place there is a well where various devices used through the ages for taking out water for drinking or irrigation are on display. There is another room containing agricultural implements and hand tools like chopper, sickle.

A balcony is primarily for display of phulkaris. A fabulous collection made by late Miss Rampa Pal over her life time was donated to the museum by her brother, Dr B.P Pal, a former Director General of Indian Council of Agriculture Research. There is a mannequin of house wife churning milk and also a bride leaving her parents’ home. There are also beautiful mannequins of a group of girls engaged in embroidery. Such scenes used to be a common sight in the villages in old times. There is the bridal dress worn by a bride sitting in a traditional doli.

Folk songs of the Punjab comment on the different aspects of life as lived in those times. The typical dress of a Punjabi lad and lass is on display. Different types of shoes, old traditional jewellery, hand fans with embroidery are also displayed in the balcony. The museum presents a true picture of rural Punjab and visitors to this place are enthralled by its splendour.

Satwant K. Sekhon

Make-up not just women’s domain
Shivani Bhakoo

Ludhiana, April 15
When do the looks matter? Always. And more so on special occasions like parties and get-togethers. With growing consciousness among people about their appearances, most people spend considerable time in making themselves up, to ensure a different look. While women may seem to be more keen and crazy, the men do not lag behind either.

The women in this part of the region feel that the make-up, if worn with perfection, can create the perfect and impressive look. Ms Indira Ahluwalia of Grace Beauty Institute while talking to Ludhiana Tribune admitted that the city women were more particular and concerned for their looks as compared to women of Delhi or Mumbai. “Most of the women and girls in metros are working and they hardly find time to go to beauty parlours just for make-up, whereas the city women have both the time as well as money.

They do not mind spending a few hundred rupees to look the best in get-togethers and parties”, said Ms Ahluwalia.

Ms Ahluwalia said that the young girls try to imitate models and their favourite stars. “Now a days, girls have become more beauty-conscious. They want to be the centre of attraction in parties. Some of them ask for a very light make-up, which really enhances their beauty. Some of the women have natural beauty and we tell them not to wear make-up, but they force us to apply make-up on them and their natural beauty fades away”, said Ms Ahluwalia.

Mr Dammi, another make-up artist, admitted that women definitely preferred good looks. “Most of the women can apply make-up very nicely. But because they feel that we can create wonders, they visit us. The art of make-up needs thorough learning and perfection”, said Mr Dammi.

Ms Jyoti Arora, who runs a small parlour near Kailash Cinema road says, that the girls from lower middle class were also becoming beauty-conscious.

Mr Ashok Kumar, who runs a parlour in Tagore Nagar, said that it was not that women needed make-up, men too visited parlours to get an impressive look, while going to parties and small get-togethers. “Sometimes, we have to apply foundation and face powder on their faces as they ask for it”, he said. But most of the owners of these beauty parlours feel that make-up should be applied only if needed. They said that heavy make-up always spoilt the natural beauty.

Seminar on women’s rights
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 15
The women’s wing of International Human Rights Organisation (IHRO) organised first seminar on “Women’s rights and responsibilities” at BCM school today. The wing deemed its responsibility to educate school students about their rights and how to tackle wide-spread sexual harassment.

“The sexual harassment includes verbal or sexual advances or sexually coloured remarks. The head has to take responsibility to take action against the guilty. The punishment can range from termination of services to suspension and imprisonment. The victim can contact any member of Punjab Human Rights Commission,” said Mr D.S. Gill, Chairman, IHRO.

Mr Gill urged all the principals to make a complaint committee for registering such complaints. The committee should preferably have three females and two male members. In case the institution doesn’t have any female member, then women volunteers with credibility should be taken. Ms Paramjit Kaur, principal of the school, said they have to fill a preforma sent by the CBSE Board asking for any case of sexual harassment.

Flower arrangement competition
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 15
A salad making and flower arrangement competition was held by the Gayatari Ladies Club at Magnet Resorts here today. About 35 club members took part in both the categories.

The participants had prepared a variety of vegetarian and non-vegetarian salads which included mixed salad, green salad, sprouted beans salad, pineapple salad, fruit salad and cream salad.

In the salad-making category, Ms Pooja Gupta won the first prize. The second prize was given to Ms Ritu Bansal.

The flower arrangement competition was divided in two categories — fresh flower arrangement and dry flower arrangement.

In the fresh flower category, Ms Gunita Bindra got the first prize, whereas Ms Urvi Makhija and Ms Jahnavi Malik got the second and third prizes, respectively.

Ms Madhu Mahajan won the first prize in the dry flower arrangement. The second prize was given to Ms Lovely Chadda.

The competitions were judged by Ms Savita Aggarwal and Ms Rashmi Karva.

Ms Vipin Mehajan, the president of the club, said the competitions were organised to bring out the hidden talent among women.