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May 4, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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Frozen vegetables retain nutritive value: study Ludhiana, May 3 These are the findings of a study on ‘Nutritional and organoleptic evaluation of selected frozen vegetables’ conducted by Mandeep Dhaliwal, a PhD student from the Department of Food and Nutrition, Punjab Agricultural University. Three vegetables selected for the purpose were peas, cauliflower and carrots. During the six-month freezing process, the vegetables were regularly checked for quality and nutritional characteristics to ascertain their storage stability. It was found that their evaluation scores for colour, flavour, taste, texture and overall acceptability of all the vegetables were equally good as compared to the fresh ones available in the market at that time. These were also found be less costly by 30 to 48 per cent as compared to off-season fresh vegetables. However, the acceptability of vegetables started decreasing gradually after a period of six months. The study also indicated that freezing method was more superior to dehydration and thermal processing of vegetables. The method could make vegetable growing more profitable to the farmer, besides making rural women economically self-reliant by involving them in primary processing such as cleaning, sorting, peeling and packing. During the preparation of vegetables, peas were subjected to automatic pod and stick removers that also automatically graded the peas and selected only uniform sized seeds. The peas were then washed by passing through a tank of water. The cauliflower was cut into pieces with florets about one inch in diameter and were washed in fresh water. Only tender and mild flavoured carrots were selected for study. Their tops were removed and peeled with a peeler. These were then cut into 1/4 inch slices by hand and washed. Peas were blanched for two minutes at 850C while cauliflower and carrots were blanched for the same duration at 900C. Freezing of vegetables was done in a fluidised bed freezer by individual quick freezing (IQF) method. The vegetables from the blancher were transferred to a moving stainless steel wiremesh conveyor belt and then subjected to an upward cold air stream of high velocity at minus 400C for three to five minutes. The vegetables were packed in polythene bags of 1 kg capacity and then in polythene coated cartons and kept in cold storage room where temperature was maintained at minus 200C to minus 250C. Freezing of vegetables was done in the month of March last year and samples were taken after blanching, immediately after freezing and after two, four and six months of frozen storage. It was also found that the bacterial content of all vegetables was significantly reduced after blanching and freezing. |
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Workshop on school partnerships Ludhiana, May 3 Speaking on the occasion, Ms Kanta Vadhera, education project manager of the council, said several schools of India and other developing countries had started developing tie-ups with schools from the UK. She said the British Council was of immense help for such upcoming projects as it was providing necessary information and financial support for visits, cultural exchange programmes and curriculum exchange projects to such schools. During the workshop, a video clippings on ‘North-South school partnerships’ was shown depicting the student and teacher exchanges between the schools of the UK and other developing countries like Zambia and Jamaica. The interaction between students and teachers led to exchange of ideas as well learning of new types of painting techniques, dances, music and dialects, it was shown. A slide show on planning and implementation of projects, ways on communicating with international schools and applying for grants from support agencies was presented. Ms Vadhera said several websites like wotw.org.uk, montageplus.co.uk and ontheline.org.uk were also of immense help for planning any school partnerships. Ms Khushnama Anjum, coordinator of the council, read out and discussed several case studies of schools in Sonepat and Kapurthala which had participated in such exchange programmes and had mutually benefitted from the projects. She said now several schools in Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jalandhar were applying to the council for school partnerships. Ms Jasjit Kaur, deputy manager of the council, spoke on studying and living in the UK. Mr Sunil C. Pillay, manager of the host school, said that exchange programmes were being conducted by the school from the past two years. He said five senior students of the school, along with a few members from the school staff, would move to Scotland by the end of this month for a three to four week exchange visit. Mr Pillay said since the primary students were not being involved in such visits, the students of these classes were made to communicate by way of writing letters, sending photographs and colourful sketches with primary class students of a school at Edinburgh. He said he was further developing links with such schools through the website of school,
www.wyliehigh.com.
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Workshop on quality education Ludhiana, May 3 Over 400 heads of senior secondary, high and middle schools along with their teachers, members of local panchayats and 200 students of secondary classes participated in the workshop. In her inaugural address, Ms Parkash Kaur, District Education Officer (Secondary), said all government rural schools need to come forward to improve the standards of education. Dr K.N.S. Kang, Director of the Punjab College of Technical Education, talked about various opportunities available for the Class XII students from various streams. Mr Inderpal Singh Hans, former principal of Guru Teg Bahadur National College, Dakha, spoke on the topic ‘Motivating demotivated students for better performance’. He shared his personal experiences with the students of his college. Dr Sandeep Kapoor, Department of Business Management, PAU, shared his views on the theme ‘Future scenario of education in Punjab and other developing countries of the world. Other speakers on the occasion, Prof Madan Gopal from the GHG Khalsa College of Education, Gurusar Sadhar, Mr Gursharan Singh, member of gram panchayat, Baddowal, Mr Sukhdev Singh, lecturer, DIET, Jagraon, and Mr Vijay Kumar, teacher at Government Senior Secondary School, Lakkar Bazar. |
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Fancy dress competition of kids a hit Ludhiana, May 3 The participants were divided into five groups. In group A, students from nursery and KG participated. Group B comprised students from classes I and II and group C had participants from classes III to V. In group D, students from classes VI to VIII participated while in group E, students from classes X and XII took part. In group A, Samarth Aggarwal (judge) from KG, Ankita (churi wali) from KG and Ishaan (grapes) from KG were declared first, second and third, respectively. Sukeerat from nursery won consolation prize. Among the participants from group B, Shreya Kapoor (Shabri) from class II bagged the first prize, followed by Viren Sood (chef) from class I and Abhinav (old man) from class I. Shubham (Shrawan Kumar) got consolation prize. Among the participants from group C, Girish Sharma, Gautam Maheshwari and Chirag Arora (Bapuji ke teen bandar) from class V were declared first. Surya (spring) from class III and Garima Gupta (communal harmony) from class IV were declared second and third, respectively. Sukrita Chopra (bedard padhai) from class V won consolation prize. In group D, Garvansh Gahil (kathputli) from class VII was declared first, Sanchit (modern beggar) from class VIII stood second and Vibhushit Kaul (pollution) from class VI was selected third. Sajan Sharma (kanjoos baniya) from class VI won consolation prize. In group E, Reetika (nagin) from class X was declared first, Sugandh (statue of peace) from class XII stood second and Nancy (puppet show) from class X was chosen third. Priyanka Grover (dying of humanity with colour) from class XII got consolation prize. Ms Neena Khanna, principal, gave prizes. Ms Indira Kumar, former principal, was the chief guest.
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KVM wins inter-school
declamation contest Ludhiana, May 3 The speakers were told to present their views on topics of their choice and display their oratory skills. Each school was represented by two students who had the choice to speak in English, Hindi or Punjabi. Students from Kundan Vidya Mandir, Civil Lines, were declared the winners of the Nehru trophy. Among speakers in English, Taran Khangura from Kundan Vidya Mandir, Deepti Sharma from BCM Arya Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar, and Amanjot Kaur from Guru Nanak Public School were declared first, second and third, respectively. Consolation prize went to Jaskirat Kaur from GGN Public School. Among the speakers in Punjabi, Mandeep Kaur from GGN Public School, Sahilpreet Kaur from the KVM, city branch, and Jobanjit Kaur from Baba Isher Singh Public School were declared winners. Arshdeep from BCM Senior Secondary School, Focal Point, won the consolation prize. Sumridhi Sharma from the KVM, Civil Lines, Sheeba Soni from the KVM, city branch, and Simmi from the BCM, Focal Point, were declared first, second and third, respectively, among speakers in Hindi. Shalini from the BCM, Shastri Nagar, got the consolation prize. Prof Rashmi Grover from the Government College for Women was the chief guest. |
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PCCTU favours
reward for Saru Ludhiana, May 3 According to Mr K.B.S. Sodhi, president, PCCTU, the conferring of reward on her would infuse a sense of confidence and security among women of the state and provide inspiration and moral strength to fight against moral depravity and degeneration of which they become victims. The case of Saru Rana is just the tip of the iceberg of moral degradation and exploitation of women students and lecturers existing in education institutions of Punjab. Whereas there were hundreds of Ahluwalias in our educational institutions, the Saru Ranas are very rare. |
Forum directs insurance co to pay Rs 4.17 lakh Ludhiana, May 3 The forum has further directed the company that the payment of the compensation must be made within one month of the receipt of the order failing which, the amount would be payable with interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum to the consumer. According to the complaint, the complainant had purchased a Toyata Qualis car (PB10-AN-3007) on March 29, 2000, for Rs 4,65,390 and the car was insured on the same day with the insurance company for Rs 4,64,000. A representative of the complainant, Mr S.S. Sarna, stated before the forum that in September, 2000, the consumer had given the car to a driver Som Nath to bring home his nephew, Karnail Singh who had gone to Hardwar. He further stated that Karnail Singh got sick there and called up the complainant on September 11, 2000, to ask that he should sent his car. But Karnail Singh came to Ludhiana on May 15, 2000 and informed that Som Nath had not reached Hardwar, moreover he and his family members had come on their own, he added. Mr Sarna said that when Mr Kumar contacted the family members of Som Nath, they said they had not received any message from the driver. Mr Kumar then reported the matter to the police on September 21, 2000, and a DDR was registered but the FIR was not lodged despite repeated requests, he added. Mr Sarna said that the consumer had lodged the insurance claim with the company, but despite appointing an investigator for the case, the claim had not been settled. It was demanded from the forum that the company should be directed to pay Rs 5,00,000 along with interest, compensation and costs. The company pleaded that the complainant had lodged only a DDR under the pretext of refusal by the police to register the FIR. The respondent further stated that as a matter of fact the complainant had sent his car to another place and seemed to be using it as a taxi for earning some more money and that was supported by not registering of the FIR. The respondent explained that the consumer had tried to avoid effective investigation into the matter. It further stated that he wanted that the alleged loss of the car might be hushed up without taking any action. However, it was admitted that the consumer had purchased the car and same was insured with the company. The forum observed that it was an admitted fact that the car was insured with the company for the sum of Rs 4,64,000 and lodging of the claim was also not disputed. More, the repudiation of the claim and appoint of a surveyor to assess the loss were also not challenged by the respondent, the forum further observed. The forum said that according to the company, the consumer had failed to supply the copy of the FIR and possibility was there that the complainant himself had sent the car to some other place and as such the claim was not payable. The forum stated that contention of the respondent was not sustainable at all in view of the evidence produced before the forum, as the company had appointed surveyor for investigation of the claim. Moreover, it was also admitted that the consumer reported the matter to the police and the DDR had been registered, it added. The forum said that if the police had failed to register an FIR, the consumer could not be blamed for that. The forum further said that the report of the surveyor also showed that the story put up by the consumer regarding loss of car was found to be correct. The forum stated that the insurance was taken on March 29, 2000, and the vehicle was lost in September, 2000, as such it was lost within six months of taking the insurance policy. The forum held the liability of the company was there to make to payment of compensation for loss of vehicle. It further said that after deducting 10 per cent deprecation from the amount for which the car was insured, should be payable by the respondent. |
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