AGRICULTURE

Seminar on rural development begins
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 8
A two-day national seminar on “Technical Advances in Home Science for Rural Development” being organised by the Society for Home Scientists for Agricultural and Rural Development, Punjab Agricultural University, opened at Wheat Auditorium here today.

Home scientists from Palampur, Dharwaad, Hisar, Pantnagar, Parbani and other state agricultural universities participated in the seminar. In her welcome address, Dr S.K. Mann, Dean, College of Home Science and president of the society, said the seminar was aimed at advancement of all aspects of home science for household and village community at national levels for overall development of quality of life for rural families.

Speaking at the inaugural session, Mr S.K. Rai, Managing Director (Works) of Hero Cycles and chief guest on the occasion, emphasised on the need for women to become entrepreneurs. He said while earlier the women were not given any liberty, but now women were participating and excelling in all fields. He said even men had started realising the need to share household work with their wives.

Dr M.A. Zaheer, Dean, College of Home Science, spoke on “Role of management and entrepreneurship for women empowerment”. He said women empowerment did not simply mean giving her the authority. She has to be educated, given technical training and ability to take right decisions, Dr Zaheer said. He said financial independence was also another important aspect for which entrepreneurship, management and marketing should be taught to them. Dr S. S. Padda, World Bank Consultant, spoke on “Fundamentals of holistic development of rural families”.

Later, parallel technical sessions were held in seminar rooms of various departments in the College of Home Science on five sub-themes — “Improvement of health through nutrition”, “Technologies for better household environment”, “Rural oriented clothing and textile technologies”, “Child care industry : technological innovations” and “Empowering women for rural development”. Dr M.K. Dhillon, Head of the Department of Family Resource Management, said poster session on similar topics would be held in the college tomorrow morning. 

Farmers attend training camp
Our Correspondent

Samrala, May 8
A block-level training camp for farmers was organised here yesterday. It was presided over by Dr Kesar Singh Panag, Chief Agricultural Officer, Ludhiana, and Mr Jaspal Singh Jassi, SDM, Samrala, was the chief guest. Many farmers of the block participated in the camp.

The Chief Agricultural Officer, Ludhiana, spoke about the importance of farm yard, manure, compost and biogas plants and said these inputs improved the soil texture by improving nutrient level in the soil.

Mr Jassi asked farmers to transplant paddy in the first fortnight of June so as to avoid future problems. Mr Jassi also advised farmers to keep in touch with the agriculture experts.

Dr H.S. Sidhu, agronomist, told farmers about taking of soil samples. He also advised farmers to use the fertilisers as recommended by experts.

Dr Partap Singh, Agriculture Officer, Ludhiana, advised farmers to take up beekeeping only after getting training from the department. He said beekeeping could give maximum income with minimum investment and labour.

Dr Ashok Chum, Agriculture officer, Samrala, thanked the chief guest, agriculture experts and farmers for attending the camp.

EDUCATION

Colourful function marks KVM annual day
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 8
Cultural programme and prize distribution marked the annual day celebrations at Kundan Vidya Mandir, Civil Lines, here today.

Sikts and dance and music items were presented by the students of primary, middle and senior sections. “Yeh din hamara hai”, an action song was presented by the tiny tots of nursery and KG classes. “Bhor bhor hon jhanjharan”, a solo dance performance was presented by Rupinder Kaur. A song dramatisation, “Jawan ho yaaron”, added colour to the programme. A Punjabi duet, “Multani kangan pawa de ve”, presented by Ruchu Katyal and Jaanu Sharma won much applause.

Hindi skit titled ‘Mehmaan’ was a complete rough riot but it was “East or West, India is the Best”, a choreographic representation by the students of senior section which attracted more attention. Ritika Gosain presented a solo song “Koi khawab mein roz aata hai”, followed by ‘Pankhidaa’, dandiya raas by the students of middle and senior sections. The highlight of the programme was the fancy dress show.

Some of the prize winners honoured on the occasion were Nitika Jain, who was adjudged as the all round best student of the school, Mukul Mohindra was declared the best speaker. Janu Sharma won the prize for the best singer, Aditi Shrotry was declared the best dancer, Sanil Khanna the best artist among boys and Ritika Sood the best artist among girls.

Mr Subhash Kumar, Commissioner, Income Tax (central), was the chief guest. Ms Neena Khanna, Principal, read the annual report of the school highlighting the achievements of the students. Mr Prem Aggarwal, manager of the school, Dr Lajpat Rai, Mr V.K. Goyal and Dr K.M. Gupta, members of managing committee, were also present on the occasion.

Kids become characters from tales
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 8
Primary-section students of Tagore Public School of Aggar Nagar participated in a story-telling competition here yesterday.

The young storytellers and their narrations with gestures kept the audience spellbound. A whole class was made to dramatise a story by donning colourful costumes of birds and animals, characters of the story.

The first position went to students of Class II-B, who narrated the story ‘Fox and the Grapes’; and the second to students of Class II-C, who presented ‘Monkeys and the Cap Seller’. Students of UKG-C, with their presentation of ‘The Hare and the Tortoise’, got the third place.

The judges were Ms Manjula Singh, Ms Satwinder Kaur and Ms Poonam. Ms Manju Prakash, Principal of the school, gave away prizes to the winners.

The function had also been held to mark the birth anniversary of Dr Rabindra Nath Tagore, where Mr Shiv Kumar, Superintendent of Police, was the chief guest. Students of senior sections delivered talks on Tagore, portraying him as a litterateur, poet and Nobel laureate.

Teachers to meet minister
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 8
The Government and Elementary Teachers Joint Action Committee, Punjab, has decided to meet the Education Minister, Mr Khushal Behl, to demand filling of vacant posts in primary schools, rollback of policy restricting any fresh recruitment and giving panchayats the right to check regular attendance of teachers in schools.

Stating this in a press note, Mr Piara Singh Dhillon, president of the committee, said the members would also demand that transfer orders be passed in the department at one go so that the working gets stabilised. Besides presenting their problems to the minister, the members would also invite him for a convention to be organised by the committee for uplifting standard of education at school level.