BKU threatens stir over power crisis
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 11
The Bharti Kisan Union, Punjab, has threatened a statewide agitation in case power is not supplied for at least 10 hours to the agriculture sector immediately.

In a joint press note issued here yesterday, the union president, Mr Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, and general secretary, Mr Manjit Singh Kadian, said farmers were reeling under the impact of frequent power cuts and various current crops such as the paddy, cereals and vegetables were withering for want of proper irrigation. The union leaders said in many rural areas small-time agriculturists were anxious about the fate of their current crops.

Union leaders further stated that the small-scale industrial units were also on the verge of closure due to irratic power supply. They further said if the power situation did not improve within the next few days, the union would call a meeting of its executive committee on May 15 to chalk out an agitational plan.

Farm training programme
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 11
The Department of Farm Power and Machinery, College of Agricultural Engineering, Punjab Agricultural University, will organise a field day on ‘Mechanical paddy transplanters’ on May 16 at the department farm.

Stating this in a press note, Dr I.K. Garg, head of the department, said the programme would be especially meant for progressive farmers, farm machinery manufacturers, extension engineers and field staff. It would acquaint them with the latest paddy transplanting technologies being recommended by the university, he said.

During the programme, experts would explain and demonstrate methods for raising mat type paddy nursery, field operations of tractor-drawn pulverising rollers and rotators, field operations of manual, engine-operated paddy transplanters and other technologies for accelerating the pace of paddy mechanisation in the state. 

Performance of Class VIII students goes down
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 11
Ludhiana, hitherto known as the educational hub of the state, has proved to be otherwise. Only 61 students from Ludhiana, who appeared in the Class VIII examination conducted by the Punjab School Education Board this year, have their names in the merit list of 550 top students of the state.

While last year Ludhiana students had won top positions in the state, this year topper from the city actually is at the 18th position in Punjab. Chitvan Kumar, student from Sanmati Vimal Jain Senior Secondary Public School, Jagraon, has bagged the first position in the district with 756 marks out of the total 800. Achieving second rank in the district and 25th in the state is Karishma Bhardwaj from the same school with 753 marks.

Securing the third position this year is Rishu Kakkar from RS Model Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar, with 750 marks. Richa Nayak from the same school has secured fourth position with 747 marks. Mehak Gupta from Sanmati Vimal Jain Senior Secondary School has scored 746 marks and Neha Taneja from Rashtriya Bal Vidya Mandir High School, Chander Nagar, has secured sixth position with 743 marks. Heena from Jain Public Senior Secondary School and Gurdeep Kaur from Swami Roop Chand Jain School, Jagraon, have shared the seventh position with 741 marks.

With 740 marks, Manpreet Kaur from Teja Singh Sutantra Senior Secondary School has been placed at eighth position. The ninth and tenth positions have been secured by Madhur Goel and Surjeet Kumar, both students of Sanmati Vimal Jain Senior Secondary School, Jagraon.

It may be mentioned that with over 20 of the total 61 merit positions (more than 90 per cent marks) in the district, students from Sanmati Vimal Jain Senior Secondary Public School, Jagraon, have faired quite well in the examination. Last year too the students from the school had performed exceptionally well and a school student, Sanchit Ankur Garg, had topped in the state with 593 out of the total 600 marks.

It may also be noted that none of the students from government schools of the district have achieved any position in the merit list and all meritorious positions have either gone to private or aided schools. Despite the fact that the District Education Department had introduced monthly examination and pre-board examination in government schools from September last year, no significant improvement in results could be seen again this time.

Comparing the results further schoolwise, Surbhi from Bhartiya Vidya Mandir, Udham Singh Nagar, has topped in the school with 736 marks, Benu Sharma has topped in MD Bhatt School, Shivaji Nagar, with 733 marks, Mahesh Kumar Dang has topped in New SMD School, New Shivaji Nagar, with 729 marks and Khushboo Jain has topped in Ritambra Public School with 726 marks.

Summer jobs — cool way  to earn moolah
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 11
Now that the strain of examinations is over and the students are free from tension, with summer jobs they can look for avenues to make some money to buy the music system they have always wanting to buy. While it is true that summer jobs are scarce in this city as compared to those in the metros as the students there can find jobs aplenty in fast food joints, conferences, trade fairs, exhibitions, road shows, marketing jobs in banks and newspapers, tele-marketing agencies and call centres.

Unfortunately, college students are not so fortunate in Ludhiana as limited banks offer summer jobs. The summer jobs are hardly ever advertised and the job vacancy is usually communicated through the word of mouth. So those keen to augment their income have to keep their eyes and ears open. One of the local newspapers uses the services of about 40 to 50 students in different fields of marketing. The spokesperson said basically one recruits the students in different aspects of marketing. Marketing would include institutional sales which means that they have to sell the newspapers to established institutions. The students are used for group representation, door-to-door marketing offering schemes from time to time. The students are used to conduct surveys about readership again from time to time. In tele- marketing, too, the services of a few students are used.

Filling scoop after scoop of ice creams in the cones can be tiring, but if you manage to get a job in a fast food joint run by an MNC, the renumerations can be good. Even in pizza centres some jobs are available. But the sad part is that Ludhiana does not have any call centres where the students with good command over English can get well-paying jobs. Options like door-to-door selling are easier to get but difficult to handle. Students may opt for marketing of consumer products. Many vacancies of salespersons can be filled by the students. The summer jobs are tough but teach valuable experiences in the school of life. The enterprising students who have some talent like dancing, painting- glass, fabric, cooking do start their own classes. Rashmi and her friend Chitra ran their dance school in a hired one room, and after paying the room rent were able to save cool Rs 5000. Similarly, Surbhi Gulati earned a good amount of pocket money along with her friend. They all say, “After earning our own money, our confidence has grown manifold. We would continue our classes this year too.”

Dr K.N.S. Kang, Director of Punjab College of Technical Education, says, “Some of our students teach in computer centres. While others are doing summer jobs as part of their studies and earning while they are learning.”

Computer literates can find short-term jobs of instructors in the numerous computer centres in the city. Mr Pratap, owner of a computer centre, says, “Due to heavy rush of students keen to learn computers during summer break, it becomes necessary for us to recruit students. It helps us mutually, the students make excellent teachers.” Slowly the concept of summer jobs will catch on and the students can learn what economic freedom means.

Students take part in rally
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 11
Students from over 10 schools participated in a rally against tobacco yesterday and presented memorandum to the high rank officers of the district demanding a ban on its sale.

Stating this in a press note, Mr Kanwal Kumar from Youth Engaged in Services (YES), said the purpose of the rally was to make the society aware of the side effects of tobacco consumption. He said students were divided into three groups. While one group presented a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, Additional Deputy Commissioner, SSP, SP, District Transport Officer and District Education Officer, the second group approached the Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner, District Consumer Forum, Civil Surgeon and Station Master. The third group of students gave their memorandum to leaders of political parties.

A paradise in colour
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 11
A beautiful collection of paintings based on Vaastu Shastra, reproduction of old masters like Torrent, Tanjore paintings, paintings using relief work and metallic & calligraphy by a Delhi-based artist, Nidhi Gupta, is on at Park Plaza. The artist has brought 100 works of art for display. The exhibition started today and will be on till May 12.

As one enters the anteroom, the awesome beauty of paintings strikes the mind. The mood lights up as one sees beautiful calligraphy paintings. Auspicious words have been written with oil colours. Posters of deities like Ganesh have been stuck in the middle. Plaster of Paris has been used to provide ‘relief’ and give three-dimensional effect. She has used fibre and terra cota tiles to enhance the beauty.

Nidhi has used relief work in a very dramatic way. In the paintings of human form, she has used it to make pleats of skirt look very real and natural by using plaster of Paris with glue. In some other paintings, relief work is used to heighten the effect of a single object like ‘tanpura’ in a painting. Tanjore paintings have been wonderfully done.

The painting of a woman carrying a bundle on her head with all the negative things tied in it like anger, greed, bad deeds and going towards a temple to change for better is visually appealing and has symbolism. Similarly, a man is shown pushing negative thoughts away through meditation. The feet have been painted so well and the shading done so effectively that they seem almost real.

The artist has shown her originality by creating a three-dimensional effect by using a glass bowl and cherry red flowers made of clay arranged in it. The frames are of Italian origin. They have been used well with Gujarati Lappan work.

Nidhi has taken to portrait paintings too. She has mixed and matched the mediums. On the looking glass she has given stained glass effect along with calligraphy. The paintings, according to Vaastu Shastra, have flowing water, peaks and a lot of greenery.

A soldier who loves to paint
Asha Ahuja

Ludhiana, May 11
It appears a bit incongruous that a professional soldier has the sensitivity of a painter. But Harparkash Janagal (78) is a true blend of valour and creativity. Harpraksh immigrated to Canada after his retirement from the Army in 1982. He visited Italy, Sumatra, France, Singapore and Java during his tenure as an armyman. The visits to these countries provided him ample opportunity to paint landscapes of different countries.

He has been in Ludhiana for the past few months to exhibit his works, mainly landscapes. He has his roots in Ludhiana. His native village is Thalla near Phillaur. He says,” I had an exhibition of my works in the PAU. Ludhianivis did appreciate my paintings a lot, but sadly only one or two got sold. Now, the Punjab Bhasha Vibhag has invited me to Patiala to exhibit my works. I want to go back to Caligury after the exhibition as the mercury has risen .”

Harparkash started drawing when he was 11. He borrowed his friends’ copies and filled them with his sketches. Later he joined the Army as Havaldar. His British superiors admired his works and to hone his talent got him admitted to fine arts diploma course in the famed J.J College of Arts (Mumbai) in the evening classes. Harprakash thinks that to be the golden period of his life. Basically a portrait painter , he painted portraits of famous army personnel like General Cariappa(then), General Atma Singh, Maj-Gen Chimni. The things were going fine till he upset his immediate boss, a captain. He wanted him to make a portrait of a member of his family, which he declined. As a punishment , he was posted out of Mumbai to Hydrabad to do a course for which he had no aptitude. The Nizam of Hydrabad asked him to make a portrait of Dr Rajindra Prasad, the first President of India as he was visiting the city. Harbaksh made a very life-like portrait of the president from a small photograph. Pleased with the portrait, Dr Prasad summoned Harprakash and after listening to him transferred him back to Mumbai. His friends advised him to switch over to landscapes as these would fetch him more money.

After his retirement from the Army, he got the job of a storekeeper in super bazar (now non- functioning) in Ludhiana. Later he migrated to Canada. He has become a member of an art society in Caligury, which exhibits works of 60 other artists. Harbaksh says,” At any given time, five works of mine are exhibited there. People like my landscapes as these are different. I go to the spot and sketch the basics. My landscapes have the colours of my choice. I do it to make them brighter and lively. I use rotten brushes. I use different techniques like pen-knife and even plaster of Paris to elevate the important features of the landscape to give three-dimensional effect.”

M. S. Cheema , a local writer, was pleasantly surprised to see his paintings hanging in the art gallery when he was in Canada and was delighted to find that a fellow Indian had made his mark in a foreign country.

Another writer, Kulwant Jagraon after going round his exhibition entered the following remarks in the visitors’ book. “Janagal has created poems, songs gazals with his brush and colours. The paintings have a certain rhythm, calmness and exquisite beauty. It appears as if nature is breathing in his paintings .”

Summer collection launched
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 11
‘Summer Fashion Nite’, a fashion show, was organised at a local resort last night. Male and female models from New Delhi sashayed down the ramp wearing latest trendy and traditional summer outfits giving a touch of Indo-Western fusion.

In the first round of ‘Saree-Saree Duniya’, beauties wore traditional Indian sarees with beautiful hand embroideries of zari, zardosi and kundan. Models wore bright colours like orange, purple and red. In the ‘Party Collection Round’, female models accompanied by male models wore shorts, minis, capris and trousers.

In the third round, models displayed short suits of bright and pastel colours on crepe, georgette and chiffon.

The sharara collection was a colourful fusion of Indo-Western style. Models wore dark coloured suede and velvet evening gowns in the ‘Sham Ka Jaadu’ round.

Ms Kriti Kohli and Mr Jitender Kohli, both organisers of the show, said people were very fashion conscious in this part of region and such shows highlight the latest trend.