‘Adopt hybrids for higher yield’
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 29
A two-day workshop for animal husbandry officers organised by the Department of Veterinary Extension was inaugurated at the Punjab Agricultural University here today. Over 250 delegates including joint directors, deputy directors, assistant directors, specialists of veterinary polyclinic, senior veterinary officers and veterinary officers are participating in the workshop.

Speaking at the inaugural session, Mr Jagmohan Singh, Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, Punjab, expressed serious concern over the unremunerative prices received by farmers for milk. He advocated large-scale adoption of high-yielding varieties of dairy animals so as to get maximum milk with minimum inputs of feed and fodder. He also said that unproductive stray animals were posing serious problems in dairy development in Punjab as they were putting an unnecessary strain on the already scarce resources. He told the officers to work for the welfare of animals by doing regular vaccination and taking other prophylactic measures to curb various animal diseases.

Presiding over the occasion, Dr Kirpal Singh Aulakh, Vice-Chancellor, suggested that the meat-processing plant at Dera Bassi should be operated to its full capacity. This will not only help in promoting export of good quality processed meat, but also make dairy farming more economical by ensuring income to the farmers from unproductive animals he said. He also said that while India accounts for 2.5 per cent of the world geographical area, it was supporting 15 per cent of the world’s livestock, this resulted in an imbalance which needed to be corrected by some policy.

Dr G.S. Chahal, Director, Animal Husbandry, Punjab, said that the Punjab Government had submitted a proposal for a project to the Central Government for declaring Punjab a disease-free zone and had been making consistent efforts to get the project cleared. He said that efforts were being made to solve the problem of lack of infrastructure. He said that Civil Veterinary hospitals were now being supplied with containers, guns and liquid nitrogen gas and other equipment necessary for artificial insemination. Besides, equipment for disease diagnosis was also being arranged for most of the hospitals.

Highlighting the achievements of the university scientists, Dr G.S. Nanda, Director of Research, said that an elite herd had been developed on the PAU farm which had an average lactation yield of 2,800 kg. To increase the production of a poultry farm, a new strain of broilers (IBL-80) had been developed, which has been released jointly by the ICAR and the Ministry of Agriculture. He said that a new strain of egg-type chicken, White Leghorn-Sutlej Layer, with an annual egg production potential of 270-287 eggs and an average egg weight of 54-56 gram had also been developed and was now being commercialised. Besides, a vaccine to control tropical thaileriasis, a deadly disease of young crossbred cattle, had also been developed the efforts of the PAU scientists, he said.

Dr Jaspinder Singh Kolar, Director of Extension Education, PAU, drew the attention of the minister towards the paucity of staff and funds at the College of Veterinary Science. He requested for more extension staff so that better work could be done for livestock-owners. He said that steps need to be taken to check adulteration of animal and poultry feed.

Dr K.B. Singh, Head of the Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension, said that during the workshop several technical sessions would be held in which the scientists would present their research papers through slide shows on latest developments in veterinary sciences. 

Terminated professor raps PAU
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 29
The issue of the termination of the services of a PAU Professor has been taken up by the Punjab Services Anti-Corruption Council, an SAS Nagar-based organisation fighting against corruption at workplaces. This was stated by Dr Amarjit Singh Grewal, a former senior Professor at PAU whose services were terminated by the PAU few months ago.

While addressing the mediapersons here, he lashed out at the PAU authorities alleging that although he was the senior most Professor in the Department of Immunology, his services were terminated while his junior colleagues were adjusted in other departments. He alleged that the Vice-Chancellor did not want to absorb him in the university after the scheme under which he was working had expired because he wanted to settle a score with him.

He said the members of the organisation had met the VC a few days ago and the VC had said there was no vacancy in the university where he could be absorbed. Challenging the claims of the VC, he said he was fit for the post of Veterinary Disease Investigator (VDI) where the authorities had appointed another faculty member. He alleged the PAU authorities had been, over the years, tailoring the qualification conditions in the Departments of the Veterinary College unnecessarily so as to render him ineligible for various posts.

Students celebrate annual day
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 29
Students from Shanti Niketan Adarsh Vidyalaya celebrated the 53rd annual day of the school here yesterday.

The students presented a variety of cultural items, including action songs, dance items, skits and film songs. Atul of nursery recited the poem, ”Jack and Jill”. Kajal and Twinkle of Class II danced on the song, “Pairon mein bandhan hai”. Jasleen and Parul of Class V presented a Rajasthani dance. Gurdarshan and his group presented a skit titled “Non-stop”. Shilpa of Class VIII gave a solo dance performance on the song, “Ik charkha gali de vich dah leya”.

Amardeep and his team of Class IX presented a humorous skit, “Punjabi school”. Gagandeep and Rahul also staged a skit on the working of the Punjab Police. Harneet Kaur gave a dance performance on the song “Maiya Yashodha”. The programme concluded with bhangra presented by senior section boys. Earlier, Mr Randhir Sharma, principal, read out the annual report of the school.

CMC Dy Director refutes claim
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 29
The Deputy Director of Christian Medical College Ludhiana, Dr T.M. Jaison, has claimed that only a few professors have left the institution, from among its huge faculty, further denying that there was any exodus from the institute. He was reacting to a news report ‘Exodus of doctors from CMC’ published in Ludhiana Tribune yesterday.

Dr Jaison said that Dr Sharad Ramdas and his wife Dr Anita Ramdas continued to be on the rolls of CMC till date, contrary to the published report. He said that the CMC would always remain committed to provide the best medical care to the patients and that irrespective of the minor reshuffling, the CMC still had an expert faculty.

Jaswant Zafar: a ‘technocrat’ poet, cartoonist
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 29
‘‘Kaun bachya hai, secular aaj kal yaar? Akhbar?Sarkar? Parchar? Ke Hatiyar?

Secular te lagde ne sirf rukh, sukh, bukh, te jan kukh’’

wrote Jaswant Singh Zafar during his student days at local Guru Nanak College of Engineering. During that time terrorism was at its peak and the year was 1985. The anguished youngster,protested against the political situation it came out in the form of poetry. Jaswant’s first book of anthology ‘Do Sah Vichkar’ was published in 1993.

He is working with the National Thermal Power Corporation as an electrical engineer and is presently posted in Ludhiana. He is an Assistant Executive Engineer with the PSEB. He says, ‘‘I strongly disagree with those poets that say that writing is a full-time job. But a writer cannot get varied experiences unless he is into some profession. Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Guru Ravi Das created beautiful poetry. Their sole aim was not to write poems but follow their noble mission. Poetry came from them as they had rich experiences following their mission. It is only when the writer has rich experiences that he can write rich, varied and meaningful poetry’’.

Jaswant is good at drawing too.He made good use of it by being a political cartoonist of some Punjabi journals.

But a year ago, Zafar’s thought process changed, he says, ‘‘We always criticise people. By lampooning the politicians, I made my readers happy, but that is it. It did not bring in any political change. Haven’t we seen degradation in our political, social and all other systems? Now-a-days every one’s bete noire is Ravinder Sidhu. Everyone is happy criticising him. That set me thinking. ‘‘There is a Ravi Sidhu that is omnipresent in amongst all of us./We have to identify our own Ravi Sidhu inside us and kill him. Everybody himself should be the first person to be criticised by himself.’’

Sambhav an NGO, that aims to improve environment and clean Ludhiana by 2010 has inspired Zafar to join them. His second anthology of poems titled ‘Asi Nanak de ki lagde haan’ focuses on making wrong use of ideologies.

The new House of Punjabi Sahitya Akademi, has elected him the literary and cultural secretary. Most of the writers criticise modern music and writings. To combat this Zafar has organised Sufi singing, recitation of Sufi poetry and to pursue healthy trends in Punjabi poetry every first Monday of the month.