PAU experts exhort youth to fight social evils
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, November 7
The Department of Extension Education, Punjab Agricultural University, organised a youth declamation contest at Meharampur village in Nawan Shahr district to create awareness among the youth about social problems. Eighteen participants from different schools of the district participated in the contest.

Dr G.S. Saini, Professor and Head, Department of Extension Education, PAU, advised rural youth to take keen interest in removing social problems, confronting the society. Environmental problems related to burning of paddy and use of pesticides and fertilisers were also highlighted. “Besides getting elementary education, the rural youth should also develop competence in handling agro-home projects,” he added.

Mr Karnail Singh and Mr Gurmail Singh, Deputy District Education Officers, also participated in the function. Mr Gurmail Singh, in his presidential remarks, appreciated the efforts of the university in mobilising the rural youth for productive work. The availability of such opportunities to rural youth would go a long way in developing their personalities. He assured that the Education Department, Punjab, would work towards promoting the rural youth programme of the university.

Mr Surinder Singh, Sarpanch of the village, demanded that such opportunities should be provided to the village more often. Ms Kulwant Kaur, Headmistress of the school, while extending the vote of thanks, expressed her satisfaction with the performance of the contestants.

Gurpreet Kaur of Government High School, Garcha, won the first prize, while Maninder Singh of DAV Public School, Mukandpur, and Manjit Kaur of Government Senior Secondary School, Bharta Kalan, won second and third prize, respectively. Ms Parminder Kaur of Flower Public Senior Secondary School, Urapur, was given a consolation prize.

‘Best Thesis Award’ for PAU student
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, November 7
Mr Harmandeep Singh Khurana, a Ph. D student in the Department of Soils, Punjab Agricultural University, bagged the Best M.Sc Thesis Award — 2001 for his research work ‘Kinetics of phosphorus release from soils fertilised with various phosphatic fertiliser materials under different cropping systems’.

The award is given by the Indian Society of Soil Science, New Delhi, every year. The M.Sc Soils students, who complete their degree, are invited from all over the country for presentation of their thesis work. This year the presentation was held at CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishwvidyalaya, Palampur, where Khurana was chosen for the award. He will be honoured by the society at its annual convention to be held at Jabalpur from November 11 to 15.

Mr Khurana did his work on comparing potential ‘P’ fertiliser substitutes for DAP, a commonly used phosphatic fertiliser in India. But being costly due to the import of raw materials required for its manufacture, scientists have been trying to find cheaper and indigenously manufactured phosphatic fertilisers. Nitrophosphates are one of such substitutes and the PAU student did his research to find their potential substitutiveness for DAP.

It is of further interest that another student of the same department — Atul Nayyar — also bagged third prize in the same category for his research work on “Comparison of different nitrogen indices under rice-wheat system in Punjab”.

GGSSC holds seminar
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, November 7
The Central Students’ Council of the Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle (GGSSC) has organised a seminar on ‘Importance of religion in present times’ at GGN Khalsa College.

Mr Jitenderpal Singh, deputy chief organiser, GGSSC, said: “Religion means to think of God and to do good deeds. The corruption, the greed, the hatred and the worries can only be sorted out if we follow the true path shown by the religion”. Mr Satnam Singh, Director Youth Services, said: “Many believe in eat, drink and be merry. But that is not the ideal one. One should think of how one can benefit society”. Mr Jaspal Singh, zonal secretary, asked the students to stay away from drugs.

COURTS

Life term for 2 in murder case
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, November 7
Mr V.B. Handa, Sessions Judge, Ludhiana, has sentenced Arvinder Singh of Hambran, to rigorous life imprisonment on the charge of killing his uncle, Ranjit Singh, on May 16, 1999 due to a dispute over ancestral property. Co-accused Sukhwinder Singh has also been awarded life imprisonment. A fine of Rs 2,000 each has also been imposed upon both the accused.

An FIR was registered against both the accused under Sections 302, 34 of the IPC at Police Station, Hambran, on the statement of Harjinder Kaur, wife of the deceased. Complainant had stated to the police that on the fateful day her husband was returning from the market. At that time she was standing in front of her house along with her son, Gagandeep Singh.

The accused armed with sharp-edged weapons came on a scooter, and Sukhwinder inflicted ‘dah’ blows on the person of her husband. Thereafter Arvinder also attacked him with a sharp-edged weapon and fled from the spot. She took her injured husband to DMC Hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.

The dispute was over five killa ancestral land in Mullanpur which Atma Singh, father of accused Arvinder Singh, had allegedly sold. But Ranjit Singh had got a stay order from the court, vide which the court had restrained his elder brother from selling the property. Annoyed with this, the accused murdered Ranjit Singh.

CULTURE

Website of Punjabi folk singers launched
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, November 7
The first-ever website of Punjabi folk singers, www.PunjabiGeetkar.com, was launched formally by the Punjab Cultural Society, here today.

Mr Inderjit Singh Thind, senior vice-president of the society, while launching the website said the website would provide information about Punjabi singers, all over the world.

He said the website had been designed specially for music lovers and would carry photographs, addresses and e-mails of the singers.

Mr Thind said the society was planning a world-wide tour to publicise the website.

Mr Gurcharan Singh Ghalib, Member Parliament, was the chief guest on the occasion.

Dhaliwal awards
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, November 7
Under the auspices of the Punjab Sahit Academy, Kartar Singh Dhaliwal Awards — 2001 will be presented at Punjabi Bhavan, here on November 9. The K.S. Dhaliwal Award will be presented to the late (Dr) Harbhajan Singh for his contribution towards Punjabi literature. His family will be conferred upon a purse of Rs 1 lakh, a citation and a shawl.

Besides him, four eminent writers — Mr Surjit Singh Bhatia, Dr Kesar Singh Kesar, Mr Mohan Bhandari and Mr Mohan Kahlon — will be given a purse of Rs 21,000, a citation and a shawl each.

Noted singers like Hans Raaj Hans, Jagjeet Zeervi, Dolly Guleria and Dev Dildar will entertain the audience.