The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

Where was money from sports fund spent?
Tribune News Service

HIGHLIGHTS

* Issue of unaccountable amounts worth nearly Rs 25 lakh figures at the meeting of the sports committee.

* Lapses were pointed out in the entire budgeting process.

* Department officials maintain only a slight error on maintaining records which would be straightened out.

* University constitutes a committee to study the department investments.

* University committee constitutes a committee to study the regulations.

Chandigarh, November 13
The issue of unaccountable money spent out of the sports funds of Panjab University figured strongly in a meeting of the general body of the sports committee here today.

In fact, various questions were raised about the whole process of budgeting done in the past.

Members raised the issue of the approximately Rs 25 lakh missing between the accounts of the actual expenditure and the university records covering last two years. A mention was also made about the department’s FDRs. However, details of the expenditure and balance records were not available, highly placed sources said on a note of anonymity.

A senior official of the Sports Department said that the questions raised by certain members were adequately addressed. There were certain lapses on account of maintaining details of the past year because the lists under scrutiny also mentioned expenditure of the current year. This confused the members. However, the matter has been taken note of.

The official said that the department had made note of the lapses and a committee had been appointed to look into the matter which would be of extreme help while maintaining the accounts for future in a more transparent manner. “ Certain adjustments were made late and could not be clarified in the records supplied”, he added.

The Dean, University Instructions, Prof R.J. Hans-Gill who chaired the meeting said the body should concentrate only on matters concerning the budget of the sports department. The earlier expenditure and other controversies were being studied by a university committee. “ Till the committee makes final recommendations, it would be unfair to make comments about integrity of anyone”, a member said.

The university passed the budget of Rs 1.54 crore. The figures showed an amount of Rs 55.34 lakh against expenditure and Rs 98.26 lakh against balance. It was pointed out in the meeting that the money out of the sports council funds should be allocated for building funds of the university institutions. Instead of direct transfer of money, it was decided that money could be sanctioned on demand from the sports fund.

The university decided to constitute two committees — one to look into the investment of the department and another one to study the regulations, several of which needed a re-look.

The investment committee comprises of Principal A.C. Vaid, Principal Tarsem Bahia, Principal Usha, Principal Vijayalakshmi and Dr Kewal Singh. The regulations committee comprises of Principal Tarsem Bahia, Principal K.S. Brar and Mrs Rekha Bhardwaj, besides others.

Ropar Zone Youth Festival held
Tribune News Service

SAS Nagar, November 13
Scintillating individual performances in classical music, speech giving, debate, poetry recitation and handicrafts marked the Ropar Zone Youth Festival, hosted by Government College, here today.

Ms S. Kelkar, a former Vice- Chancellor of the Khairagarh University of Music, was the chief guest for events organised in the morning session.

Ms Kelkar said learning was a life-long process. She praised the cultural heritage of Punjab and stressed upon the need to preserve it.

Narinder Pal of Government College, Ropar, won the first prize in classical vocal. Darpan Preet Kaur of JLN Government College, Mandi Gobindgarh, bagged the first prize in orchestra. Pavitar Singh of Government College, SAS Nagar, won the first prize in classical percussion instrument and Pawan Kumar of Government College, Ropar, in classical instrument non-percussion.

Ms G.K. Singh, former principal of the college, was the chief guest during the inter-college quiz competition, an event introduced for the first time in a Punjabi University youth festival.

Dr Satish Kumar Verma had been invited from Punjabi University, Patiala, to conduct the quiz, jointly won by teams from Punjabi University, the Regional Centre for Information and Technology, SAS Nagar, and Patel Memorial National College, Rajpura.

The Rajpura team had Jagpreet Singh Nanda, Tarun Khurana and Puneet Gupta as members. The second prize in the quiz was won jointly by teams from Khalsa College for Girls, Morinda, and JLN Government College, Mandi Gobindgarh.

The Morinda team comprised Amandeep Kaur, Parul and Ramanjit Sharma. The Mandi Gobindgarh team had Gagandeep Kaur, Harpreet and Preet Kamal as members. Eleven colleges participated in the quiz.

In the evening, 13 teams from different colleges participated in debate, elocution and poetry recitation. The chief guest on the occasion was Mr Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, SSP, Ropar, who was welcomed by the Principal, Mr J.P. Garg.

Navneet Kaur of Mata Gujari College, Fatehgarh Sahib, won the elocution competition. Dr U.C.Singh, Dean, Academic Affairs, Punjabi University, Patiala, presided over the session.

Schools’ gesture to physically challenged
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, November 13
Prestigious Derozio award winner Harold Carver has been pouring oil into the lamp of Roshni society for enabling it to shine with the light of hope for the handicapped children under its care. That is why a group of physically challenged, mostly students doing professional courses, supplying chalks, candles and other stuff to the schools, assembled at St Stephens School to felicitate their “great benefactor” on the occasion of Children’s Day.

Showing solidarity to their less privileged brothers and sisters, the school students extended a helping hand to Jagtar Singh, a handicapped boy, to set up a tailoring shop. Similarly students from St Mary’s School and Mount Carmel School offered help to physically challenged Surinder Kaur and Mary for pursuing their studies. Later during the day, presents and certificates of appreciation were distributed by Principal Harold Carver and Vice-Principal Samson Masih. Father Thomas K.J., President of Roshni, offered a prayer.

1,600 models exhibited
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, November 13
Students of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 33, displayed their talents by exhibiting around 1,600 models on different subjects during the annual exhibition.

The exhibition was inaugurated by District Education Officer Brahmjit Kalia. Model-making was not limited to just one class. According to the school authorities, students from all classes contributed in the exhibition. Innovative skills of children were evident in models based on different subjects including history, geography, science, work experience, arts and political Science. Cultural programme and prize distribution function would be held on November 14, the authorities said.

IT seminar at DAV College
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 13
The local DAV College is hosting a two-day seminar on “ Trends and opportunities in the IT world” from tomorrow.

According to a press note issued here today, the seminar will be attended by leading personalities from the IT field and eminent academicians including Mr N.S. Kalsi, Director of the Punjab Infotech, Mr C.M. Behl, Director, Department of Computer Science and Application, Panjab University, Mr Arvind Jalota, DGM of the SAB Infotech, and Mr Dalip Kumar, DPI (Colleges).

Principal S. Marriya while addressing a press conference said “ If 18th century was about the ‘Gold Rush’, the late 20th and early 21st century are about the IT rush. Somehow the illustrious idea of tapping the massive money source out of IT caught fancy with our middle class manpower, which is always eager to get out of its hole of ‘less moneyed mortals’ and promote itself to be called the ‘elitist class’. At present we seem to be training the maximum manpower in the IT industry and somehow adding to the already confused market”.

Special mercy chance for students
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 13
Panjab University has decided to give a special mercy chance to students who appeared for their compartment examination earlier this year according to the old syllabus while the papers which they received in their examination were based on the new syllabus.

These students failed to qualify in the examination. This was communicated in an official press release of the university here today.

The chance has been called a “one-time exception”. No such chance will be allowed in future, the university clarified. The special fee for the special chance is Rs 1100. The last date for submitting the examination forms has been fixed November 22, failing which the students will be charged a late fee.

The university has clarified that the students will be expected to appear according to the new syllabus.

Lecture on Ambedkar's postulation
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 13
The past two decades have established the veracity of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar's postulation in his last thesis, The problem of the rupee, where he said “external value of a rupee could not be stabilised if its internal purchasing power was eroded”.

This was stated by Prof Om Prakash, a former Vice-Chancellor of University of Rajasthan, while delivering a special lecture in ICSSR Complex at Panjab University here today.

Professor Prakash said it was Ambedkar who laid the foundation of “federal finance” in the country, which through a mandatory provision in the Constitution had been examined successively by 11 finance commissions.

Dr Ambedkar had the vision to foresee the frailties of the pro-inflation Keynesian economics which the western galaxy could discover only six decades later, he said.

CULTURE

An artist back to his moorings
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 13
A celebrated life does not suffice, especially when roots stare at you from a distance, spreading out in affection and initiating a come back call. Mohinder Singh Gill, the famous Doctorate in Art Education from the University of Georgia, USA, could never quite forget his moorings. He painted all his life, most of the time in alien surroundings which had not even an iota of cultural richness to offer.

Today as an authority in his field, he instructs teachers in art, guiding them through the challenging contours of the canvas and painting a picture of life thereon. But as the colours of his life splash over to the white sheet, they speak less of the USA and more of primitive Punjab, where Mohinder Singh Gill was initiated and encouraged as a painter by the inimitable M.S. Randhawa. Before 1962, when Mr Gill left home in search of a better living, he had already been teaching art at Government Special School, Nangal. Subsequently he migrated to the USA, carrying along nothing except memories of native Badala near Kharar and some expertise in art that he picked up at Government School of Art, Simla.

Forty years of self discovery have weighed heavily upon Gill, who has come back to answer the call of his moorings. A Professor, who taught for long at the Pennysylvania State University, feels he has many more obligations to attend. The topmost among them is exhibiting his works in Punjab, the land of virility and vigour which made him a quintessence artist.

The works are varied, rich and loud. Retrieved from the collection of Government Museum in Sector 10 and from the Museum of Cultural History of Punjab, Ludhiana, the works reflect Punjabi culture at its best. In all 34 works will be opened for public display soon after the show is inaugurated at Punjab Kala Bhavan, Sector 16 on November 14. While 27 at works are from Mr Gill’s personal collection in the USA, the rest have been retrieved from the Museums in India, which have very fondly stocked Mr Gill’s handwriting in art, each one a testimony of cultural richness of the land, which still inspires Gill as an artist.

“You can take the man out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the man. Qadr-e-watan sikha hamne tark-e-watan ke baad...,” said the artist, who made it a point to mention that Punjab runs through his veins, as always.

“Stop doing this womanly business,” he would say, “though later I proved to him that art is worth pursuing simply because it’s a reflection of one’s own bearings. “With a persistent interest in the field, Mr Gill picked up an MA in Fine Arts from the USA and went on to interpret the human psyche. “I was always curious to know what lies beneath the facade. I paint in oil so that I can go back to my thoughts and also prolong the life of my works. The thought can stem from anywhere — a news on a civilian injured in the war in Bosnia, an earthquake in Gujarat or compassion for animals or the richness of culture. I have painted everything.”

Many of Mr Gill’s works have been awarded abroad. One of his paintings, depicting the flood of refugees in the backdrop of a fallen tree, received the second prize in the New York art contest. But all this does not matter much to the artist, who is still craving for his roots.

‘Mosaic — 2002’ begins today
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 13
‘Mosaic — 2002’, a cultural and information technology festival, will be hosted by the Dev Samaj Polytechnic for Women, Sector 45, from November 14 to November 16, according to a press note.

The opening session of the festival on Thursday will witness a debate on ‘ Internet is a boon to mankind’. This will be followed by skits and dumb charades. The contests on Friday will feature group song and inter-college light vocal contests.

On the last day there will be contests in ‘rangoli’, ‘mehndi’, fabric painting and anchor embroidery categories. The last day will also witness the inter-college declamation and the inter-college poetry recitation contests.

The contests are open to children of all schools, colleges, polytechnic and private educational institutions.