The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Farmers’ training on Jan 6
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 3
Under the Adarsh Gram Scheme, jointly launched by the Animal Husbandry, the Fisheries and the Dairy Development Departments, a camp was organised at Kaddon village to identify young dairy farmers for training. Mr Gurkirat Singh Kotli, general secretary, Punjab Pradesh Youth Congress Committee, inaugurated the camp.

Talking about the programme, Dr Harprem Singh, Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, said the first batch of 98 unemployed youth from Dadhahoor, Roomi Halwara, Kaddon, Dakha and Purain villages had been given one-month training at Dakha and their applications for the loans to set up dairy and fish farms ranging from Rs 75,000 to Rs 11 lakh had been forwarded to the banks. He said the second batch of 100 unemployed youth from Sihala, Ghungrali Sikhan, Kaddon and other adjoining villages had also been selected and the training would commence from January 6 at the Bija Training Centre. He said the Animal Husbandry Department was providing free services of specialist veterinarians to the dairy units.

Inter-college contest results
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 3
In the inter-college recitation competition organised by Master Tara Singh Memorial College, 12 teams participated. The following are the results: Jaskanwal Sohi of the Government College for Women 1; Aditi of DD Jain College 2; and Sarabjit Kaur of the GHG College of Education 3. Arshpreet and Amandeep of Ramgarhia College and Aditi of SDP College bagged consolation prizes. The judges were Mr Kulwant Jagraon, Ms Kusum Verma and Prof Bindu Sharma.

In the inter-school and college poster making competitions, 13 teams participated. At the school level, Kundan Vidya Mandir was first and the second and third positions were bagged by BCM . The consolation prize went to SDP School.

At the college level, Master Tara Singh was 1; A.S. College, Khanna, 2; and Khalsa College for Women 3. The consolation prize went to Master Tara Singh College.

At professional-college level, College of Home Science, PAU, 1; GHG College of Education, Sudhar, 2; and the third position bagged by the same college.

In the shabad gayan competition, Guru Nanak Girls College 1; Ramgarhia Girls College 2; and Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women 3. The consolation prize was jointly won by SDP College and GGS Khalsa College, Kamalpura.

The judges for the competition included Prof Chaman Lal Bhalla and Prof Tejinder Singh. The function was presided over by Mr Raja Singh.

In the flower arrangement contest, Amanpreet of Guru Nanak Girls College 1; Damanjot of Guru Nanak Girls College 2; and Suman of Ramgarhia Girls College 3. The consolation prize went to Meena of Ramgarhia Girls College.

The chief guest of this function was Dr L.S. Chawla, founder Vice-Chancellor of Baba Faridkot University.

In the salad making competition, Harpreet Kaur of DD Jain College 1; Mandeep Kaur of Master Tara Singh College 2; and Rajni of SDP College 3. The consolation prize went to Geeta Kapoor of the host college.

In low cost and low-calorie snack competition, Sheenam Bansal of DD Jain College stood 1; Shameelia of GHG College of Education, Sidhwan, 2; and Ritu Sharma of Guru Nanak Girls College 3. The consolation prize went to Ravinder of Ramgarhia College.

Dr S.K. Mann, Dean, Home Science Department, PAU, was the chief guest.

Retired teachers not paid dues
Our Correspondent

Ahmedgarh, January 3
Retired teachers of a local private government-aided senior secondary school are awaiting the release of pension and other superannuation payments even after two years of their retirement.

Mr Dharam Paul Sharma, a former social studies teacher at the local MGMN Senior Secondary School, told Ludhiana Tribune that he retired on October 31, 2000. He had planned to get his younger daughter married after receiving payments on his retirement. When he was made to understand that his retirement benefits would be made after a couple of months, he had married off his daughter by borrowing money from a moneylender. More than two years have passed but the department has yet to finalise the amounts. Mr Sharma said that repeated inquiries from the office of District Education Officer at Sangrur and the DPI (Private-aided schools) at Chandigarh had revealed that many other such cases were stuck for “want of clarity” about old and new grades. “When we have not been paid salary with new grades from April 1999, what clarification is sought for finalising pension and other payments. We were even paid two instalments of arrears with effect from 1996,” he asked.

Mr Bachan Lal Jindal, a former JBT teacher of the same school, retired on November 30, 2000. He has also not been paid his dues and pension till today. Everytime he approaches the official concerned he is told that a ban has been imposed on payments. Similar is the plight of other three retired teachers of the school who have retired during these years but have not been paid their dues and monthly pension.

Cultural festival organised
Our Correspondent

Doraha, January 3
The Tapinder Gurmit Memorial Cultural Festival was organised by the Tapinder Gurmit Sports and Cultural Club at Bhairomunna village yesterday. The function was presided over by Mr Charanjit Singh Atwal, former Speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, and inaugurated by Jathedar Santa Singh Umaidpuri, Chairman, Market Committee, Sahnewal, and Baba Jagroop Singh, circle president, SAD. The lamp was lit by Mr Ajmer Singh Bhagpur, General Secretary, SAD, Ludhiana (Rural).

A large crowd from Bhairomunna village and the surrounding villages thronged the place to remember the two singers, Tapinder and Gurmit, who died in a road accident two years back. A number of Punjabi singers and artistes, including Mohammad Sadiq, Sukhwinder Sukhi, Inderjit Nikku, Ravinder Grewal, Harbans Sahota, Maninder Bawa, Yudhveer Manak, Anrez Ali, Baljinder Rimpi, Jatinder Dehlon, Bhinda Jat, Simranjyoti, Roop Rupinder Gursimran Mitti, Daljit Kaur, Jaswinder Lali, Balwinder Bawa, Balbir Singh, Jaswant Singh, Gindi Grewal, Jagdish Bhatti, Sabena, Angrez Chauhan, Amarjit Babbi, Amar Komal, Karnail Sibia, Nirmal Noor and Tejwant Kittu had gathered to offer tributes to the two singers” whose untimely and young death,” they said, “ was an irreparable loss to Punjabi singers and Punjabi singing at large.”

Several awards were given on the occasion. The Tansen Memorial Award was given to Tejwant Kittu, the Mohammad Rafi Memorial Award was given to Mohammad Sadiq, the Gulshan Kumar Memorial Award to Raja Singh Texla Group, the Tapinder Memorial Geetkar Award to Chak Singh Parwana and the Gurmit Memorial Bahadari Award to Jarnail Singh and Ranjit Kaur, both students of Machhiwara School. The families of Tapinder and Gurmit were also especially honoured on the occasion.

According to Mr Karamjit Singh Bhairomunna, general secretary of the club, “This is the third cultural festival we have organised in the sacred memory of the two budding talented singers and we shall be organising it every year on a large scale.” The function started at 10.00 a.m. in the morning and continued till late in the night.

Budding poetess impresses Kalam
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 3
“Seekh lo, dilo se dil ki duri kam karne ki, phir har cheez laggegi haseen uday hote surya ki tarah, Bas zara haseen nazaria seekh lo” were the lines from the poem ‘Seekh’ penned by Jimmy Khullar ‘Pratibha’. These lines were appreciated by President APJ Abdul Kalam. The President wrote back to Pratibha on a letter pad of Rashtrapati Bhawan that he liked her anthology of poems titled ‘Chal Akela’. Besides Seekh, the other poem he liked was Janamashtami.

Jimmy, a budding writer says, “I have read in papers that our President is very fond of students and he never misses an opportunity of interacting with them So I wrote him a letter saying ‘Kya aik masjid mein rehne wala Kalam, mandir ki gali mein rehne wali ek Pratibha ka salaam kabul karege’ along with my first book ‘Chal Akela’ which I wrote while I was in Class XI. The President went through my entire book and sent me a letter of appreciation within a fortnight. After I read his letter of encouragement, specially when he had ticked some lines and pinpointed certain passages which showed that he had gone through the entire book, I have been walking on cloud nine”.

Jimmy is a student of BA II at the local Government College for Women. But she is wiser beyond her years. Her tilt is towards spiritualism , how and why she is so inclined, she does not know. So her poems reflect her serious attitude. Her second book of essays titled ‘Harfia Bayan’ is targeted towards the youth and is under print. “I want the young people to read my essays. The topics I have written deal with the contemporary problems like dowry, drug addiction, youngsters tilting towards the West, going away from roots.”

Her desire is to go to schools and address students of Class IX and teach them meditation. Meditation gives peace and power. She is in touch with some principals and hopes she will get permission to follow her passion of teaching meditation. Behind every successful person, there is some guiding force. In case of Jimmy, it is her father Mr V.K. Khullar, a retired Head Cashier. He says, “People generally name their dogs Jimmy. But I feel hurt as I consider Jimmy Carter, a former President of the USA and Nobel Laureate, a great man. So I decided to name my daughter after him. When I read her first poem penned by her in Class VII, I realised she has enormous talent. I choose the pen name ‘Pratibha’ for her. She has not belied my hopes”.

Talking of her future plans, Jimmy says, “I live for each day. I will wait for future to unfold itself. But for sure I will pursue my hobby of writing throughout my life. Will I take it as a profession, I do not know?”