The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

LLB exams: all affected must be impleaded, says HC
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 6
Acting on a petition challenging the rescheduling of Panjab University’s LLB examination and holding of special lectures till then for students falling short of lectures, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today ruled that all likely to be affected by the outcome should be impleaded as parties.

In his petition, student Jitin Talwar had earlier sought the quashing of an order dated December 7 whereby the ongoing examinations had been rescheduled “not withstanding the fact that the papers had already commenced”.

The order, he had added in his petition against the university, the Chairman of Department of Laws and Dean Student Welfare, was issued in an arbitrary manner and without the mandate of law.

Giving details, he had added that the papers scheduled to be held on December 9 had been rescheduled for December 24. The intervening period was to be used for holding special lectures for students falling short of lectures. He had added that there was no provision for holding special classes for fulfilling the deficiency of lectures after the commencement of examinations, and as such the order was not sustainable in the eyes of the law.

Jacob’s surprise visit to polytechnic
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 6
UT Administrator Lieut. Gen, JFR Jacob (retd) today paid a surprise visit to the Government Polytechnic, Sector 26, here to see improvements, if any, in the infrastructure and maintenance of the polytechnic since his last visit.

The Principal informed the Administrator that leaking roofs and toilets of the polytechnic had been repaired. He said a new block had come up in which two computers laboratories had also been set up. Tenders for the replacement of the machinery had been floated.

General Jacob went round the campus felt that cleanliness and upkeep of the campus was the responsibility of the College Authorities. He went to the toilets and classrooms and found the situation better. He said OSDs deputed at the CTU and the ITI should be involved in upgrading the Polytechnic infrastructure. The Administrator also went to the hostel rooms and interacted with students.

The Administrator asked the Principal to replace old hostel furniture

College contests get good response
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 6
Intra-college competitions organised by the Government College of Education, Sector 20, received a good response with 219 entries being received in five categories. The response could be judged from the fact that there are 200 students on the college rolls who are pursuing B.Ed. The competitions ranged from curricular to co-curricular domains. The prize winners in various categories are as follows:

Skill-in-teaching — Languages : Nidhi; Manjeet Kaur; and Yogita; social science : Mandeep; Ramandeep; Neelu Kapoor; and Mohini; sciences : Amninder; Parul; and Komal Singh; fine arts : Monica; Music : Nisha; and home science : Praneet.

Teaching aids — Language : Rajdeep Kaur; sciences : Rekha; and social sciences : Sonia Dorga; Sonika Sharma; Aarti; and Tamding.

Home Science competitions — Fresh flower arrangement : Karamjit Singh, Ramandeep; and Sukhjeet; dry flower arrangement : Anjali; Sargam; and Malini; salad dressing : Karamjit Singh; Inderjit; Kirandeep; and Gurpreet.

Blackboard writing and sketching — English : Sargam; Manjeet; and Karamjit Singh; Hindi : Dinesh Thakur; Reema and Chanchal; and Punjabi: Meenu; Karamjit Singh; and Chanchal.

Rangoli and drawing — Landscape : Rohini; Jyoti; and Ruby Gupta; poster making : Satinder; and Megha Anand; composition : Bhawna; and Meenu; alpana : Kavita; rangoli : Sonia; and Bharti; and mehndi : Rajeshwari; and Nidhi’. The winners will be given prizes at the college’s annual function.

Librarians’ body to hold contests
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 6
The Chandigarh Librarians Association will organise the 11th Competition Master Library Related Competitions from January 12 at the Dev Samaj College for Women, Sector 45, according to a statement issued here today.

The theme for the competitions is “Motivation to use libraries, reading books, saving library treasures and building up a personal library.” This year the competitions will be held in three parts.

The first part will be for parents, teachers and the general public, from whom ready made entries like cartoons, collage, bookmarks, slogans and essays have been invited.

On-the-spot competitions, which are open to school and college students only, will be organised under the second part. Participants will be divided into four categories and competitions will be held in poster-making, slogan-writing, cartoon-making, handwriting, essay-writing, general knowledge, collage-making and book mark making. In the last part, inter-school and inter-college quizzes, book-hunting and best reader contests will be organised.

Students’ gesture to Pustak inmates
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 6
Students of Saint Soldier International School, Sector 28, extended a gesture of help to the inmates of Pustak School in New Indira Colony by donating clothes to them, according to a statement issued here today.

The School is being run by an NGO, Youth Technical Training Society. Material help was also given to 30 girls from this school for their craft and stitching activities.

Nearly 30 students, accompanied by two teachers from Saint Soldier, undertook this social service, which had been arranged to cultivate in them social virtues of sympathy and magnanimity towards the downtrodden and the underprivileged.

Disc jockeys attend workshop
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, January 6
Nearly 40 students from city-based computer centres and a few aspiring disc jockeys today got an opportunity to learn the intrinsic qualities of sound in an artistic mould during the opening day of a workshop on “Real time image and sound processing” organised by Alliance Francaise in Sector 36 here.

Conducted by French artiste Florentine Rey and sounder engineer Samuael Godo, the workshop focussed on giving demonstration on the sound instrument called ‘Parloir.’ Created by Florentine Rey, the system works as a source of sound, emitting different kinds which are being picked up by several outlets fitted to the main instrument.

The workshop will also focus on creating images and relating them to various sounds, according to Mr Godo. The workshop will continue till January 8.

Five-yr RI for murder bid
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, January 6
Three city residents were today sentenced to five years’ rigorous imprisonment in an attempt to murder case by a local court. The three — Mohamad Aquil, Mohamad Zaki and Nazira Bano — were sentenced to five years’ rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 5000 each by the UT Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr Tejwinder Singh.

The complainant, Nain Ahmed, had alleged that on September 15, 1996, he was sitting on a platform in front of house in Bapu Dham Colony when Mohamad Aquil came along with his son Mohamad Zaki and started beating him.

Aquil, had hit him in the head with an iron pipe. Later, the two accused dragged the complainant to their house where the other accused, Nazira Bano, joined them and beat him up mercilessly.

CULTURE

Leaf from history
City rich in Harappan culture
Chitleen K Sethi

If there is anything called historical justice, Chandigarh has it. A city envisioned to depict modern India ‘‘free from the fetters of the past’’ as Nehru put it, is actually built on the remains of one of the oldest civilisations of the world. Indus Valley Civilisation, a 2500 year-old urban culture, today cradles our city, epitomising both urbanisation and modernity.

In 1969, during the course of digging the foundation of a building in Sector 17, the diggers, contractors of the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation, came across broken earthen vases, parts of jars, bangles etc at a depth of less than two metres. The discovery of these articles aroused interest among the faculty of the Panjab University’s Department of Archaeology and the Archaeological Survey of India.

A trial trench was taken up under the direction of Mr D.P. Rai of the Archaeological Survey of India to ascertain the cultural deposit of the site. The site revealed a single culture: Harappan occupation. On the basis of the pottery excavated, it was further divided into two sub heads as period IA and IB. As most of the area around this site was already built, it was not possible to extend excavation work beyond this small piece of land.

The pottery excavated included dishes on stands, bowls, bowls on stands, storage jars, perforated jars, goblets, carianated handis, bangles, beads etc. The site was thought to be a Harappan cemetery where 9 burial pits were unearthed. According to information provided in an article on the subject by Mr V.P. Mehta, former Deputy Director of the Department of Employment in Punjab, eight pits had one skeleton each interned in them. The ninth pit contained two skeletons. Except one, all other skeletons were laid in the north-south orientation with their heads pointing towards the North. The funerary articles included pottery and personal ornaments

The area occupied by Sectors 17, 18 and 22 Harappan remains were said to be found scattered. ‘‘Of special interest is the area around Church in Sector 18 and the premises occupied by Sunbeam Hotel in Sector 22. The potters found in this area included painted grey ware. The area in Sector 24 on which the Indira Holiday Home and the officers’ apartments are built was also a site of a Harappan settlement. 'writes Mr Mehta. In the Panjab University campus while digging the foundation of the swimming pool many pieces of what is believed to be the late Harappan period were found. Similarly the area near the High Court yielded remains of the late Harappan period.

The mound near the Confederation of Indian Industry Complex in Sector 31 yielded terracotta figures of bulls and other animals. Ivory objects like bangles and beads Harappan pottery were also found from Attawa, Badheri, Behlana and Dadu Majra. Harappan pottery was also said to be unearthed while digging for the laying of pipes in DAV School in Sector 15.

When the Chandigarh circle of the ASI came up in 1985, exploration work was taken up systematically under the supervision of Dr P.K. Misra, who was then heading ASI in the city. He later wrote, 'To our surprise almost the whole of Chandigarh yielded varieties of cultures from the Harappans, painted grey ware culture, the Kushanas, the Gujara-pratiharas till the Muslims.’’

The Harappan sites at Chandigarh were found to be contemporary with other sites of Ropar, Sanghol, Bara, Dhang and Mehranwala.

Only a country capable of producing food on a large scale and the presence of a river sufficiently large to facilitate transport, irrigation and trade can give rise to cities of this size. The large number of saddle quern found indicate cultivation on an extensive scale. Wheat and barley found in the ruins show that they were not of the wild variety. The unit of weight indicates that rice was also grown. Animals were also domesticated. Skeletal remains of bulls, buffaloes, cows, horses, sheep, elephant etc are also found. Marbles, balls and dice were used in games, "wrote Mr Misra.