EDUCATION

Hindu Girls College alumni have get-together 
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, January 30
As many as 250-odd students took part in the one-day alumni meeting organised at Hindu Girls College here yesterday. According to a report, the main aim of this kind of a meeting is to maintain cordial relations between the old students and the college. Ms Krishna Dhamija, a former Vice-Principal of the college, presided and Dr Lajja Goel, Principal, inaugurated it by lighting a candle on this occasion.

Dr Goel highlighted the achievements of the college in academic and sports events and claimed that the girl students of the college had got good placement after passing the examinations. She disclosed that a committee had been set up for holding the alumni meeting every year and it would recommend the names of students holding high posts in different fields for honouring them.

The function was followed by a cultural programme presented by the girl students of the college. An interaction with the old students was also held. It proved to be quite enlightening. Many old students shared their present and past experiences. They were very enthusiastic about telling that their span of four years as students in this college had been a wonderful experience.

The parents of the girl students also shared their views with the audience and said they were satisfied with their choice of college for their wards. Some other parents also wished good luck to the college and lauded the role of the college staff for their teaching work during the period of stay of their wards in the college.

The function was attended by a large number of students, teachers and distinguished guests.

SPECIAL FOCUS ON  ROHTAK
University College: On the path of excellence 
Jatinder Sharma

Rohtak, January 30
The five-volume self-study report submitted by Maharshi Dayanand University to the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bangalore, for accreditation of the university briefly traces the development of the present day University College.

The University College was established in 1927 as a government intermediate college. In 1944, it was upgraded to a degree college and later, in 1956 postgraduate studies were initiated. The Maharshi Dayanand University took over its administrative control in July 1980. In accordance with its motto, “Still Achieving, Still Pursuing”, the college is making good progress under the stewardship of the Vice-Chancellor, Maj-Gen (Retd) Bhim Singh Suhag and the guidance of its Principal, Dr D.S. Dahiya, one of the senior-most principals in Haryana.

He has been dean, College Development Council of the university and also director of the centre for competitive examinations, MDU.

As compared to other institutions in the region, the University College holds a special attraction for Science courses. During the past couple of years, the college has introduced a number of new courses, such as Bachelor of Information Science, Bachelor of Information Technology etc.

The college has 105 highly qualified and experienced teachers. Interestingly, many of the academics in the college are qualified enough to teach in the university departments.

Above all, the University College provides an excellent infrastructure to its students. The college has a rich library, which contains more than one lakh books. It has a beautiful auditorium and a spacious open-air theatre. Besides this, the college has a hostel and a health centre. Moreover, while the teachers of the college are highly dedicated towards the job, the students are highly disciplined and receptive. A number of societies that encourages students to take part in academic and extra-curricular activities exist in the college. Excellent sports facilities are also available to the students of the college. The college also imparts training to its students through NCC and NSS in order to instill in them a sense of patriotism, social consciousness and dignity of labour.

Since its inception in 1927, the University College has produced a number of distinguished scholars, administrators, sportsmen and politicians.

The college has a number of illustrious alumni, including Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, Indian Express, former union Law Minister H R Bhardwaj, Justice Ishwar Prakash Vashishth, chairman, Public Service Tribunal, Uttaranchal, Justice Virender Singh, Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Maj-Gen Krishan Singh Dahiya, Shamsher Singh Surjewala, Chand Ram, leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former PCC chief, Birender Singh.

COURTS

Forum asks finance company to return money
Our Correspondent

Ghaziabad, January 30
The District Consumer Forum has ordered the DCM Financial Services to pay back Rs 50,000 with 18 per cent interest accrued on the amount to a depositor who had given money under its various schemes.

Forum Chairman Kartar Singh and member S. C. Sharma had passed this order on a complaint filed by V.K.S. Aggarwal of Sanjay Nagar, Ghaziabad. According to the complainant, he had deposited Rs 50,000 in different schemes through the company’s Noida representative, Mithul Kumar. The finance company had promised to return the principal amount along with interest after the expiry of the scheme duration but this did not happen.

The depositor had visited the office of the company many times, requesting them to return his money but he was turned back with false assurances.

As a last resort, the plaintiff had filed a suit in the Consumer Forum. In response to the forum’s notice, the finance company put forward a very strange argument that the money could not be returned as the financial position of the company had deteriorated and the company was closed on July 17, 1998.

The company had drawn up a plan to return the depositor’s money. But since the matter was under consideration of the Company Law Board the Consumer Forum had no jurisdiction to give a decision on the complaint, it had argued.

Rejecting this argument of the finance company, the District Consumer Forum said the main idea behind setting up the forum was safeguarding the interests of the consumers.

There is no connection between the argument that the matter was under consideration of the Company Law Board and the refund of the consumer’s money.

The finance company had solicited people’s money by assuring them very attractive terms but its failure to return the deposited money was certainly a deficiency in services, the forum said in its order.

14-day judicial custody for assault on scribe 

Rohtak: The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr C.B. Sheoran today remanded two youths to judicial custody for 14 days who had allegedly abducted and beaten up an employee of a Hindi daily on January 22.

CULTURE

ARTSCAPE
She learnt to live again for the sake of art
Garima Pant

My Friend and The Dancers: The artworks of Prutha Desai.

The saying goes: ‘Courage defies all odds’. And this maxim is true of 15-year-old Prutha Desai, who was born on August 15, 1988, and reborn on January 26, 2001, when she was rescued from the debris of the Sangemarmar Apartment, 36 hours after the earthquake struck Gujarat. Her right arm was amputated, but her spirit was not crushed.

Prutha Desai can still sense her right hand, in the same place where it was amputated on January 26, 2001. But that hasn’t deterred her spirits or her talent. Her life is flowing along without any nightmares. Having herself asked the doctor to amputate her hand, she proved how brave she is! Prutha has been painting and creating some very fine pieces of art with the use of her left hand.

She has won nearly 200 medals and certificates in painting, nationally as well as internationally. This year she was awarded the silver medal by Shankar’s International, New Delhi.

A buoyant Prutha was in the news when she presented one of her paintings to former US President Bill Clinton. She also presented a lovely painting to President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam and the Governor of Gujarat. She was honoured by the Gujarat Lalit Kala Academy, the Akhil Hind Mahila Parishad and the Ministry of Art & Culture. Six of her paintings were auctioned by Times of India for the earthquake relief fund on the first anniversary of the earthquake (January 26, 2002).

When asked about a painting that hangs in the drawing room, she says: “I want to be famous because of my talent, not because I survived the Gujarat quake or because of this amputated hand.”

Describing one of her works titled, ‘The Dancers,’ she says, “What I wanted to show here is that for a dance to happen there is no need to have a background or reason; it may happen just because you want it! Dance has nothing to do with colour, even without colour it will remain dance. The pure form of dance is colour itself; you do not need to wear colourful dresses. I also want to tell that though we are enjoying our cultural heritage, slowly it is becoming colourless and youngsters nowadays know very little about it.

They do not celebrate Divali, but they surely celebrate New Year. Dance is something natural, which comes from inside, there is no need of dikhava, you are what you are. If there is grace and excitement in you, it is bound to come out and be visible.”

Probably we need to pay more attention and try and understand what this young mind has to offer!

In search of image

An exhibition of archival works, reproduced on canvas and on paper, created between 1976-93 by Ved Nayar, will be on display at the Dhoomimal Art Centre from of February 1 to 8. Ved Nayar’s works, which have achieved recognition for their creativity and are part of Masanori Fukuoka’s collection, will be on display.

An artist, for whom art is expression, Ved Nayar has organised and participated in 60 group and solo shows in India and abroad.

He expresses himself through the medium of painting, drawing, sculpture, graphic print, photography, limited edition books and writing. His most recent solo exhibition, ‘Creating Space amidst Planets’, was organised at Lalit Kala Academy’s Garhi Artists’ studios in New Delhi in 2002 and at Jamaat Art Gallery, Mumbai, in April 2002.

To keep pace with the changing times, he has added the medium of digital imaging technology to help his expression.

He says that for him painting as well as drawing is the moment of inspiration in search of image, form & content. The expression is a direct, intense and sublime encounter with his own creativity.

Guru, shisya bond

Meera Krishnan strikes a pose