PAU team leaves for Dhaka
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 22
A team of five scientists led by the Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University, Dr K.S. Aulakh, left for Bangladesh yesterday to work on a mungbean project. The team will visit the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, Bangabhandu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University and various sites of the mungbean project and return on April 30.

The other members of the team include Dr G.S. Nanda, Director of Research, Dr Gurdip Singh, senior plant pathologists-cum-Head of the Department of Plant Pathology, Dr Harbhajan Singh Sekhon, senior agronomist and in charge of pulses, Dr Joginder Singh Brar, senior pulse breeder and Dr Tejinder Singh Bains, pulse breeder.

The team is visiting Bangladesh to apprise itself of the introduction of mungbean into the rice/wheat system in the Indo-Gangetic plains of South Asia. The team from Bangladesh had already visited the PAU in India in 2002.

The project on mungbean is being carried out jointly by the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Centre Taiwan, Bangabhandu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Salna, Gazipur and the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Ludhiana.

The team will hold discussions with the scientists and will visit research plots, mung bean demonstration plots, farmers’ plots and seed villages in various parts of Bangladesh besides holding discussions with the Executive Chairman of BSMRAU. Dr Aulakh and Dr Nanda will also have a meeting with the Bangladesh Minister for Agriculture. Dr Aulakh will also present a paper on an overview of the PAU and the role of the university in agriculture development.

Students to attend convention
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 23
Some selected students of the Punjab chapter of SPIC MACAY and their four teachers started from BCM School at 10am today to participate in a three-day convention to be held at Tagore Bal Niketan School in Karnal from tomorrow. Astronaut Kalpana Chawla was a student of Tagore Bal Niketan School and the convention is dedicated to her.

Students will practise ‘yogic kiryas’ and meditation in the morning, while in the afternoon, they will participate in different workshops like painting, craft, music, singing and dancing.

These workshops will be conducted by famous artists like Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (inventor of Mohan Veena), Uma Shankar Mishr (sitarist), Rajendra Prasanna (flute player), Fahimmoddin Dagar (Drupad singer).

Guru Singh Ji and Charu (exponents of Manipuri Dance), Raman Kutti Ayyar (Kathakali maestro), Satish Chander Mahato (Purulia Chao expert) will conduct workshops in traditional Indian dances. Rajasthani Meera Bhajan singing classes will be held up by Padam Rama and Mahesh Ram. Yoga will be taught by Damyanti Sharma. Ms Jaya Jaitly, Mr V.V.N. Sundram and Dr Namvar Singh will address the students about social problems.

Workshop on cartoon making
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 23
A workshop on cartoon making ‘Fun with cartoons’ was organised for students and teachers at BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar, here today. Students and teachers from 12 schools of the city participated in the workshop. Mr Ajit Narayan, a cartoonist from New Delhi, gave tips to the children to draw figures by using easily available things.

An on-the-spot cartoon-sketching contest was also held for students of primary and middle sections. The topic was ‘Snow White in Delhi at the temperature of 40°C’. Children showed keen interest in the contest and best entries were awarded. Ms Paramjit Kaur, principal, said that more inter-school contests were in the offing.

Polytechnic celebrates annual day
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 23
Students and staff of the Satguru Ram Singh Government Polytechnic for Women, Rishi Nagar, celebrated their annual day here today. Dr Roshan Sunkaria, Director, Technical Education and Industrial Training, Punjab, was the chief guest. Over 80 students who had shown remarkable performance in academics, sports and cultural activities were honoured.

Ms H.K. Toor, Principal, read out the annual report. She also announced the introduction of a new one-year diploma course in designing and merchandising in the industry institute partnership cell of the polytechnic.

Judicial employee sacked
Legal Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 23
The District and Sessions Judge, Mr Baldev Singh, today passed the termination orders of Niranjan Singh, who was working in the record room. Sources said as per an inquiry report submitted by the Additional District Judge, the employee was found guilty of misplacing a document when he was working as ‘ahlmed’ in a court.

Meanwhile, Mr Jagdev Singh, president, Judicial Employees Welfare Association, Mr Fariyad Singh, president, Fourth Class Employees Union, Mr Sat Pal, president, Process Servers Union, along with other union leaders met Mr Baldev Singh and requested him to withdraw the orders.

Writers pay tributes to Gargi
Asha Ahuja

Ludhiana, April 23
“Balwant Gargi’s demise has left a great void in Punjabi drama and is an irreparable loss” feel Punjabi writers of Ludhiana. Prof J.B.S. Nanda, former head of Punjabi department, Government College for Boys, said, “Balwant Gargi was the man who took the Punjabi drama to international level. His plays were staged in Russia and the USA. He used to come and stage plays in the college when we were students. He was very friendly and would sit with us and watch rehearsals of his play and offer his suggestions. He was the first Punjabi dramatist to write plays with revolutionary themes. He was a perfectionist and had perfected the techniques of stage craft. He was incomparable”.

Prof Nanda said a majority of people did not know that Balwant Gargi started writing in English. He showed his works to Rabinder Nath Tagore. He asked him to which state he belonged. When he told him that he was a Punjabi, he advised him to write in Punjabi if he wanted to become a great writer. So he started writing in Persian script as he did not know Punjabi. He was a creative writer but he was awarded Sahitya Akademi Award for his thesis on Indian theatre. He wrote very successfully sketches of writers besides short stories. Prof N.S. Tasneem, a literary stalwart said, “Balwant Gargi gave to Punjabi Drama its rural background. In his plays Loha Kut, Kesaro, and Kanak di Balli, he projected the theme of hardships of women of the land of five rivers. Apart from his plays, short stories, his novel, Kakka Reta too, has a place of its own in Punjabi fiction. Truly he was a great writer.”

Similar views were echoed by Ms Kuldip Kaur, former Principal and Professor of Punjabi. Prof M.S. Cheema, a Punjabi lecturer and writer says, “Balwant Gargi modernised Punjabi drama and gave it a new direction. He was master of stage craft. He put Punjabi Drama on higher pedestal in comparison with Western trends. He transformed the prose by enriching it with new subjects and also by treating them with new styles. He was a man other dramatist looked up to.”

The Prof Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation organised a meeting to condole the death of Balwant Gargi, a renowned dramatist. Mr Jagdev Singh Jassowal, chairman, and Mr Gurbhajan Gill, general secretary, said the Punjab theatre industry had suffered a major set back. Mr Gargi had also penned down many write-ups titled ‘Surme Wali Akh’, ‘Nim De Patte’, ‘Kaudian Wala Sap’ and Haseen Chehra’. A condolence meeting was also held at the PAU Sahit Sabha.