EDUCATION

St Xavier's adjudged best
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 25
The hosts, St Xavier's Senior Secondary School, clinched the best team award in the Frank Anthony Memorial All-India Inter-School Debate for the North Zone held here today. The topic of the debate was "Nothing is good or bad. Thinking makes it so”.

Ten students from six schools of North Zone took part in the debate. The schools were Auckland House, Shimla, Yadavindra Public School, Patiala, Chaman Vatika, Ambala, St. Joseph Convent School, Hoshiarpur, Punjab Public School, Nabha and St. Xavier's Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh.

The judges' panel comprised Mr Piyush Pandarwani, Financial Commissioner and Secretary, Haryana Government, Mrs Neera Kumar, Head of the Department , English, Government College for Girls, Sector 11, Chandigarh, and Mrs Anita Kaushal, Lecturer in English, Government College for Girls, Sector 11, Chandigarh.

The best Speaker awards went to Sbubhangini Rathore of St. Xavier's Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh, and Trishanjali Sharma of Chaman Vatika School, Ambala. Tahneen Bhullar of St. Xavier's won the first runner-up award.

35 complete computer training
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 25
The Adviser to the Administrator, Mr Virendra Singh, today gave away certificates to students on the completion of their respective training courses at the SPIC-Microsoft Centre of Excellence in Punjab Engineering College, Sector 12, here.

The Adviser talked to the students about their future plans and stressed on the need of computer literacy in all segments. As many as 35 students and officials of CITCO completed their respective courses in various streams like MCSE, C&C++, web designing, visual basic, auto cad and MS office.

Later, Mr Virendra Singh took a round of the SPIC-IT Development Centre and saw the functioning of companies in the Incubation Centre. The SPIC-Microsoft Centre of Excellence, which has come up as a result of an MoU signed between the Chandigarh Administration and Microsoft, has been functioning since September 2001.

Among others present at the function were the Finance-cum-Information Technology Secretary, Mr Karan A. Singh, the Director, Information Technology, Mr Vivek Atray, and the Additional Director, Software Technology Park of India, SAS Nagar, Mr Sanjay Tyagi.

COURTS

DISTRICT COURTS
Statements in Beant case recorded
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, April 25
Statements of two witnesses in the Beant Singh assassination case, Thakur Das and Himat Singh, were recorded before the UT Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr Balbir Singh, in a special court room in Model Burail Jail here today.

Deposing before the judge, Thakur Das, manager of Kohinoor Hotel in Agra, said two persons, Satinder Bansal and Gurdev Singh, stayed in his hotel on August 28, 1995. According to the CBI, the two persons who had stayed at Kohinoor hotel in Agra were involved in the assassination.

Thakur Das, in his statement, claimed that the two persons had made entries in the hotel register and mentioned that they had come from Delhi and were leaving for Bangalore. He also informed the court that the CBI visited the hotel in this regard on December 15, 1997, and got photocopies of the entries in the register.

The witness added that he had identified the photograph of one person who had visited the hotel before the CBI on the same day. During cross examination, the defence counsel raised doubt over the entries made in the register by the visitors.

Himat Singh, a mechanic from Delhi, whose statement was recorded in Gurmeet Singh case, one of the accused, again turned hostile and failed to identify Paramjit Singh, one of the accused in the case.

Meanwhile, the accused in the Beant Singh assassination case moved an application to provide coolers in their barracks during summer. The judge has directed them to send application to the UT District and Sessions Judge, Mr H.S Bhalla.

CULTURE

Rare treat in vichitra veena recital
Parbina Rashid

Chandigarh, April 25
Vichitra veena, the unique seven- stringed musical instrument’s origin can be traced back to Patiala as its place of origin, but it came as a rare treat for the audience who had gathered at Panjab University’s English Auditorium this evening to listen to Ajit Singh’s recital. He is one of the four artistes in the country who plays vichitra veena.

People were as captivated with the design of the instrument as they were with the melody it created by the artiste’s hand. The Behag and Malkosh ragas and all other evening ragas Ajit Singh played took a character of their own at his expert hands.

“It is one of those rare instruments which is on the verge of extinction,” said Ajit Singh who had come here from Dehra Dun to play, courtesy the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Music Department, Panjab University. “There are only four persons, including me, who are playing it at present,” he confirmed.

For Ajit Singh who fiddled with various instruments like piano, guitar and others, it was the sonorous and deep intensive sound that vichitra veena created got him hooked to this particular instrument. “I was lucky to experiment with many instruments before I found my true love, as my family owns a business that deals with musical instruments,” said Ajit Singh. And this is what he is doing at present — following the family tradition as well as giving recitals at various places.

A grade-one artiste with All India Radio, New Delhi, Ajit Singh’s life has been enriched by 28 years of teaching in prestigious schools like Doon School, Dehra Dun and St John’s College in Minneapolis, USA. “My first love will always be teaching and even after retiring from this profession, I am willing to teach vichitra veena if I find someone dedicated enough to learn this,” he said.