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| Sunday,
May 11, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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More girls appear as private candidates at PU Chandigarh, May 10 The number averaging 35,000 in case of undergraduate students till 1999-2000 has shot up to more than 50,000 now. The postgraduate courses are witnessing a much greater rush during the same period. The numbers averaging around 5000 have shot up to more than 15,000 during the same period. The data shows that there were 44,225 undergraduate students in 1998-99 and 5608 postgraduate students; about 30,568 undergraduates in 1999-2000 and 4,829 post graduates; 52,083 undergraduates in 20000-2001 and 18,531 post graduates; and 58,878 undergraduates in 2001-2002 and 14,042 postgraduates. The numbers have been given to a committee which is studying the issue of the private candidature in the context of a resolution of Principal Harmit Kaur, a fellow, who sought the university to discontinue the private candidature. She had raised the issue in the context that academies had opened, particularly in the Ludhiana region, which were catering to a large segment of the private candidates in fashion of institutions. These academies cost money, particularly to the private institutions which were facing an acute financial crunch during the current times of tight government hand in financing. One of the main reasons for the heavy rush as private candidates is pointed out as closing down of the provision of associate colleges of the university in 1998-99. Private academies posing as associate colleges engaged students like normal colleges. One of the problem areas detected by the university was ‘underhand’ helping of students. Certain academies managed the roll numbers of the applicants in bulk from the university and allegedly made ‘suitable seating arrangements’ for them. There were also allegations of paper leakage. Principal Harmit Kaur feels that the private candidature had witnessed a steep hike because of shifting of plus two classes to schools. This had led to plus two students being goaded by their teachers to continue privately. The university committee earlier had appreciated the concern of Principal Harmit Kaur, however, it felt that the university should not withdraw the facility exclusive to women candidates. It was felt that girls have genuine reasons to discontinue education in many cases which could be a marriage or other family problems. So, the university should continue with the existing facility.  |
58 DAV kids awarded certificates Chandigarh, May 10 Giving away the certificates and the badges, Mr Walker said the British Council had renewed its commitment to provide the world class English education to students of the region. Cambridge Young Learners examination is an important step towards learning a foreign language as it has been designed to help overcome the communication problems, besides providing parameters to assess one’s proficiency of the language in terms of reading, writing, speaking and listening, he added. Speaking on the occasion Ms. Sarita Manuja, Principal of the school, said the school encourages its students to participate in such examinations as the communicative approach followed by the Cambridge helps the students in getting an international exposure She appreciated the British Council’s efforts to provide such a platform to students of this region. |
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500 kids take part in competitions Chandigarh, May 10 The second prize went to MJS Ramgarhia Public School in Sector 27-D. Guru Harkrishan Public school, Sector 40, won the third prize. In the individual category, Vismaad Kaur got the first prize. The second prize went to Sarabjeet Kaur and the third to Zenia. In the drawing competition, Group (A) Ravinder Singh got the first prize. The second prize went to Gurjeet Singh. The third prize was won by Maheep Singh. In the craft competition Group (A), Bhawaneet Singh got the first prize. The second prize went to Karan Chhabra and the third to Sumanpreet. In group B, Vishal bagged the first prize. Smriti Duggal and Inderpreet got the second and third prizes,
respectively. Students of Maharaja Jassa Singh Ramgarhia Public School stood first in the rangoli competition. The students of MRD Public School in Manimajra bagged the second position. The third prize went to students of Guru Harkrishan Public School, Sector 40. In the fancy dress competition Aditya Mehta won the first prize. Harmandeep Singh and Ayush got the second and third prizes, respectively. The president of the Ramgarhia Sabha, Mr Baldev Singh was the chief guest. |
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Designing winning strategies for British Libraries in India
Chandigarh, May 10 The statistics of success do not end here. About 55 per cent of the books of all British Libraries in India remain with members, with just the residual 45 per cent stocked in the libraries. In these times of expediency, what makes the British Library network click? Responding to the questions this morning, Mr Jayarajan underlined some of the winning strategies being followed by the various British Libraries in India. He was in the city to plan the expansion of the British Library, Chandigarh. Explaining why the Indian public library system still fails to match the British library network, he said,”Library management is not a cakewalk. You require the will to focus resources according to the needs of major users. You need to analyse the user pattern from time to time so that the services can be enriched accordingly. Electronic data base is the need of the hour. But how many Indian libraries in the universities, colleges or schools, are equipped with modern technologies? Reading habits must be inculcated at the school level. And we know the state in which the school libraries in India are. The reason is that libraries are not priority areas and they don’t attract funds.” For his part, Mr Jayarajan has been emphasising focused resourcing at British Libraries. “Most of our members are young managers, computer professionals, doctors and lawyers. They are asking for information on emerging subjects like bio informatics, biotechnology, intellectual property law and cyber law. Keeping this shift in the interest in mind, we keep updating our information.” Before joining the Delhi Centre of the British Library, Mr Jayarajan was working as Head of the Hyderabad Library. His journey has been full of achievements, the most outstanding being his ability to focus the British libraries which, until 1970s, were more of less public libraries, catering to local needs. Said the expert, “We could not be substitutes for the Indian libraries. Keeping books as our primary resource, we got selective with purchases. Where our book collection touched a whopping 70,000 in some libraries, it now stands at 30,000. We managed to bring down the collection without damaging the level of use. Development of electronic sources like electronic journals, newspapers and electronic data bases also goes on.” Dismissing the myth that reading is on the decline, Mr Jayarajan said the demand for books remains intact; only the time devoted to reading has gone down, because of the time constraint in general. Also people now indulge in purposeful, rather than leisure, reading.”
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Eashwaramma celebrations Panchkula, May 10 Quiz competitions, film shows and “antakshari” were held on spiritual topics for the benefit of children. Earlier, a free lunch was organised for 3,000 poor people. A value-based cultural programme was presented on spiritual topics. The results of various competitions are: Running trophy: Vijay Public School; Declamation contest: first — Akanksha Sharma, second — Apurva Bhardwaj; Drawing and painting (6-8 years): first — Mehak Gupta, second — Harshita Katnala; (8-10 years): first — Shikha, second — Ajay Kumar.
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Mother’s Day celebrated Chandigarh, May 10 On the occasion, mothers of students who had scored top academic positions were honoured. They were presented cards and flowers by students. A card-making and slogan-writing contest for students and special competitions and games for mothers were also organised. Meanwhile, at Bal Niketan Senior Model School, Sector 37, students shared their views on the importance of Mother’s Day. They also prepared colourful cards. Speeches and debates were held on the role of a mother in building a value-based society.
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Fine show by students at IET function Chandigarh, May 10 The Executive Director (Marketing), Punjab Tractors Limited, Mr R.P. Sehgal, was the chief guest on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, he advised the students to keep abreast with the latest developments in technology so as to have an edge over others in a highly competitive environment. The institute’s chairman, Mr Gurcharan Singh, said graduates from the institute were equipped with value-added learning, which automatically gave them a cutting edge in all arenas of life. Earlier, the institute’s Principal, Prof I.K. Kataria, welcomed the guests and lauded the efforts of the students in bringing their talents to the forefront. The institute’s director, Dr R.S. Seehra, congratulated the staff and students on their excellent performance in university examinations as well as cultural events and sports. Folk dances, Western dances, solo and group songs, a fashion show as well as bhangra and giddha were presented by the students. |
Carnival culture thrives at Plaza Chandigarh, May 10 “Over the years we have trained a large number of young people to take over when we retire in a couple of years’ time “ says Ms. Maniki Deep, president of the Centre for Carnival Arts. But the thought of handing over her baby to somebody else in a few years” time has not deterred her from nursing it with all her heart. “We have come a long way from the first show on October 16, 1993, when our artistes were forced to perform on makeshift stages, amidst tight security as the city was still in the grip of fear of terrorism, says Ms Deep. In 10 years’ time the carnival venue has got a proper stage, storage facility and an office room. “But we are still fighting with the Administration to provide us with more facilities such as a toilet and bathroom for the artistes,” she says. The first show of Plaza Carnival in 1993, was put up in an era when Chandigarh residents had no idea of night life. “After coming from London where I used to often go out to Covent Garden with my husband and spend the whole day shopping, eating and watching the shows which used to be the main attraction of that shopping complex, I thought of starting something similar here and when the then Administrator Mr Surinder Nath okayed the project, giving us two-hour performing time every Saturday night at Sector 17 Plaza, I knew a had a long task ahead,” says Ms Deep. Since then the Centre for Carnival Arts has staged 226 shows, including popular singers like Sardul Sikandar, Sukhwinder Babloo, Rehmat qawwals, Gurkirpal Surapuri, Sarabjit Cheema, Sukhwinder Sukhi, among others and also foreign artistes. The carnival has given chance to lesser known folk artistes and children to get exposure in their respective fields. “The carnival was designed to give everyone with talent a chance to perform in a relaxed atmosphere and for this reason only we never organised any contests in our shows,” says Maniki Deep. In most of our shows audience join the groups in the lower plaza and just enjoy themselves for a while,” she adds. Over the past 10 years, though the carnival site had developed, the essence of the programmes have not changed a bit. “When we started 10 years ago, we created our own audience. This is the reason that even though the city is bursting with discotheque and clubs today, our fans will still be there with us every Saturday night,” she adds. The carnival, which starts from the end of September and goes on till the end of May, has just three more shows in store before it closes from June 1. |
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Scintillating kathak show
by Anuradha Chandigarh, May 10 In an abhinaya-based item, ‘Mohe chhero na nand ke’, Anuradha played the role of Radha keeping the audience spellbound with vibrant emotions of a love-struck girl and then immediately switching to the role of Sita in ‘Agni pariksha’. It was not just her depiction of emotions, but her mastery over various ‘taals’ that made both the items unique. Back in India after about a three-year stint at the Indian Cultural Centre of ICCR in Uzbekistan as dance instructor-cum-performer, she has resumed her teaching assignment at the Pracheen Kala Kendra. In tonight’s performance, she was accompanied by Vinod Sood as vocalist, Madan Sharma on the tabla, Veval Sharma on the flute and Subrata De on the Sitar. |
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FILM REVIEW
‘Ishq Vishk’
(Neelam and
Suraj, Panchkula) is a teenage love story in the background of youthful colours and frolics on a college campus. The show is definitely an initial crowd attraction. However, peripheral care to the handling of the emotional scenes which are crucial to any love story do not promise any great future at the box-office. Love stories in Bollywood are known for either passionate expression of love like in ‘Ek Duje ke
liye’, ‘Qayamat se Qayamat Tak’ and ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ or on the other hand underplayed deep emotional bonds which have an engrossing intensity like ‘Saajan’ and ‘
Sangam’ and ‘Mera Naam Joker’. ‘Ishq Vishk’ lacks in a convincing grip on account of handling expressions of the lovers on one side and the supporting cast of the elders on the
other. Satish Shah and Neelima Azim, parents of Shahid, are merely of ornamental value to attempt adding glitter to the cast but their roles offer nothing worth mention. Shahid is a college going lad who is looking for ‘fun’ with girls. Shenaz Treasurywala is his school mate who loves him deeply. He thinks she is a good girl but a
‘behanji’. He avoids her to a great length before he attempts to act ‘fresh’ with
her. Shenaz puts a full-stop to the love story at this juncture. First she is angry, however later, she continues to be his friend which is a fact that has not been aptly handled. Amrita Rao lands on the campus and sets the campus on fire with her looks. Shahid too falls for her and gets ‘real close’. One good part in the story is the softness of the script handling. Scenes of rowdyism which are a part of the majority of Bollywood campus movies have been appreciably avoided. Shahid is a cute lad who has been appreciably supported by Amrita and
Shenaz. An appreciable pace of the script is another hallmark of the presentation. The film has music by Anu malik and Alisha Chinai which is good in parts. However, the overall impact is not one that love stories treasure on account of popularity of their songs. The less than two-and-a-half-hour story on screen has about 10 songs which appear more than necessary. Ken Ghosh in his directorial debut on the big screen shows a sparkle of a long innings. Kumar S Taurani and Ramesh S Taurani are the producers. Sameer has penned the lyrics which feature voices of Kumar
Sanu, Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, Priya and Prachi. |
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Fitting tribute to a martyr It is said that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. During the Kargil conflict, Capt Vijayant
Thapar, all of 22, showed that he was made of sterner stuff when he faced his life’s biggest challenge — Mission Black Rocks. The aim of the mission was to take control of a “knoll” and a “lone hill”, both considered strategically very important. Inspired by the sacrifice of the company commander, Major
Acharya, Captain Thapar advanced fearlessly and laid down his life while capturing one of the hills. His comrade-in-arms, Lt N.
Kenguruse, was also killed in the operation. “Mission Fateh”, the war series being shown on Sahara TV, transports the viewer to the scene of the battle, which was fought in June, 1999. While the first part of Thapar’s story showed him fighting militants in
Kupwara, in the second he is pitted against Pakistani soldiers. In his last letter to his family, he expresses the desire to be reborn as a human being and fight for the country. He does not fail to mention
Rukhsana, his adopted sister, and asks his parents to keep sending money to her, in case he doesn’t make it. The proximity of death, instead of deterring him, eggs him on to perform brave feats. While the Captain was awarded the Vir
Chakra, Lieutenant Kenguruse was honoured with the Mahavir Chakra. In a poignant scene, Lt-Col
V.N. Thapar (retd) visits the spot where his son attained martyrdom and feels that “bete ne baap ko pehchaan dee
hai.” Sahara TV deserves a pat on the back for paying a fitting tribute to war heroes like
Thapar, whose sacrifices people tend to take for granted. The combat scenes are spectacularly staged and slickly edited. And kudos to Sushanto Roy for essaying saying the lead role with sensitivity and sincerity. |
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Street play on migrant labourers’ miseries Chandigarh, May 10 The play was written and directed by Anitesh Mahajan and the music was given by Dr Meenu. The cast included Gaurav Sharma, Paramjit Kaur, Harish Verma, Jaswinder Singh, Bikarmjit, Ikatar, Anilesh Mahajan and Rajesh.
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