The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

AGRICULTURE

Move to freeze MSP anti-farmer: BKU
Our Correspondent

Samrala, July 1
The recommendation of the Agricultural Costs and Prices Commission and the Union Agriculture Ministry to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs to freeze the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy for 2003-04 at last year's level is anti-farmer who already are facing severe economic crisis. This was stated in a press release issued by Mr Balbir Singh Rajewal, general secretary of the BKU, here today.

Mr Rajewal alleged that the NDA government at the Centre and its commissions were not only working against the interests of the farmers but are also making money through exporters. He said that the subsidy on agriculture was not to the farmers but to the fertiliser, pesticides and weedicides industries as well as to the exporters who bred corruption. In the name of exports, the rulers of the country issue foodgrains to exporters at throwaway prices and share the booty.

Mr Rajewal said that in reality the MSP of wheat and paddy stood freezed for the last three years. Paddy's MSP is Rs 540 and Rs 560 continuously, except a Rs 20 drought relief paid to the farmers last year.

EDUCATION

IGNOU to start diploma in geriatrics
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 1
Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is planning to launch a post graduate diploma programme in geriatric medicine for doctors very soon. This programme will equip in-service doctors with knowledge and skills in the field of geriatric medicine and further enable them to deal with special problems faced by the elderly.

This postgraduation diploma of one-year duration will be open for any MBBS doctor who have or will complete their internship on or before December 31, 2003, and can be completed within three years.

Dr U.C.Pandey, regional director, IGNOU, for Punjab and Chandigarh, while giving details about the diploma said that the university had planned to give academic services to the students through a variety of means like self-instructional print material, face-to-face counseling sessions, audio-video cassettes, tele-cast, broadcast, tele-conferencing and radio counseling. The programme will consist of four courses, namely basic geriatrics, clinical geriatrics, basic geriatrics practical and clinical geriatrics practical. Dr Pandey said that hands on training would be provided through a three-tier mechanism of programme study centre (PSC), skill development centre (SDC) and workplace.

Dr Pandey further informed that the Regional Health Service Advisory Committee (RHSAC) of IGNOU would monitor the implementation of the programme. While emphasising upon the need for academic programme in geriatric medicine, Dr Pandey said that global population was increasing. By the year 2050, there would be more than two billion older people in the world. Two-third of them were in the developing countries. Aging was inevitable and irreversible.

However, the chronic disabling conditions that often accompany it could be prevented or delayed.

The Regional Director stressed that it was calculated that in India, the requirement of geriatric specialist was 1/7000 population which was far from what actually existed. The need of the hour was that medical doctors were given training to deal with the special needs and characteristics of the elderly.

Students fail in ‘English test’
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 1
Result of MA I (English) conducted by Panjab University, Chandigarh , in April, 2003, has been far below the expectations as the pass percentage is just 32. 25. Of the total 2016 students who appeared for this examination from Ludhiana district, only 316 were declared successful while 661 candidates were declared failed. Rest of the candidates were in compartment category, or result later category and many of them abstained from taking examination.

Result of the Guru Hargobind College, Gurusar Sadhar, is very disappointing. A total of 111 students appeared for this examination and 83 students failed to qualify. Only two students from the college managed to get 50 per cent marks. Ms Rukhsana, stood first in the college by securing 227 marks.

Thirtyeight students of Gujaranwala Guru Nanak Khalsa College , Model Town , took the examination. Ms Vijeyta obtained 253 marks and stood first in the district. Amandeep Singh secured 225 marks and stood second in his college. Ms Kirandeep Bhullar of Guru Nanak Girls College, Model Town secured 230 marks and stood first in her college and Jasminal got 207 marks to get second place followed by Shimpni Chabbra who scored with 206 marks.

PCTE student tops
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 1
Students of the Punjab College of Technical Education have bagged four out of top five positions in the MCA-I university examinations.

Deepak Kochar, an MCA Ist-year student at the Punjab College of Technical Education, Ludhiana, has stood first in the university examinations. Deepak scored 88 per cent marks. Chetan Jindal, also from the PCTE, was a close second with 87.8 per cent marks. Gurpreet Kaur, another MCA student from the PCTE stood fourth scoring 87 per cent. The fifth position went to Manpreet Makkar from the same college. Manpreet scored 87 per cent marks.

Dr K.N.S. Kang, Director, PCTE, while congratulating the students, said. “Students worked hard for it and the faculty is committed to go the distance. The PCTE now has achieved 1st position 23 times in a university with 55 affiliated colleges, which shows that the commitment to academic excellence is paying rich dividends.

KCW girls perform well
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 1
Students of the Khalsa College for Women (KCW) performed well in the M.A-II (political science) examination conducted by Panjab University in April, 2003. Ms Amandeep Kaur secured 440 marks to be placed first in the college followed by Ms Sukhdeep Kaur who secured 426 marks. Ms Sandeep Kaur stood third with 424 marks, Manveen Kaur secured 420 marks, Kirandeep Kaur got 414, Amandeep Kaur 410, Supriya Kakkar 409, Bhupinder Kaur 408 while Nidhi Verma, Amardeep Kaur and Harpreet Kaur secured 400 marks each.

From the Arya College for Women, Nisha Sharvari bagged the first position by securing 430 marks while Kiranjit Kaur was placed at second position with 428 marks and Poornima Gupta followed with 426 marks. Rajni Bala scored 420 marks, Shelja got 404 marks and Sheema scored 403 marks.

From the Arya College for Boys, Jagdeep Singh secured 419 marks and Harpreet Singh secured 412 marks.

DAV School students excel
Our Correspondent

Roohi Chopra, Rohit Rampal, Vikas Gupta, Ramanjit Singh

Ludhiana, July 1
Students of DAV Public School, BRS Nagar, have performed well in Punjab Medical Entrance Test conducted by the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences for admission to various medical colleges in the state. Roohi Chopra has secured fifth rank, followed by Rohit Rampal, VIIth rank, Vikas Gupta, 12th rank, and Ramanjeet Singh, 58th rank.

Mr R.S. Patial, Principal of the school, is happy at the performance of students and gives the credit to the hard work done by students and teachers.

SCHOOL WORLD
HEAT

Fuels such as gas, kerosene and methylated spirits can be burned to release heat energy

HEAT is a form of energy. Heat energy is also called thermal energy.

When heat is given to a body, its temperature increases, while when heat is removed from a body, its temperature falls.

Heat is measured by the temperature effect it produces. when we heat a body, the kinetic energy of its molecules increases and they move at greater speed at higher temperature.

Thus, we can say that a body’s heat is the energy of its molecules.

Heat transfers from one object or body to another if there is a difference of temperature between them.

For example, when you are hot and the air around you is cooler, your body looses heat to the air.

A change in the body’s level of heat gives rise to a temperature change, which may lead to a change of state.

The S.I. unit of heat is joule. Another unit of measuring heat is calorie. As per established laes of physice, 1 calorie is the amount of heat which raises the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree celsius.

It has been established that 1 calorie is equal to 4.18 joules.

The quantity of heat required to heat a substance depends on three factors --

(i) The mass of the substance,

(ii) Rise in temperature of the substance, and,

(iii) Specific heat of the substance.

The specific heat of the substance is the amount of heat which is required to raise the temperature of a unit mass of the substance by 1 degree celsius.

How & Why
Transfer of Heat
Transfer of heat energy through solids is called conduction and an object that conducts heat is called a conductor.
In general, metals are good conductors. This is because electrons that transfer heat throughout the atoms of metals are closely packed and free to move. Most non-metals are poor conductors.
The process of transfer of heat through liquids and gases is called convention.
As water is heated in a pan, the density of water near the bottom of the pan is reduced, causing water to rise up in “conventional currents”.
In this way, the heated water is mixed with cooler water above. Heat is transferred throughout air in this manner.

Thermal Equilibrium

An important property of heat is that it flows from a body at higher temperature to another body at lower temperature.

In other words, heat flows from a hotter to a colder body. The heat keeps flowing till until the temperatures of both bodies become equal.

At this stage, the two bodies are said to be in thermal equilibrium.

When two bodies attain the same temperature, they are said to be in a state of thermal equilibrium with each other because then no heat flows from one body to another.

The final temperature thus reached is called equilibrium temperature.

Thermodynamics

Thermodynamics is the study of heat energy changes and how heat energy loss can be minimised.

Heat is a type of energy that is often formed as a by-product when other types of energy conversions take place.

For example, a car engine is designed to produce mechanical energy, but it gets hot when it is running and therefore, a cooling system is required to prevent it from overheating.

Similarly, when an electric bulb is switched on, light as well as heat energy is produced by the bulb. In both cases, the heat produced is wasted as it cannot be used to power anything else.

100 participate in dance workshop
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 1
A month-long dance workshop in which more than 100 participants took part concluded at Karimpura, Field Ganj, here yesterday. The workshop was conducted by Ms Aruna Verma, a dance teacher, and Ms Jyotica Verma, former Ms Punjab.

Ms Jyotica Verma said that the students were taught western dance, bhangra, dance on pop numbers, semi-classical and classical dance. There was no age bar for the participants. The youngest student, who took training in the workshop, was three-and-a-half-years old while the eldest was pursuing her masters degree in English.

The students from various schools like Kundan Vidya Mandir, DAV, Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School, Guru Nanak International Public School and Jain School took part in the workshop. A function was organised by the organisers here last evening in which the participants performed whatever they were taught in the past one month. They performed on latest numbers kaanta laga, maar daala.

Ms Aruna Verma said,”People have forgotten about the rich and traditional style of classical dance. We have tried to encourage them to learn their own style during the workshop and our efforts have been appreciated by parents”.

Workshop concludes
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 1
The summer workshop conducted by the Child Development Centre held the concluding function of the workshop yesterday at BRS Nagar. The students started the programme with a prayer song. It was followed by both classical and western dances performances. The students had been trained in these dances at the workshop only.

“Story of Ram”, a comic play was liked by all the parents. The grand finale was a “bhangra” performance. Prizes for sporting activities held during the camp were given away by Mr Malkiat Singh Birmi, Minister for Jails and Urban Development. The guest of honour was Mr K.L. Chabbra, councillor of BRS Nagar.

Prior to the cultural programme, an exhibition exhibiting the creations of students was put up. The children had displayed their art creations, paintings on glass and fabric.

Summer camp concludes
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 1
The Love Dale Club, which is an extension of Love Dale Montessori Home, organised a summer camp during the school vacation period. During the progress of the camp, multiple activities were offered to children of various age groups to suit their taste and aptitude.

The activities included personality development, martial arts, dances, art and craft, musical instrument, etc. Children had a real wonderful time and their response to learning was simply phenomenal. To mark the end of the camp, the club organised the annual function at Le Baron where children gave impressive and thrilling performance of various arts learnt during the camp.

The function started with a welcome song followed by Saraswati Vandana. Performance on musical instruments, demonstration of martial arts and modelling followed by dances on various old classics made the function interesting. An action song depicting the condition of women folk in our society was outstanding and touching.