The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Re-evaluation fee hike irks students
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 3
A large number of students have failed in some subjects of different examinations conducted by Panjab University this year. They will have to appear in the supplementary examination to clear the subject in order to get a degree.

However, many students are not satisfied with the marks and want their papers to be re-evaluated. Piyush who has failed in the political science paper of BA III says, “For every paper that we get re-evaluated, the fee is Rs 170. Since there are two papers in the subject, we have to pay Rs 340 which is rather steep. A long time is taken for re-evaluation and we wonder whether the examiners will do justice. I did not expect such low marks in the exam. Last year, the fee was Rs 140. For the MA papers, the re-evaluation fees has been hiked from Rs170 to Rs 205.”

Those who have failed or got compartment in BA, B.Com or B.Sc will have to appear for the supplementary examination for which the fee is Rs 700 this year as compared to Rs 635 last year

“The last day for sending the supplementary fee is July 27. Till August 3, the late fee is Rs 835 plus Rs 700. The amount increases to Rs 2,505 plus Rs 700 if the supplementary fee is sent by August 20 and by August 27 it shoots up to Rs 4,995 and by September it goes up Rs 9,985 plus Rs 700. For the MA papers, the supplementary examination fee is Rs 900 which keeps on spiralling in a similar manner. The late fee charged is too much,” say the agitated students.

Admission rush in Govt College
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 3
MA I (English) students of Government College for Boys have set a new record of pass percentage of 90.2 per cent against the 33 per cent of the overall Punjab University result. As many as 40 students have secured the second division, with 12 scoring above 55 per cent marks. Out of the total 114 students, 103 have qualified the exam.

Tinu Mehra has stood first in the college with 235 marks.

Today, a large rush of students was witnessed in the college. The students from the city as well as rural areas had come to take admission in BA I, B.Com I and B.Sc I. There was an air of excitement among the students seeking admission for they feel that they are finally out of school and would join college. Shatru and his friends said, “We have been longing to get admission in college. But the dark lining is that our parents have to pay much higher fees this year.”

Mr V.P. Gaur, Principal said a large number of students had applied for admission.

The admission for MA I English will commence on July 11 as the results of BA 111 were declared late. The college has 120 seats for this class. The merit toward admission will be determined by adding marks obtained in elective English (all three years) to the total marks obtained. Students with honours will be given a weightage of 5 per cent.

280 seats filled in GNEC
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 3
With 13 days still left for admission to B.Tech in engineering colleges of Punjab, 280 out of 380 seats have been filled in Guru Nanak Engineering College (GNEC), here. Officials of the Punjab Technical University said majority of these seats were in electronics and communication engineering branches. This was followed by mechanical engineering and computer engineering, both of which had drawn almost an equal number of candidates. There were fewer candidates for admissions to electronics engineering, civil engineering, production engineering and IT engineering, the officials said. Confirming this, Mr Kanwaljit Singh, media coordinator, GNEC, said a clear picture would emerge by July 16, the last date of counselling at the PTU campus. However, the number of candidates trying for admission to electronics engineering were the maximum. He said this was evident from the number of students coming to deposit the fee in the college after attending counselling. Meanwhile, the college has now printed its prospectus. The candidates, seeking admission to the college, had earlier been ruing that they were being forced to pay Rs 250 for a copy of the prospectus which had not even been printed. They had complained that the prospectus would be of no use to them after they had taken the admission.

Col D.S. Grewal, Principal of the college, had explained that since this was the golden jubilee year of the college, they were trying to come out with an attractive and illustrated prospectus with complete details of the accomplishments of the college in the past 50 years. He said he had earlier released leaflets, containing all details of the number of seats in different streams and the fee structure of the college. He said the prospectus would now help the students know the facilities available in the college and discipline to be maintained within the campus. The Principal also said that admission to M.Tech was open in the college in 10 streams, five of which were for full-time duration and the rest five were to be conducted on a part-time basis. He said the last date of application was July 15.

Court comes to rescue of aggrieved father
Rajneesh Lakhanpal

Ludhiana, July 3
An 80-year-old resident of Jassowal, Jagir Singh, heaved a sigh of relief when a local court ordered the S.H.O., Dehlon, to conduct an enquiry into the allegations of cheating and misappropriating Rs 3.50 lakh by the son and daughter-in-law of the complainant and to submit the report on July 19. The old man was running from pillar to post to get justice.

Narrating his tale of woe, the complainant stated before the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr J.S.Chauhan, that with a view to making his both ends meet, he mortgaged his land measuring 3-1/2 killas with one Balwant Singh alias Ballo of his own village in March, 2000, for a sum of Rs 3.50 lakh, out of his 6/1-2 killas of land.

He received the entire money in Dehlon tehsil office where the mortgage deed was executed. At that time his son, Parminder Singh alias Kaka and his wife, Sarabjit Kaur, were present there. His daughter-in-law, Sarabjit Kaur, took the said amount of Rs 3.50 lakh from him with the excuse that she would count it properly.

In good faith, he handed over the amount to her for the purpose of counting because he was having weak eyesight. When he asked them that he wanted to deposit the entire amount in his saving bank account with the Bank of India at Quila Raipur for his livelihood, they said that they will give him the money when reached the bank.

Thereafter, they boarded the bus and when it reached the bus stop at Qila Raipur, he demanded back the entire amount. They said the money would be given to him on reaching the village. But they did not return the same to him. He demanded the money several times from them but they refused to return the same on one pretext or the other.

In this way the duo robbed him of Rs 3.50 lakh. The circumstances show that they had intention to cheat him from the very beginning, added the complainant. As he was upset over all this, he narrated the entire story to villagers who took up the matter with accused persons, but they declined to return the money.

The complainant further alleged that he was turned out of the home and presently residing in the gurdwara of Dullay village. He moved a number of complainants in the Sadar police station and before the higher police officials but all in vain.

The complainant had prayed before the court that the police be directed to register an F.I.R against his son and daughter-in-law and his amount be got recovered from them. After taking the cognizance of the complaint, the court preferred to direct the police to conduct the enquiry to know the facts.

Plays and communal harmony
Asha Ahuja

Ludhiana, July 3
His commitment towards conveying the message of communal harmony through his plays had brought him an invitation from a theatre group in Ayodhya to perform and bring in communal harmony before the Babri masjid demolition. A noted theatre artiste, Balram’s play ‘Ishwar ka Janamsthan’ was a satire on the mandir-masjid issue which was at its peak in Ayodhya at that time. The same play had 50 shows in Delhi alone.

‘‘The play brought me accolades and a new recognition. Although at that time the situation was very tense, hundreds of people came to watch this play,’’ says Balram, who was recently in the city to conduct a workshop on theatre for schoolchildren.

‘‘The communal riots taking place in our country cause me a lot of agony and pain. I fail to understand why human beings don’t grow out of pettiness, ’’says he.

‘‘A theatre artist is required to be full of energy when he is on stage. The props, costumes and make-up should take the backseat. I feel that a character should be able to convey gamut of emotions through his internal force,” says the theatre artiste hailing from Patiala.

When the people come to him to learn about theatre, he tells them, ‘‘I do not believe that after a fortnight of working with me, you should be able to present a play. I want you to overcome blockades in your personality. May be an individual suffers from shyness or hyperactivity but after a fortnight, I want them to be more regulated.’’

‘‘The first thing that the students have to learn is to let themselves go. I encourage them to laugh, scream, shout and dance as it acts like catharsis. If catharsis is complete, total silence comes automatically and is very rejuvenating.”

He travels all over Punjab to conduct workshops in theatre. He says, “I enjoy conducting the workshops more than acting, writing and directing plays. Human resource is the best material to handle. Even adults are told to talk gibberish. They are amused in the beginning, but later feel relaxed. I teach them voice exercises, breathing exercises, theatrical games. Proper breathing energises the body.”

Balram was interested in plays from childhood when he performed the roles of characters from the ‘Mahabharata’ like Duryodhan and Abhimanyu. When he was studying in Kapurthala, he acted in a play, ‘Ghulam dar Ghulam’, a Hindi adaptation of an American play ‘Our Glorious Brothers’ by Herbert Faust. After that he started writing anti-war plays like ‘Hiroshima Aur Nahin’.

Balram’s radio plays have been aired from Jalandhar AIR and for three consecutive years have won gold medals which is a record. He says that the depth of sound is very important in the radio.

He is a member of Media Artists, an NGO that aims to promote theatre. He has translated ‘Macbeth’ in Punjabi and Hindi and soon it would be dramatised. On being asked why he chose ‘Macbeth’ of all the plays of Shakespeare, he said, “In ‘Macbeth’ the witches represent the eternal human emotions of jealousy, hatred, ambition, power play. These emotions are universal.”

After staging it he wants to dramatise the autobiographical novel of the famous Dutch painter’s Vincent Van Gogh’s life as depicted in ‘Lust for Life.’