EDUCATION

2 nominated to PAU management board
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 18
Two members have been nominated to the board of management of Punjab Agricultural University. The Director-General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, has nominated Dr S.M. Ilyas, Director, CIPHET, as the ICAR’s representative on the board while the state government has appointed Mr Sukhdev Singh Chahal, a progressive farmer, as a member. Both members will continue in this capacity for a tenure of three years.

Dr Ilyas, at present working as Director, CIPHET, Ludhiana, obtained his BSc, Agricultural Engineering and Technology, from Pantnagar, MSc, Agricultural Engineer, from IARI, New Delhi, and DSc (Agricultural Engineering) from University of Novi Sad (Yugoslavia).

He was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Goettingen (Germany) for two years.

Dr Ilyas started his career as a research engineer at the Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, and has held assignments of Head of Division and Project Coordinator at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. He was deputed to the Afro-Asian Rural Reconstruction Organisation, an international organisation based in New Delhi, for four years. Dr Ilyas worked as Assistant Director-General at the ICAR Headquarters for more than four years before coming to Ludhiana.

Besides rich experience in research, he has also taught at the post-graduate level and guided students while he was at the IARI.

He is the author of several publications and has organised a number of international and national conferences and workshops. He is also a fellow of the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers and a winner of gold medal of the Institution of Engineers. He is also a member of several important committees.

Mr Chahal is from Bathinda and he will represent the farming community of the region.

IGNOU launches course in audio production
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July, 18
Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has launched a post-graduate diploma in audio programme production (PGDAPP). The diploma which is of one year duration will be open to anybody who has completed graduation. However, preference will be given to those having experience in broadcasting.

While giving this information, Dr Umesh Chandra Pandey, Regional Director of IGNOU for Punjab and Chandigarh, said the university would offer the diploma through the distance mode of education. Academic services would be provided to the students through a variety of means and to the diploma had been designed in such a way that the maximum possible academic support could be provided to the students right at their houses.

High-quality, self-instructional material would be sent to the students directly at their houses whereas face-to-face counselling sessions would be held for the students on weekends at the study centres. Besides academic services would be offered through video teleconferencing, live radio counselling through AIR, Jalandhar and audio visual CDs.

Dr Pandey further said that the diploma had been designed to address the growing need for training in audio production by imparting both the theoretical and the practical skills. The broad aim of the programme was to prepare professionals with skills to conceive, plan and produce audio programmes.

IGNOU had plans to popularise the programme among professionals working in Prasar Bharti, students of Journalism and mass communication who want to specialise in audio production, academicians in journalism and mass communication and individuals and institutions interested in setting up community radio stations. As far as the contents of the diploma concerned, Dr Pandey said there would be papers on introduction to broadcasting and programming, production and presentation and recording and editing.

Students would be given practical exposure in sound recording, talks and discussions, interviews, outdoor broadcasting, news and news reels, features and magazines, presentation techniques, drama, music, advertisements, interactive programmes and documentation.

Kids celebrate Teej
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 18
With the onset of monsoon, children of Hollyhock Nursery School, Civil Lines, celebrated Teej at a function organised here today. All children were dressed up in traditional dresses. Girls wore lehngas and dupattas embroidered with ‘phulkari’ and ‘parandis’ in their hair and boys wore dhoti-kurta. The children even wore traditional jewellery like ‘kaintha’, ‘sing tapiti’, ‘saggi phul’ and bracelets.

Nanya Verma danced to the tune of “Saggi Phul Waliye”, sung by Gursehaj. The boys performed bhangra to the beats of drum. Swings were put up in the school lawn and the children took their turn one by one. Ms Amrita Garewel, Principal, told the kids about the importance of the day.

Student bodies demand fee hike withdrawal
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 18
To protest against the hike in college fees, activists of the All-India Students Federation and All India Naujuan Sabha, Ludhiana, staged a protest outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner here today.

Mr Vijay Kumar, general secretary, All-India Naujuan Sabha, while addressing the activists said the education had become so costly that it was not possible for the poor students to get admission for higher studies.

He added that the things had come to such a pass that many seats in the colleges were lying vacant this year while during the previous years it used to become a headache of the college authorities to adjust the students.

He demanded that the hike in fee should be rolled back soon otherwise the sabha would be forced to intensify the agitation.

Man acquitted

Ludhiana, July 18
The Additional Sessions Judge, Mr J.S. Bhatia, has acquitted Raj Kumar of Salem Tabri from the charge of possessing narcotics, giving him the benefit of doubt. He was facing charge of possessing 1 kg of charas. Acquitting the accused the court observed that the then DSP, Gurnam Singh, had not investigated the case properly.

The delay of 15 days in sending the sample of alleged recovered charas to the chemical examiner also proved fatal to the prosecution story. The accused was booked under Section 20 of the NDPS Act on July 10, 2000, at the Sadar police station. OC

CULTURE

Artist gives oriental touch to Christ
Shivani Bhakoo

Ludhiana, July 18
The three new paintings, introduced in the altar area of the Christian Medical College Chapel, are profoundly imaginative and provide plenty of food for thought. The unconventional approach of the artist, who, incidentally is net a Christian, gives a fresh approach to all too familiar figures by Italian artists.

Jesus Christ, in the paintings of Subhash Cheeda, is certainly oriental, in his presentation. The artist apparently has rejected the traditional masters to paint Christ nearer to his religious experience and knowledge. The unorthodox presentations of the artist are rooted in the soil.

Colour combinations, costumes and the characters vividly depict Christ from dusty Indian roads. The ethos and the locale of the paintings are set in an eastern context, thus giving creativity of the artist a different school of thought. The artist has tried to bring religious experience of Christians, closer to the common man. His imagination reduces the distance between the commonly held views on Christ and the historical accounts of faith. While the biblical theme remains unchanged, the artist has exercised his freedom of expression with great thoughtfulness and understanding of centrality of Christ.

The painting named the ‘Breaking of the Bread’ depicts a powerful symbolic expression of the last meal Christ shared with his disciples. The ‘Last Supper’ is a truly Indian version of the original event enacted in the upper room. The variety of cultural backgrounds and the costumes the disciples wear make it a very unique painting. When asked about its relevance and meaning, Father Ninan, who works with the academic community, commented, “It is a true biblical portrait of what the Lord said about the Kingdom of God. Many would come from the east, the west, the north and the south and will sup at the table in the Kingdom of God. It is a futuristic painting with Christ at the center, surrounded by all others”.

Another painting ‘Healing Touch’ is appropriate for the place of worship in a hospital. The picture shows a lady with a haemorrhage, touching the robe of Christ, under the wide glare of the local village crowd. The concept of healing touch captures the missing element in medicine and it focuses on the theme of who should benefit from healing. The artist has spelt out the meaning of healing with a different brush altogether.

‘Sitar Funk’ to perform today
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 18
‘Sitar Funk’ is a group of young musicians with Niladari Kumar, a noted sitar player, as its leader. The group fuses Indian classical music with western music and will perform in the city on July 19.

The group has enthralled audiences wherever they have performed and has created a niche for itself. The music has a definite identity and appeals to all generations.

Niladari Kumar can produce amazing sounds with his sitar. Vocals will be rendered by Anand Sharma, winner of the Surmati award by the Sur Shingar Sansad. Mridanga will be played by Sirdhar Parthasarathi, probably the only mridangam player who has played both Carnatic classical as well as fusion music. He is also a member of the group ‘Silk’, comprising Louis Banks, Shanker Mahadevan, and Shivamani.

Atul Raninga will be on the key board, Mukul Dongrey on drums and Suresh Talwalkar on tabla.

Mr Sunil Kant Munjal, president of the Ludhiana Sanskritik Samagam (LSS), said the LSS was bringing this group to the city. The LSS had brought a change in the cultural landscape of Ludhiana and was trying to add quality to the life of residents of the city, he said.