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| Tuesday,
August 12, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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CAMPUS
NOTES ‘THE stage is all set for elections to the Panjab University Teachers Association, which is scheduled for August 13. As usual, there are two groups in the fray. Hectic group meetings are known to be going on at the campus. One group is being projected as pro-establishment and the other claims to be leading the crusade for implementation of the long-pending demands of the teaching community. Dr Harjinder Singh ‘Laltu’ (Chemistry) is pitted against Dr J.K. Chauhan( Laws) for the post of president. Dr D.S.Toor (Physical Education) has Dr R.K. Sharma(Department of Correspondence Studies) in the opposition for the post of vice president. Dr Akshay Kumar (English) will contest against Dr Ashwani Sharma for the post of secretary. Dr K.K.Sharma (Department of Evening Studies) has Dr (Mrs) Praveen Rishi (Micro biology) in the opposition for the post of joint secretary. Dr R.K. Sapru (Public Administration) and Dr Rajeev Puri are contesting for the post of treasurer. Pension scheme for university employees tops the agenda of both the groups. While a majority of the central and state universities are known to be giving the facility of pension to its employees, the issue has been hanging fire at the campus here since long. The Centre finances 60 per cent of the university budget and the remaining is borne by the Punjab Government. “ The university has two different sets of parents and none is willing to take up the responsibility,” a senior professor said. The teachers are also concerned about the fall in the rate of interest they got on their Provident Fund. The interest rate has fallen from 10.75 to 7.50. This meant a loss of Rs 40,000-50,000 in the total they received at the end of their service. The teachers who were not being given pension were now further deprived of their benefits with the fall in the rate of interest on PF. Teachers earlier got a three year’s re-employment at the end of their service. The facility had been discontinued which was not merely a personal loss but also academic. Seeking a retirement age of 62, it was said that retirement age was not uniform even at the national level. All universities were expected to strive for getting the best possible benefit available for its employees. A former president of PUTA said that the applications for promotions of teachers under the Career Advancement Scheme had been lying pending for over a year in certain cases. Despite repeated reminders the university had not budged an inch. There is also a section of teachers, which while agreeing to the demands of the teachers contesting the elections, feel that the university had its own limitations. “Can you imagine the university administration would be purposely ignoring the legitimate demands of its employees? The teachers need to lend a supporting hand to the university administration in getting their demands settled at the higher levels rather than merely protesting on the campus,” a senior teacher said. One of the groups has highlighted that several teachers handling research projects were facing problems in getting their grants released from the university administration. This hampered their work. In fact, universities are places of “higher education and research” so research activity needed full support and the finances have a big hand in successful running of any project. Teachers are expressing their concern at the shortage of the faculty members. The Mathematics and the Chemistry Departments have half their required strength, it was pointed out. Hindi had minimal staff and so was the condition in several other departments. Posts have been frozen and there was no immediate respite in sight. The university needs to announce immediate steps to ensure the expected strength, of teachers so that education was not hampered. Is it not interesting that the student strength has multiplied and the teacher strength for the same courses had dwindled, a teacher said. The manifesto of Dr Chauhan has specifically highlighted: the need for “seed money” to support a viable pension scheme, construction of new houses for the staff; 50 per cent fee concession for wards of the university staff in the University Institute of Engineering and Technology, two advance increments to teachers with PhD; and exemption of refreshers courses for university teachers, besides others. The team of Dr Harjinder Singh ‘Laltu’ has raised the issues of social security in form of pension, extension of age of retirement till 62, legitimate promotional avenues, opening up of fresh recruitment for teachers and improvement of living atmosphere on the campus.
Second counselling concludes The second joint counselling for admissions to first year of Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Science(honours) besides Bachelor of Pharmacy courses in the category of Foreign Nationals, NRI, NRI and Industry Sponsored concluded at Panjab University earlier this week. The vacant seats available under the categories of BE(Chemical), Bio Technology and Microelectronics were filled up. The BE courses where vacancies still exist are Food Technology, Software Engineering and Telecommunication and Information Technology. There are vacancies in B. Pharmacy and BSc (honours schools) in Anthropology, Bio Physics, Botany, Geology, Computer Science and Applications, Mathematics, Zoology and Mathematics and Computing. All the available vacant seats in honours school of Biotechnology and Microbiology have been filled.
Extension Panjab University has extended the term of Mr S.K.Sharma as the secretary to the Vice Chancellor. The university syndicate has already given its clearance. The syndicate has also extended the term of Mr S.L Verma as the special officer to the VC. The term of both the officers is co-terminus with the tenure of the VC.
New restrictions The Chandigarh Police has issued new instructions to Panjab University with a view to maintaining the peaceful atmosphere on the campus. The university has conveyed its instructions to the students in wake of the expected polls to the Panjab University Campus Students Council. The local police has issued directions for preventive arrest incase of an emergency to the prominent student leaders of all student organisations. Gurparvez Singh Sandhu, president of a breakaway faction of the Panjab University Students Union, said they had been asked to present themselves before the police on Monday. The orders are learnt to have been communicated for briefing in order to avoid any untoward incident. The violence on the campus recently has led to issuance of an order from the office of the Dean Student Welfare which has been sent following a communication from the police headquarters. The order reads” because of the forthcoming elections to the student council at Panjab University, the atmosphere in the campus is fully surcharged as is evident from the incident dated July 30 in which three students were assaulted in a group clash”. Quoting another incident of bashful atmosphere, the order says “ in view of the incidents, it may be ensured that in future no student union is permitted to hold such meetings, rallies or conferences on the campus till they seek prior permission from local police as well as university authorities so that adequate law and order could be maintained”. It is pertinent to mention that the university has sealed the rooms of all students whose names figured in the FIRs and their canteen as well as mess facility had been sealed till further orders. Infact, the university has banned the entry of such students on the campus. |
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From Schools Chandigarh, August 11 The results of the competition are as follows: In the class I to II category, Ankit Mittal bagged the first prize. The second prize went to Vrinda and third to Pukhraj Kaura. Consolation prizes were won by Geetika and Anmol Bains. Special appreciation prize went to Jaspreet Kaur. In classes III to V category, Gurinder won the first prize, the second prize went to Anjalika and third to Kashish Mahajan. Consolation prizes went to Aditya Mahajan and Saksham Gakhar. In classes VI and VII category, first prize was won by Ridhima Gupta, second by Damini and the third by Monika Jamwal. Consolation prizes were won by Naina and Sunvir. Maximum participation award went to Bhavan Vidyalaya School, Sector 27.
Raksha Bandhan Raksha Bandhan was celebrated by students of Rai School, Sector 48. The puja thali and colourful rakhis created the right ambience festival. Kinder Garten students of JP Bal Niketan Public School, Sector 37, prepared colourful rakhis to celebrate Raksha Bandhan tomorrow.
Song contest Students from different city schools participated in the annual inter-school patriotic songs competition held at Sri Aurobindo School of Integral Education in Sector 27 today. The school Principal, Ms Amrita Vatsayan, said the competition was held annually to pay tribute to Sri Aurobindo whose birth anniversary fell on August 15. The Chairman of the Aurobindo Society, Mr B.K. Mehan, gave away the prizes. The results of the competition are as follows: the trophy was won by St Stephen’s School in Sector 45. In the junior category, the first prize went to Sector 7 DAV School. The second prize was bagged by St Stephen’s School, Sector 45, and third prize went to Ajit Karam Singh International Public School, Sector 41. The consolation prize was won by St Mary’s School. In the senior category, the first position was bagged by Vivek High School in Sector 38. The second prize was won by St Stephen’s School in Sector 45 and third prize went to Ajit Karam Singh International Public School in Sector 41. The consolation prize was won by St Mary’s School. SAS NAGAR: Golden Bells Public School, Sector 77 here celebrated ‘rakhi’ today. Students participated in various contests including rangoli, rakhi making, declamation and poetry recitation. The Principal, Mrs Gurjeet Bawa, applauded the efforts of the participants. Winners of various events are: Manish Kumar, Maninder Singh, Prabhjot Banga, Geeta Passi, Simarpreet, Neha, Deepika, Harheemneel, Eshaan Inder Singh, Konika, Ashish, Harshmeen, Amisha and Nikhil. |
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Bhattal’s case adjourned till August 21 Chandigarh, August 11 Ms Bhattal today appeared in a local court in a case pertaining to alleged corruption and embezzlement of Rs 20 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Relief
Fund. The FIR in this case was registered against Ms Bhattal on May 22, last year on the complaint of Mr Dhillon. Ms Bhattal appeared in the court of the UT Additional and Sessions Judge, Mr R.S Baswana. The arguments in the case were heard for about 20 minutes in the jam-packed court room in the afternoon. The counsel for Ms Bhattal, moved an application for summoning of seven relevant and essential documents required in the case at this pre-charge stage. The counsel for the complainant raised objection over Ms Bhattal’s counsel plea. Giving details, Mr Lekhi said the relevant documents had been attached with the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by her in the Supreme Court for staying the proceeding in the case. Thereafter, the Judge asked Mr Lekhi to file objection in the court in writing and adjourned the case till August 21. Ms Bhattal’s counsel had moved the application for supply of documents including documents related to questions raised by Mr Hardev Arshi, MLA, in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Chandigarh, reply filed by former Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal giving clean chit to her from corruption charges, satisfaction of the Vidhan Sabha Speaker through Secretary, Vidhan Sabha, Chandigarh, civil writ petition filed by Mr Satya Pal Dang, reports of investigating officers in the case including that of the then DIG C.S.R. Reddy, statements of the witnesses recorded in the case, and an application by Mr Dhillon’s advocate to the Chief Secretary, Punjab. |
‘Dance Like a Man’ to be staged on Aug 21 Chandigarh, August 11 With its celebrated cast of film actress Lillete Dubey, television actor Joy Sengupta, MTV Veejay Suchitra Pillai and corporate honcho Vijay Crishna, the play has received critical acclaim in India and overseas. it was voted as a favourite at the Broadway in New York and on the London theatre circuit. It has had impressive showings in various Indian theatre festivals, including the Prithvi festival in Mumbai’ besides having travelled across cities. Written by well-known playwright and dramatist Mahesh Dattani and directed by Lillete Dubey, it is a multi-layered sensitively woven tale of emotions, insecurities, feelings and happenings in the lives of two generations who find the medium of dance connecting them to one another. At once tragic and comical, its script, narrative and presentation bring alive a powerful human drama which examines India’s prevailing socio-cultural with insight and humour. it is a tale of human bonding, family relationships, generational conflict and a morality, which governs the protagonist’s lives. Donor cards will be available from August 13, on a first come first serve basis from Nehru Bhavan in Sector 24, Chandigarh. |
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