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September 20, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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10 schools divested of science stream Ludhiana, September 19 Majority of the schools fall in rural and semi-urban areas where very few students opt for the subject. As a result, the courses had become nonviable leading to their termination. Instead of these schools, science stream has now been introduced in 10 such schools in the district where the demand was being felt for the past few years. The entire equipment meant for the science laboratories has now been shifted. Even the subject teachers along with their science laboratory assistants have been transferred to these schools. The science equipment has been shifted from Government Senior Secondary School, Payal, to Government Girls’ Senior Secondary School, Samrala; Government Senior Secondary School, Mangat, to Government Model Senior Secondary School, Millerganj; and Government School at Barsal village to Government Girls’ Senior Secondary School, Jawahar Nagar. Seven other schools where the courses have been scrapped are government senior secondary schools at Halwara, Sidhwan, Jhoraran, Malaud, Kaonke, Barundi and Katani Kalan villages. The government schools which would now start imparting education in science stream are those at Model Town, Bhaini Sahib, Talwandi Rai, Bassian, Kamalpura, Mansuran and Gill villages. The newly approved schools have been asked to send a list of required infrastructure, including furniture, laboratory equipment and other material. The lists would now be forwarded by the secondary wing of the Education Department to the finance wing of the state for approval. Mr Varinder Sharma, District Science Supervisor, said existing equipment was not enough to meet the demands of the number of students admitted to the schools where the stream had been introduced. He said earlier there were just six to seven students in a school, for whom the apparatus was sufficient. But now the schools where the apparatus had been shifted had more than 30 students each and demand for more equipment was being felt. Even though the decision regarding the shifting of stream is a delayed one, the response of students to science stream in schools where it has been approved has been good. Government Model Senior Secondary School, Millerganj, has enrolled more than 45 students in science stream. Mr Avtar Singh, science teacher, said: “If the decision to shift science subjects had been taken a little earlier, the number of students opting for the subjects would have certainly been more than 100. This year, there is a common section for the students but next year onwards, the students would be split into two sections.”  |
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Seminar
for visually challenged teachers Ludhiana, September 19 Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, Dr EM Johnson, Director of VRTC, said that an all-India national programme in special education for teachers working in other instituions is held every year in VRTC. The resource persons are trained in their specified fields. The teachers who come for training are either sponsored by government
institutions or NGOs. Dr Sushma Sharma, Reader, Kurukshetra University, specialist in integrated education, Mr Yogesh Sharma, a blind music teacher of Government College for Women, Dr Tej Bahadur Singh, and Dr Kirpanand from the National Institute for Physically Handicapped, Dehradun, are the resource persons. Officials of Punjab National Bank also told about the bank loans available for visually challanged people. Ms Daljit Inder, employment officer, Ludhiana, talked about the jobs available for handicapped persons like computer operators, telephone operators, and office management lecturers in college. These
people have inspired the teachers who have come for this special
course and they feel satisfied on learning new ways of handling blind
students under their care. Ms Soni from VRTC, also participating, says
that training has been worth its while, whereas Ms Lata Verma from
Patiala says that she has liked the talks given during the five days,
and she will return inspired. Mangal Singh, himself visually
challanged, is teaching braille in a school in Patiala. He feels that
when he returns he will be able to help the students cope up with
daily living skills like shaving, combing , matching clothes by the
feel of texture. |
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Contests, seminar held in college Ludhiana, September 19 A seminar was organised by the commerce department on Insurance Policies and Acts. A vote of thanks was given by Ms Jatinder Kaur, Head, commerce department. A mathematics quiz was organised by the maths department Mr Gurbir Singh, president, Guru Nanak Education Trust, and Ms Mahal presided over the function. Certificates were given to the winners and the president appreciated the participants and the audience. A paper-reading contest was organised under the guidance of Ms Paramjit Kaur, Head of the economics department. A skit-cum-choreography was presented by the students of BA-III. Ms Rajwinder Kaur, Ms Gurdeep Kaur and Ms Dimple were the judges. Manpreet, Damandeep and Supriya bagged the first, second and third prizes in the arts stream. Isha, Ruhi and Navneet got the first, second and third prizes in the commerce stream. Sakshi of BAII and Sheetal of B.Com II got consolation prizes. An inter-class declamation and poetical recitation competition was also organised. In the declamation contest, Amanpreet (B.Sc I), Priya (B.Sc II) and Rishu (BA-III) bagged the first, second and third prizes respectively. In the poetry recitation competition, Amandeep Kaur (BA II), Deepshikha (B.Sc I) and Sandeep (BA III) were declared first, second and third respectively. The Punjabi department organised a programme ‘Ru-b-roo’ with famous poet Dr Surjit Patar. Ms Baldev Tiwana, head of the Punjabi department, welcomed the guests. |
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‘Koshish-2003’ from today Ludhiana, September 19 Dr
K.N.S. Kang, Director of the college, said the festival would comprise 31 events. The first event, case presentation, would begin tomorrow noon. He said burning topics from management and information technology would be given to the participants. The event would be followed by contests for photography and software development. Dr Kang said three to four events would be organised each day. The main events would then begin on September 26 and the festival would finally conclude on September 27. The literary events would include JAM, sell it, portfolio management, case presentation, turn coat, dumb charades and press conference.
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Entrepreneurship workshop begins Ludhiana, September 19 The guest speaker on the occasion was Dr Surinder Bir Singh from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Guru Nanak Engineering College. Sharing some valuable insights on the topic, he said many professional students were adopting entrepreneurship as a lucrative career. He said that there was a paradigm shift from a job-seeker to a job-creator. In times of manpower rationalisation and rampant job-cuts, the task for today’s youth to secure rewarding jobs had become a challenge. The lecture was followed by a question answer round by the students. Many activities were also arranged for the students. Dr A.S. Bansal, Director, GNIMT, said that such workshops were being created to broaden horizons of the students. Tomorrow Ms Geeta Bector of Cremica Group of Industries, and Mr R.C. Chopra, Director, Small Industries Service Institute, would be the speakers. |
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Lathi charge on students flayed Amloh, September 19 At Doraha, the All-India Federation of Democratic Youth criticised the university authorities for using force against the students.
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Court verdict to help anti-encroachment campaign Ludhiana, September 19 The mega city and industrial capital of the state, with a significant migrant population and more than 200 identified slum colonies and clusters of jhuggis, would perhaps be the biggest beneficiary of the judgment since the district administration and the Municipal Corporation could go ahead with removing encroachments from the sites belonging to government and the civic body without having to botherabout the complex problem of providing alternate sites at state expense to the settlers. It has been a common practice by the jhuggi- dwellers and other unlawful occupants of government land to raise hue and cry against their ejectment and raise demand for providing them with alternative sites. And more often than not, the administration, under immense political pressure and public sympathy on humanitarian grounds, has been doling out alternative sites and even funds for the resettlement of unlawful occupants. However, the problem of encroachment on government land, at every conceivable place in the city, and proliferation of jhuggis and temporary structures continues unabated. The practice of providing alternative housing sites and grants has, on the contrary, proved to be counter productive and a sort of allurement for homeless persons and other vested interests to settle on vacant government land and when threatened with ejection, to ask for government support. It is also a matter of record that almost without exception, the uprooted families or persons, provided with plots and grants by the government for resettlement, dispose of these sites, and squander away the funds meant for the construction of tenements, and again set up jhuggis elsewhere in the city, much to the annoyance and helplessness of the authorities. A retired government officer, who was associated with one of the biggest encroachment clearance campaigns so far in the city on the Chandigarh road in mid-nineties, recalled that a majority of people, provided with cash assistance and small plots in another part of the city to build houses on, had disposed of the plots and settled in another cluster of jhuggis while some had constructed houses and given these away on rent while themselves still lived in jhuggis elsewhere. Experience shows that the biggest stumbling block in the way of clearing encroachments from government land has been political support to the settlers because the squatters come in handy for political parties during elections. A senior government functionary, remarked, “Political leaders, cutting across party lines, have been acting like self- appointed messiahs of jhuggi-dwellers and in a bid to win their support, they promise to get them (the slum dwellers) houses and all other facilities without realising that by doing so, they (politicians) are making the task of removing encroachments on government land much more difficult.” |
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Backup system for lifts at district courts Ludhiana, September 19 Notices were pasted outside as well inside of the elevators cautioning the users of avoiding its use in the absence of operators. It also asked the occupants not to panic in case the elevator got stuck, assuring that the door would open automatically after one minute. They faced difficulty in breathing and made frantic phone calls to their friends in the court complex. Another operator had to be summoned since the operator inside the elevator had no technical knowledge. It took more than half an hour to rescue the occupants. The Bar secretary had to face the wrath of lawyers, following which he had assured that the matter would be taken up with the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Mr
B.K. Roy, during his visit to the local courts on September 20. The authorities however, swung into action yesterday and effected the installation of a backup system.
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Unending romance with Urdu poetry Ludhiana, September 19 At the very young age he read the great masters of the language like Meer, Sauda, Ghalib, Dagh, Dil, Dard, Zafar, Iqbal, Faiz, Sahir, Akhtar, Kaifi and a host of others through Devnagri script. He acknowledges his gratitude to Parkas Pandit and Noor Nabi Abbasi for helping people like him read and understand Urdu poetry. “We are grateful to these editors, particularly to Parkash Pandit for letting us relish what would have remained Greek to us,” he remarked, while adding, “while reading these works, I developed a taste for writing too.” The upcoming poet was encouraged by his father, two of his elder brothers, Lajpat Rai who is MA in Urdu, and late Sham Sunder who won laurels in Hindi/Punjabi poetry and whose son, Deepak Verma, is a TV/Film actor in the UK, and later by his teachers B.K. Sethi, P.S. Bajaj, M.L. Sharma and Amrit Singh at undergraduate level. Then, he came in contact with Mr Baljeet Singh Grewal, who was himself a great fan of progressive Urdu poets and a personal friend of Sahir Ludhianvi. He introduced Kalia to Kaifi Azmi, Jan Nisar Akhtar and Sahir Ludhianvi. Kaifi Azmi’s couplet scripted in his crude autograph-booklet of student days still keeps him company. “Izhar-e-haq mein khatra-e-daro-rasan to hai, lekin sawal ye hai ke daro-rasan ke baad” became the watchword of his life, and later on he paid a glowing tribute to the celebrated poet: “Parh gayee phiki ibarat teri kagaz pe likhi, tere lafzoon ki mehak aaj talak rooh mein hai”. After some good encounters with poetic greats he started writing himself with mature idea and expression. In “Kacha Makan” (thatched house), a dramatic monologue, he depicts the anguish of a frustrated teenager who, along with his mother, has been vainly waiting for his father who, in search of greener pastures, has gone abroad with a promise to his family that he would come back “soon” and build a pucca house with the money that he earned abroad. The incessant wait wastes away her youth and her son’s, the narrator, childhood, yet there is no sign of return of the man from abroad: “Jhulasti dhoop rahi, barishein, ghane toofan, par mehfooz raha maan ka wohi kutcha makan, uski dopehar magar sham mein tabdeel huyee, baap ke pakke makan ka nahin koi namo-nishan”. Finding venom, jealously, vanity and ego all around, he says: “Apne apne saanp liye har simt saperey baithe hain, nazuk paa ke intzaar main sham sawerey baithe hain”. Despite that he has not lost faith in the basic goodness of man. It is his strong conviction that people who are scandalised, defamed and spurned by the society may not necessarily be as bad as the world stamps them to be. There is every likelihood that:“Jin pe pathar sare bazar barsate honge, chal rahe daur ke woh log massihey honge”. He advocates responding to the call of conscience whenever one is in dilemma commonly known as “dharam-sankat”, but at the same time he admits: “In the world we are living in, it is very hard, though not impossible, to lead a purely virtuous life as lies, deceit, backbiting and other vices have all come to stay as part of our life”. As he writes: “Duniya ke taur dekh, faqat nekian na kar, lazim hain kuchh gunah bhi tavazan ke vaste,” (Do not be always virtuous, it is necessary to commit some sins for maintaining a balance) |
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