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September 23, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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Food, fun and frolic at freshers’ party Chandigarh, September 22 The event saw the high-level Canadian delegation who was visiting the institute to take part in its Founder’s Day celebrations, matching step for step with the students as they danced to the tune of popular Punjabi and Hindi songs. The campus was decorated with lights and flowers by the seniors to match the mood of jubilation. The major highlight of the programme was the contest for Mr and Miss Freshers in which the participants exhibited their talent and personality. Mr Abbas was selected as Mr Fresher and Ms. Parveena Malhotra was crowned as Miss Fresher.  |
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My colleague
instigating students: teacher Chandigarh, September 22 “It pains me to know my students have turned against me but I know they are not at fault. All this is being done at the instance of a colleague of mine who is instigating students. He is unable to digest the fact that a visually impaired man is the Head of Department and is devising ways to have me transferred out. He has even filed a case in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) challenging my headship,” he rues. Stating that he had two daughters of nearly the same age as the girl students pointing a finger at him, he said, “It is rather unfortunate because I keep asking them if they approve of my style of teaching time and again. They are using examples I have given out of context and held me guilty. My wife is with me and she was there when I quoted lines being mentioned by the students.” “My blindness is my biggest disease and I have a problem with my kidneys as well. I am giving my best to students and have been in the college, serving the cause of music, since 1990. My transfer would mean I have lost out because of my being visually impaired and would be the biggest punishment while it would mean a win for my detractors,” he informed. He also said the problem with his colleague stemmed from his denial to accommodate the colleagues candidate as a member of the guest faculty. “Since then he has been threatening to damage me,” he said. Though he is unaware of any meeting slated for September 24, he says he would gladly explain his side of the story to parents and teachers. |
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Students
seek suspension of music teacher Chandigarh, September 22 Final year students of the postgraduate course in music, in a complaint to the college Principal, alleged that the lecturer used lewd examples to explain the history of music in the class. Led by the President of the Panjab University Campus Students Council
(PUCSC), Mr Malwinder Singh Kang, students of the first and second year, along with their parents descended at the office of the Principal, Ms Usha
Wahi, this morning, demanding action against the teacher. While tempers ran high, parents demanded immediate action against the teacher, who, they claimed, was harassing students by his “indecent” talk and the college authorities seemed to be turning a deaf ear to their complaints. Two lecturers did try to bring some order at the table between the Principal and parents and students but to no avail. “We had complained to the Principal a month ago and she had assured she would call the teacher guilty of misconduct in class. Things did improve for a while but he was back to quoting obscene and illogical examples in class last week when we again approached the authorities,” a student said. Meanwhile, the Principal, Ms Usha
Wahi, taken aback by the loud voices of the protesters, said: “They just barged into my office. I tried to convince the students on Saturday that the teacher would be given only under-graduate courses and they seemed satisfied. I can’t understand what has come over them,” she said. She added that the college was doing its bit to resolve the matter by giving the visually impaired teacher an altogether different set of students. “These students are not ready to come face-to-face with the teacher they are holding guilty. I cannot ask him to proceed on leave or suspend or transfer him,” she added. Another meeting of the teacher, students and parents would be held in the presence of the DPI (Colleges), Mr Dilip Kumar, on September 24 to resolve the matter, the Principal told irked students and parents. |
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Book-binding project for mentally challenged
Chandigarh, September 22 While the first batch of these trained students are already engaged in binding books and journals for Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, with the help of the second batch, the institute is planning to take up more assignments from other institutions like the PGI, Government Hospital, Sector 16 and other government offices. “We have selected students who are borderline cases of mental retardation and enjoy good muscular co-ordination so that they can be trained to carry out book binds of different nature,” says Dr B.S Chavan, Prof and Head of Department of Psychiatry and Joint Director of the Government Institute for Mentally challenged Children who is supervising the project of book binding. Under the guidance of professional trainers, four more students of the institute are being taught about the technicality of spiral binding, leather binding and other types to meet the demand. “It takes lots of hard work and patience to teach such children and master the art but once they learn the
techniques they can work independently and earn their livelihood by utilising their skill,” said Dr Chavan. According to Dr Chavan, though the first batch students of book binding project was ready to work independently when it comes to mastering the technical part, it is the prospect of working in the outside environment which creates the major problem. “Such children need a protected, sheltered environment to work in and a little bit of supervision while they are at work. This is the reason we have not sent our students to work outside,” said Dr. Chavan. The institute is mainly focussing on creating jobs for them in the medical colleges and hospitals in the city. Since all medical college and hospitals collect a large number of journals and books, they can employ such trained mentally retarded children as helping hands. “We are looking for co-operation and from both the Administration and the society to help such children live a full life,” he added. Besides book binding project, the institute has also started a bread making project through which the students are being trained to make bread and supply to the government medical college for their daily supply. “Apart from these two projects we are also going to extend our “Project Ummeed” which involve a number of children and their families to run small shops in different areas. We have already selected a few more sights for extending this project,” informed Dr Chavan. |
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CAMPUS NOTES Panjab University’s initiative to increase classroom attendance has generated an interesting debate. The university has decided to give classroom credence to attendance by reserving 5 per cent marks in the annual examination of undergraduate classes to be added to the total. The university decided to give 5 per cent weightage to classroom attendance and 15 per cent weightage to the marks scored in the two house examinations during an academic session. The original proposal said the university should give 10 per cent weightage to the classroom attendance and house examinations separately. The issue needs clearance of the Senate before implementation. The issue faced certain opposition. “Lectures were often purchased by students in certain colleges”. Mr Ashok Goyal and Mr S.S. Hundal spoke against the proposal in the Syndicate meeting of the university. The step has been initiated with a strong resolution of increasing classroom attendance. The attendance had gone down noticeably in the colleges, said Prof Charanjit Chawla, a Fellow. The situation had arisen because of too much credence given to the entrance examination, Professor Chawla said. Students wasted big amounts of money and also time, while applying for courses in different professional courses. Students spent sizeable amounts on tuition as well, he added. Dr Dinesh Talwar, a Fellow, said allocating marks for classroom attendance under the existing syllabus and education trends had little meaning. Agreeing to the existing loopholes Professor Chawla countered that instead of pointing fingers at the reform, indications should be made to plug the gaps in the existing system. A research scholar said in case the classroom teaching was remodelled to suit the needs of entrance examination and colleges introduced courses for coaching them for future jobs, the classroom culture would improve. The type of question paper which came in entrance examinations was absolutely different from the university annual examinations. Malwinder Singh Kang, president of the students’ council, said students already were required to attend 75 per cent lectures which was a decent attendance for a normal graduation course. Those in favour of marks for attendance argue that students who attend all classes definitely deserved a little edge over students who were less bothered about classroom assignments. Results:
The university has announced that results of all re-evaluation cases in the concerned subjects will be declared by September 27. Important dates:
The forthcoming Senate meeting is scheduled for October 12 and the Senate meeting later this year will be held on December 14, reliable sources said. The meetings of the faculties will be held on the subsequent two days. The university will have Syndicate meetings on October 26 and November 22, sources added. National award:
The award has been instituted in memory of parents of Prof M.K. Jain, an alumnus of PU now settled in USA. The award consists of Rs 50,000 for his contributions in the fields of organic chemistry, chemical biology and supermolecular chemistry in relation to their applicability in the development of gene regulators and therapy. Professor Bhattacharya will make a formal presentation to the students and the faculty at a special award giving ceremony to be organised by the university later. Prof S.K. Kulkarni, convener of the foundation, said the foundation also gave Bhagyatara scholarship to the girl student securing the highest marks in the CET and who also secures admission to PU. Talk on dinosaurs:
Prof Ashok Sahni, a former Dean, University Instructions, was the speaker at the lecture organised by the Panjab University Teachers Association on September 19. Professor Sahni elaborated on the concept of evolution of dinosaurs. The lecture was followed by a question-answer session. The session was chaired by Prof
B.R. Nanda, a renowned number theorist. Dr Devi Sirohi welcomed the speaker while Dr Harjinder Singh
(Laltu), president of the PUTA, proposed the vote of thanks. |
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Kalam to attend
NIPER convocation SAS
Nagar, September 22 A total of 104 students who have
successfully completed their Master’s (80 students) and Doctorate (24 students) programmes in various disciplines will be awarded degrees. During his visit to NIPER, Dr Kalam will also inaugurate Technology Development Centre at the institute. NIPER has set up the state-of-the-art pilot plant for developing processes for active pharmaceutical ingredients of synthetic or herbal origin at the centre. |
Tribune
organises outing for children Chandigarh, September 22 Starting a day with a round in the garden, children from three schools, St Thomas School, Sector 18, Satluj Public School, Sector 2, Panchkula and Dikshant International School, Industrial Area, Panchkula, took part in games like races, relay races, cap games and others. The students who belonged to group of four to 10 years of age were supervised by 14 teachers and a group of advisers from the Tribune in Education programme. Though the competition was stiff and students gave their best shot in the races and other games, the fun part was all participants, irrespective of the losers or winners were given a gift for their endeavour and zeal. The Tribune in Education has been conducting educational programmes to imbibe reading habits among children. |
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New method for early board exam results SAS
Nagar, September 22 Mr Mohinder Bir Singh, secretary of the board, said today that the method would be used to prepare results of classes VIII, X and XII examination to be conducted in 2004. He said though the results were already being prepared with the help of computers, a lot of data was being fed manually. Now, with the introduction of OCR and ICR methods over 40 to 50 award lists could be fed through a scanner in just two minutes. This would also help reduce the number of mistakes that usually crept in during manual operation. The secretary said the new method would help in the early declaration of results. It would also enable the board authorities to advance the data of supplementary examinations. He said the board was also constructing a store where paper used for printing textbooks would be kept. Efforts were also being made to provide a spacious area for the bank branch and post office running in the main board building here. The ATM facility would also be made available. The space where the bank and the post offices were running would be turned into an enquiry area for
visitors where seating arrangement would also be made. |
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210 kids take part in
drawing contest Chandigarh, September 22 At least 210 children belonging to the age group of two years to 10 years from various schools of SAS Nagar, Chandigarh and Panchkula took part in the contest. In the Group A which was open for children between two years to four years of age, Arjun Viz won the contest, followed by Harshita in the second position. The third prize was shared by Saksham and Vishal. Marti Somya was declared winner in the group B category which was for children of four years to six years of age. Menal and Bhavika Goel bagged the second and third positions, respectively. In the Group C category which was for students of six years to eight years, Sumeet Kaur was declared the winner while Sahil Juneja and Mandeep won the second and third prize respectively. In the Group D (for eight to 10 years), Yashika won the contest followed by Lakshmi on the second position. Neha and Jyoti Kadian jointly shared the third prize. |
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HIGH
COURT Chandigarh, September 22 Earlier during the proceedings, the court perused the suggestions made by Municipal Commissioner M.P. Singh and Deputy Commissioner Arun Kumar for checking and eradicating the menace in Chandigarh. They had asserted that the problem could not be solved unless the states of Punjab and Haryana, controlling the adjoining cities of SAS Nagar and Panchkula, respectively, were involved in the process of framing a comprehensive plan. The Bench, comprising Mr Justice G.S. Singhvi and Mr Justice S.S. Saron, had on the last date of hearing ruled that preventing the stray cattle from entering the city was "absolutely essential to protect the international status of Chandigarh as City Beautiful". |
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District Courts Chandigarh, September 22 Sidhu’s counsel pleaded that maximum conviction in the case was three years and minimum one year. He argued that Sidhu had been lodged in the jail for about one and a half years therefore he deserved the concession of bail. He further added that Sidhu had already been discharged in a case registered against him under the Excise Act by the Vigilance Department, Punjab. The UT police had registered a case under the Arms Act against Sidhu following a complaint against him by the Vigilance Department, Punjab. The Vigilance Department had claimed that it had seized 250 rounds of .12 bore gun and 225 rounds of Springfield rifle from Sidhu’s house in Sector 39. Anticipatory bail plea: He had moved an anticipatory bail plea apprehending that he might be arrested by the UT Vigilance Department in another corruption case. He pleaded that he was innocent and had nothing to do with the case. |
Turkmenistan dancers leave
audience spellbound Chandigarh, September 22 This Turkmen national song about love in which a boy asks his beloved to come to him, was presented by Dursun Jemagazakova, an actress of the Magtymguly Musical Drama National Theatre. Another song presentation was called, Gashly Yar, a Turkmen folk song that described beauty of a girl. This was performed by Dursunjemal Gazakova, who also presented. “Hayyt Yykan”, an item based on the work of a 19th century Turkmen poet Kemine. Yet another item was Zuhar and Tahir, an extract from the national love poem of Turkmenistan. Among the gracefully presented dance items, were, “Pomegranate”, meaning blossoming. In this presentation, young girls danced to describe the beauty of spring season. “Birth of a day”, another dance presentation, was an ode to sunrise. In “Maral”, yet another traditional item, Turkmen girls danced to describe the elegance of their tribe. Then came “Kushtdepdi”, a folk dance performed in the western parts of that country by Yomud tribe. This popular, dance is performed during all Turkmeni national festivals. The young Turkmeni women also enthralled the audience with their graceful presentations of the Egyptian folk dance. The special show was organised as part of the international exchange programme by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
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A sensitive portrayal of eunuchs Chandigarh, September 22 The centre of focus and theatrical study in Machhindra More’s play are eunuchs, who bear the burden of their destiny all their lives. The play also reflects bitter realities which centre around the fact that very often eunuchs are not born, but made. Condemned to a life of misfortune, they face the wrath of society, which is conditioned to condone them and treat them with contempt. Sensitively written and professional directed and structured, the play sets off from the basic issues concerning the lives of a band of eunuchs, who, despite
ostracisation, struggle to survive by the sweat of their brow. The play centres around the dera leader Najjo
(Govind Pandey), who rules autocratically, but sympathises with her colleagues, as and when the situation demands. The better part of the production lies in its ability to evoke acceptance for eunuchs and not evoke sympathy or compassion. Through the actors on stage, the director makes a strong statement which underlines the dignity of life and labour, irrespective of sex, caste or creed. Beautifully woven into the script, the dialogues touch the heart and bring home the solutions to all the questions, which the playwright raises through rhetoric. Known for dabbling in virgin areas, Machhindra More’s play also seeks to unravel the 2various levels of their consciousness, which remains eternally scarred. Designed and directed by Waman
Kendre, the play had the following in its cast: Govind Pandey, Suman
Vaidya, Teekam Joshi, Jagat Rawat, Subhash Chander, Suresh Sharma, Binod Sharma, Sanjay, Seema and Vandana Sharma, among others. |
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Bhangra
star holding workshop Chandigarh, September 22 “This workshop is the second in the series of such folk dance workshop organised by the NZCC which aims at preparing a bhangra group to take part in the national folk dance competition in which all the zonal cultural centres will take part,” said Mr Jaswinder Singh, programme co-ordinator of the
NZCC. |
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