EDUCATION

PAU finalises model garden plot for Rashtrapati Bhavan
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 2
Punjab Agricultural University has finalised a plot for laying the model garden at Rashtrapati Bhavan and the plantation of fruit saplings will start within this month. The garden has been planned with a view that fruits are available round the year. The selection of fruit trees would be done accordingly, said the Vice-Chancellor, Dr K.S. Aulakh.

Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who visited the PAU campus on September 4 to inaugurate kisan mela, was impressed with the performance of the university and expressed his desire that the PAU experts plant a model garden at Rashtrapati Bhavan in 1 acre. The Vice-Chancellor sent a two-member team of senior horticulturists comprising Dr Amrik Singh Sandhu and Dr S.K. Narula, to Rashtrapati Bhavan and prepare a plan after examining the soil and local environment. The model garden will serve as a “nutritional hub” for the Rashtrapati staff and fruits will be available round the year.

The species of fruits selected for plantation in Rashtrapati Bhavan include kinnow (virus free), musambi, blood red, jaffa, valencia late and under grape fruit-marsh seedless and red blush and baramasi lemon (seedless), Sutlej purple and kala amritsari (plum varieties Partap, Shane-Punjab,, early grande and florda prince (peach varieties), Punjab beauty, Punjab nectar, Punjab gold (soft pear varieties), phalsa, kronda, chiku, jamun and amla.

Besides, mango dusehri and langra varieties along with sucking mango (gangian selection), ber bael and beauty seedless, perlatte and flame seedless (grape varieties) will also be planted.

There will be inter-plantation of papaya and strawberry.

Dr Aulakh said the approval for the laying of the garden had been received and 1.25 acres had been earmarked for the purpose.

The plantation of the fruit trees will start during the current month and Dr S.K. Narula has left for Delhi to make arrangements for the same. Some plants will be planted in January and some in February. The garden will start giving fruits within a period of two to three years. Dr Aulakh said the horticulture experts would be visiting the Rashtarpati Bhavan at different intervals to supervise the growth of the plants.

It is the first time that an agricultural university will be planting a garden at Rashtrapati Bhavan, which is known for its roses and other ornamental plants in the Mughal Gardens. 

Two-day seminar on Punjabi culture from Oct 7
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 2
The PAU will organise a two-day seminar on the Punjabi culture on October 7 and 8. Dr S.S. Gill, Additional Director of Extension Education, Centre for Communication, Languages and Culture, said the seminar was being organised with the financial assistance of the Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, Fisheries, Sports and Youth Services, Mr Jagmohan Singh Kang, out of his discretionary funds.

Mr Kang will be the chief guest at the plenary session of the seminar on October 8, while Dr K.S. Aulakh will preside over the function. Dr Darshan Singh, Dean, Post Graduate Studies, will inaugurate the seminar and Mr Jagdev Singh Jassowal will preside over the inaugural session.

Eminent writers and thinkers including Dr Satinder Pal Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, former Vice-Chancellor of GND varsity, Dr J.S. Grewal, Dr Gulzar Singh Sandhu and Dr Satinder Singh Noor have been invited to present their papers on different aspects of the Punjabi culture. Based on these papers, a book will be published later.

Freshers given warm welcome at DMCH
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 2
It was an evening to be remembered at the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital for the new entrants to MBBS course as their seniors gave them a fun-filled warm welcome at a function titled “Arrhythmia” here at Dumra Auditorium last evening. Parents of students also graced the occasion to witness the much awaited moment, when their wards would be welcomed in a medical college.

Dressed in colourful attire seniors presented a colourful cultural extravaganza for the entertainment of their juniors, who had come not only from all over the north but from abroad too. Besides presenting various foot tapping group and solo Indo-Western, Punjabi folk and Bollywood dances, they also presented a choreography. Many senior doctors were also given mementoes by students. All the new entrants were called on the stage one by one for introduction and were formally welcomed by seniors. Title of Ms Fresher-2003 was given to Ms Madhuri and Mr Himanshu was declared Mr Fresher.

Ms Personality title was given to Jaskiran. Mr Amrit Nagpal, Mr Satish Sanwalka, Mr Dharamvir Bector, Mr Jagdish Behal, members of the DMCH Managing Society, Dr S.C. Ahuja, former Principal, DMCH, Dr Daljit Singh, officiating Principal, Dr Sandeep Puri, Medical Superintendent, Dr Rajoo Singh Chhina, MS (P), DMCH, also graced the occasion.

In his address to the freshers, Mr Amrit Nagpal congratulated all new entrants and their parents for their achievement and said it was not only a great day for the students but also for the DMCH management.

In his message to the would-be doctors, Dr Daljit Singh asked them to be caring towards the patients with a touch of compassion and warmth to preserve the ethics of medical profession. On the request of students, he also declared Friday as holiday for the MBBS classes. The function concluded with a dance party organised at the Dumra auditorium.

School honours toppers
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 2
To honour the toppers of CBSE and various competitive examinations, the staff and management of Kundan Vidya Mandir organised a get-together here yesterday. Manish Aggarwal, who had stood first in the entrance test for the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research University, Hyderabad, and even topped the school in commerce stream with 92.2 per cent marks, was honoured with silver salvers, citation and a special prize. Ankur Wadhera, a Class XII passout, was honoured for attaining second rank in the CMC entrance test.

Among Class X students, Sameer Jain, who had scored 94.2 per cent, won a special prize. Nine other students, who had attained 90 per cent and more marks, were also honoured. These included Amrita Dutta, Anubha Khera, Roohi Sood, Sonnit Sharma, Tanica Jain, Vanika Jain, Karan Maini, Kshitiz Aggarwal and Poonam Chadha.

Subject-wise toppers of Class XII also received prizes. Siddhartha Singla and Neha Singal were honoured for getting the highest score of 98 per cent in accountancy. Nidhi Jain scored highest in business studies, Deboshree Jana got prize for history and Taran Khangura was honoured for highest score in physical education. Manish Aggarwal had scored highest marks in mathematics as well as economics. Six other awardees included Dilpreet Kaur, Madhur Arora, Abhay Chopra, Sambhav Jain, Vijayeta Jain and Deepika Dutta for their scores in English, chemistry, biology, computer science, political science and home science.

Mr Prem Aggarwal, manager of school managing committee, congratulated the toppers, their parents and staff. 

Training in counselling skills continues
Asha Ahuja

Ludhiana, October 2
“We believe that children are powerhouses of talent and have great individual potential. Their talent can be polished by parents and teachers who understand them,” feel the educationists. Hence the course Intensive Training in Counselling Skills for 20 teachers, which started on Sunday, September 28, and will continue for six days.

With the aim of understanding the children better, intensive training in counselling skills has been organised by the Kala Seva Society, an NGO, that has been working in diverse fields for helping out society. This course aims at providing a conceptual grasp of personality , the forces shaping it in childhood and adolescence and the vicissitudes of life that may adversely influence its development. Secondly, the focus is on the lived experience of the participants to elicit in counselling practise the skills of attending, empathy and influencing.

The resource person Mr Andrew Pinto, is a qualified counseller who has been into this field for a long time.

The other person is Sylvine Vas, an accredited psychotherapist. The day is divided into several sessions. Mr Pinto said that the aim of counselling was two fold.

The first was to give orientation to the whole world of counselling and not expert counselling and the second was to create an awareness which would be helpful to people as well in the personal life of the counseller.

Mr Pinto said that he was conducting such a camp for the first time in the North and he felt since the teachers had good communication skills they were grasping the idea better.

He said the whole purpose of counselling was not to find the solutions but to empower the subjects to find them themselves.

The three teachers of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary Convent School — Ms Radhika, Ms Gita and Ms Harvinder said, “We have learnt that counselling will help us to solve the problems of the students. For this we will have to sharpen our listening skills as the power lies in the person who is listening, verbal and non-verbal, and the body language. Moreover, to understand a person , we will have to ask open , closed and probing questions and by reflecting a person’s feelings we will have to summarise the situation.

We also learnt how to get in touch with the feelings of persons by focussing on his thoughts without getting personally involved.

We have not to react and we have to let the person find answers to the problems from himself. Counselling also helps us to understand ourselves. While we are listening, we know our own reactions too.”

The counselling sessions will continue and learners will be given more inputs.

Noble gesture by NSS volunteers
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 2
A 10-day NSS camp is undergoing at Kamla Lohtia Sanatan Dharam College, Subhash Nagar, here. A prize distribution function was held today which was chaired by Mr Jagmohan Gupta, president of the college managing committee. Mr B.D. Budhiraja, Principal, was also present on the occasion.

A kind gesture was shown by the volunteers of NSS as they collected funds and distributed seven sewing machines to the needy women. All NSS volunteers were also honoured. The function was convened by Prof Mohd Saleem and Prof (Dr) Yog Raj, the programme co-ordinators of the NSS, Kamla Lohtia SD College.

Mr Jagmohan Gupta appreciated the gesture shown by students to help the needy people. Principal B.D. Budhiraja congratulated the students for the efforts made by them during the camp and asked them to come forward with more zeal and vigour to help society. A report of the camp was also presented by Prof Mohd Saleem.

Fancy dress show by kids
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 2
Over 50 tiny tots of Shanti Niketan Adarsh Vidyalaya, Benjamin road, participated in a fancy dress show held here today. Children from pre-nursery to Class II participated in the contest. They came on the stage dressed up as various characters of Ramayana and Mahabharta.

Some acted like Rama while others came dressed up like Sita, Laxman, Hanuman, Mandodari, Trijata, Ravan, Duryodhan, Krishan and Yashodha. Mr Rajesh Nauhria, Ms Bina Sharma and Ms Sunita Nauhria pronounced the judgement.

Mr Randhir Sharma, Director, said the show was held to apprise the students of the rich cultural heritage of the nation.

Academy honours students
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 2
The GRD Academy, Ludhiana, today organised “Investiture”, a ceremony to honour its students. The hour-long function not only hailed the students who had excelled but also decorated them with designations and accorded them a place of pride in the hierarchy of the academy.

Every year senior and deserving students wait with anticipation for this function, which marks the crowning of their efforts by the school administration. It was a momentous occasion for the “Appointment” as they got their designations — plates pinned to their chest by the chief guest, Brig R.S. Sidhu, Commander Sub Area, Punjab. Brig R.S. Sidhu exhorted the students to make optimum use of the exposure provided by the academy. He asked the youngsters to think of the nation before self. Simranjit Singh and Taranpreet Kaur were decorated with the coveted designations of Head Boy and Head Girl, respectively.

Designer wear launched
Our Correspondent

Models present spring/winter collection of designer outfits in Ludhiana on Thursday. — A Tribune photo