The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

AGRICULTURE

Record arrival of paddy
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 7
A record arrival of paddy was reported from the district with 56, 368 tonnes being procured today. Mr Anurag Verma, Deputy Commissioner, stated that a record arrival of paddy has been reported from mandis of the district and till October 5 a total of 3.23 lakh tonnes had been purchased as compared to 1.73 lakh tonnes purchased last year in the corresponding period.

He said PUNSUP had purchased 57,801 tonnes, Food and Supply 54,503 tonnes, Markfed 40,368 tonnes, FCI 30,323 tonnes, PSWC 20,540 tonnes and PAIC 26,217 tonnes. Traders have purchased 93,514 tonnes, he added. Mr Verma said the 99 mandis in the district were functioning properly and more than 69 per cent of the procured paddy had been lifted from the mandis.

He said the quality of the paddy was very good and the farmers were cooperating with the administration. The DC further said he was monitoring the procurement operation. He said to redress the problems of farmers mandi-level redressal committees were supervising the operations and all SDMs and tehsildars were visiting the mandis daily. Mr Verma added that the payment would start from tomorrow as the agencies would receive the funds by today.

Training course concludes
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 7
The College of Agricultural Engineering, Punjab Agricultural University, has organised a 10-day training course on “Use of computer and Internet in agriculture” for farmers. It was held in collaboration with the computer centre of the college and the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. Eleven farmers attended the course.

Dr Amrik Singh Sandhu, Additional Director, Extension Education (Training), was the chief guest. He gave away certificates to farmers. He exhorted the farmers to adopt the latest innovations in farming to face the WTO challenges. He said training courses on small-scale agro industries, servicing and maintenance of diesel engines, electric motors, tractors and farm machinery, energy saving technologies and entrepreneurship would also be organised.

Dr H.S. Sekhon, Dean, College of Agricultural Engineering, presided over the function.

Mr Iqbal Singh, a farmer from near Fazilka, who had got three months Young Farmers Training in 1973 from PAU, also attended this course. He shared his experiences in advanced farming.

Dr Dinesh Grover, Head, Department of Computer Science, welcomed the chief guest. Prof Kirpal Singh Saini, in charge of the training unit, gave details of the course.

“Need to counter influence of European culture”
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 7
“The culture of any community is not static but dynamic and is the product of historical process,” said Dr J.S. Grewal, a former Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, in his keynote address at a seminar on “Present and future of Punjabi culture”, held here today. The seminar was organised by the Centre for Communication Languages and Culture. The address was dedicated to the great visionary and proponent of Punjabi culture, Dr Mohinder Singh Randhawa.

Explaining his viewpoint, Dr Grewal said Punjabi culture consisted of three components i.e. elite culture, folk culture and tribal culture, which had undergone changes due to shift from pastoral economy to agricultural economy and to industrial economy. The establishment of democratic polity in the country had resulted in many cultural changes. Dr Grewal stressed on the need to identify the desirable and undesirable changes taking place in Punjabi culture.

In his inaugural address, Dr Darshan Singh, Dean, Postgraduate Studies, recalled the contribution of PAU in preserving rural culture by establishing the museum of rural social history of Punjab. He also stated that great Punjabi writers like Professor Mohan Singh, Sant Singh Sekhon, Kulwant Singh Virk and Gulzar Singh Sandhu were associated with this university and currently Dr Surjit Patar is on the PAU faculty.

Dr Jagdev Singh Jassowal stressed on the need for more interaction between the young and old generations in order to counter the influence of European culture.

Dr S.S. Gill, Additional Director, Extension Education, Centre for Communication, Languages and Culture, deplored the trend of blind copying of eating habits, dress style and moral and ethical values of other cultures under the influence of the media. Dr Rawel Singh, Secretary, Punjabi Academy, New Delhi, said all cultural changes should not be perceived as negative because as a result of the interaction among different cultures such changes were bound to come.

According to Dr Surjit Patar, convener of the seminar, more than 70 delegates from different colleges and universities are participating in the seminar and will present papers on different aspects of Punjabi culture.

Dr Gulzar Singh Sandhu, a former Editor, Punjabi Tribune, Dr Surinder Pal Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, and Mr Amrik Singh Puni, a former Punjab Chief Secretary, will preside over different sessions. Mr Jagmohan Singh Kang, Minister of Animal Husbandry and Sports will be the chief guest and Dr K.S. Aulakh, Vice-Chancellor, PAU, will preside over the plenary session at 4 pm tomorrow.

Students display models, charts
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 7
The Bharat Jan Gyan Vigyan Jatha in collaboration with the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology organised a science fair at Government Multipurpose Senior Secondary School, Cinema Road, here today.

Nearly 10 schools of the district participated in the fair that was conducted on the theme “Appropriate technology for sustainable development”. Models, charts and other display materials prepared by students were based on five sub-themes, “Renewable energy resources”, “Underground water conservation”, “Rainwater harvesting”, “Waste management” and “Bio-protection”.

The exhibition of models was followed by an interactive session on “Role of science in breaking myths”. Many school and college students participated in the session. Addressing the students, Dr Arun Mitra, general secretary of the jatha, said to develop scientific temper, one must develop capacity to shed outdated ideas and adopt new rationalist ideas based on knowledge, research and proof.

Dr Neelam Gulati Sharma, Principal Scientific Officer of the council, said the council would always support such endeavours and strive to work towards spreading scientific ideas.

Mr Varinder Sharma, District Science Supervisor, Mr V.P. Singh, Principal of the host school, and Mr H.K. Mayer, Vice-Principal, actively participated in organising the function.

The schools and colleges which participated included Government Model Senior Secondary School at Punjab Agricultural University; Guru Nanak Khalsa High School for Boys, Gujjarkhan; Ramgarhia Senior Secondary School for Boys; Guru Ram Dass Model School; Sanatan Vidya Mandir; SKSK Educational Institute; and Sargodha Khalsa Co-Educational Model School.

FROM COLLEGES
SDP girls win contest
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 7
Shruti and Mehar Abbas, both students of the SDP College for Women, have won the first prize in the state-level essay writing competition organised by the Directorate of Youth Services, Punjab.

While the contest was held on NSS Day at R.S. Model Senior Secondary School on September 24, the results have been declared recently. Shruti (B Com III) and Mehar Abbas (B Com II) have received trophies and cash prize of Rs 3,000 each from Capt Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister, at Punjab Raj Bhavan, Chandigarh.

Earlier, both the students had also won a district-level essay writing contest held at the Master Tara Singh Memorial College for Women in which more than 10,000 students from various local colleges and schools participated. Shruti and Mehar were among the 34 participants to qualify for participation at the state-level competition.

Ms S. Verma, Principal, SDP College, has congratulated both the students. The students said they owed their success to Ms Sudesh Bhalla and Ms Nivedita Arora, both programme officers of the NSS.

Talent search contest: Seventy students participated in a talent search contest organised at the GHG Khalsa College of Education, Gurusar Sadhar, here on Tuesday.

The contests were held for various items, including geet, ghazal, folk song, poetical recitation, skits, mono-acting, vaar singing, giddha, bhangra and group dance. Dr Rakesh Chander, in charge of cultural activities, said the programme was held to select the students for participation in the zonal youth festival.

Judgement for various items was given by Dr Rakesh Chander, Dr D.S. Pannu, Dr Khushwinder Kumar, Dr Sarabjit Ranu and Prof Harpreet Kaur. Dr J.S. Brar, Principal of the college, motivated the students for participation in various cultural activities. Dr Pannu appreciated the efforts of students.

BBA toppers: Kuntal Baveja and Inder Pal Singh, both students of the Gujranwala Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology, have stood first and second, respectively, in the fourth semester BBA examination conducted by Punjab Technical University this year. Kuntal has secured 87.17 per cent marks, while Inderpal has obtained 86.33 per cent marks.

MCA toppers: Four students of the Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology, Model Town, have brought laurels to the institute in MCA fourth semester examination conducted by Punjab Technical University this year.

Nidhi Khosla has got third rank in the university with 89 per cent marks. Ritika Bisht and Kuljit Kaur have shared fifth rank with 88 per cent marks. Jasmeet Kaur has got 10th rank with 86.4 per cent marks.

Shankar-Jaikishan show on Oct 11
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 7
Parampara — People for Music, a non-political, non-religious and non-profit organisation devoted to the cause of promoting music, will organise a musical evening “Shankar Jaikishan-Magic Moments” on October 11 at Nehru Siddhant Kendra.

Mr Gurcharan Dhanda, general secretary of Parampara, in a press statement said Shankar Jaikishan, the music director duo of the golden era of music, were the trendsetter of Western elements in film music. They pioneered and perfected the art of fusion of Western and Indian classical music in their compositions at a time when anything Western was condemned and rejected. The result was a novel music, which not only won the hearts of music lovers of the country, but also won them a record nine-time Filmfare awards.

“To make our programme varied and diverse, we have chosen songs of several artistes who sang for Shankar-Jaikishan. Some very talented and promising singers of the region will render these immortal melodies. Some of them are well-known artistes and others are college-going students of great promise. Raman Kant, Chandigarh-based famous music director, will score the music for the programme”, said Mr Dhanda.