EDUCATION

A cultural extravaganza
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 13
Students and staff of Saraswati Modern School, Civil Lines, celebrated its annual function here yesterday. The function began with the enchanting of mantras and singing of ‘Vande Mataram’. This was followed by a ‘nritya natika’ titled ‘Meera’. Tiny tots of St John’s Preparatory School presented action songs ‘Give me a song to sing’ and ‘Ba-ba black sheep’. A Haryanvi folk song was also presented by middle section girls. An item covering 50 years of Indian cinema was beautifully presented. Schoolchildren presented orchestra by playing pianos.

An English play ‘A Christmas carol’ was also staged. A dance item paying tribute to ‘The Ganga’ and a creative dance item with a blend of classical and western dance was also performed. The cultural programme concluded with giddha and bhangra that left the audience spellbound.

The cultural show was followed by reading of the annual report by Ms Kamla Jain, founder Principal. Ms Sudesh Bajaj, Deputy District Education Officer, was the chief guest. Ms Neelambra Sharma, headmistress, gave a vote of thanks to the guests.

Maths teachers attend workshop
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 13
Aiming to improve classroom teaching and prepare students well for examination, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) started a two-day orientation workshop for its mathematics teachers in 75 affiliated schools at BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, here today.

As many as 85 teachers taking Classes IX and X in schools of the northern region attended the workshop. Mr B.M. Gupta and Mr I.C. Ahuja, both principals from Delhi, were the resource persons who enlightened the teachers by discussing the various aspects and methodologies of teaching mathematics in an effective way.

The teachers were acquainted with the latest changes and new topics added to the mathematics syllabus. Another important aspect of the programme was to discuss the examination system of the subject which included setting of question paper and evaluation of answer sheets. During the programme, interaction was held among the teachers wherein they shared their teaching experiences and problems faced by them. Ms Paramjit Kaur, principal of the host school, said that the valedictory session would be held tomorrow at 3 pm during which the certificates would be distributed to all participating students. 

PAU youth fest from Nov 1
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 13
A week-long inter-college youth festival will begin at Punjab Agricultural University from November 1. While all literary and fine arts events will be held at Students’ Home from November 1 to 4, contests for cultural events will be held on November 5, 6 and 7 in the Open Air Theatre. On November 1, students from all five colleges will participate in painting and poster making competitions. On the second day, there will be contest for cartoon making.

Literary events will begin with competitions for debate, poetry and ‘haas ras’ to be held on November 3. Contest for clay modelling will also be held on the same day. On the fourth day, there will be competitions for creative writing, quiz and rangoli.

The formal opening of the festival will be held on November 5 with the holding of a cultural procession in the morning. All five colleges will arrange tableaux depicting Punjabi culture. Taking a round of the main campus, the procession will conclude at the Open Air Theatre. Contests for folk songs and creative dance will be held in the same venue.

Musical events will begin in the evening from 5 p.m. onwards during which the students will take part in light vocal music, Indian group songs, western solo songs and western groups songs contest. On November 6, extempore competition will be held at 9.30 a.m. at Students’ Home. In the evening, there will be contests for one-act play and mimicry.

On the final day, shabad singing contest will be held in the morning session which will be followed by classical music, skits and folk dances be organised in the evening session. The programme will conclude with prize distribution function.

Dr A.P.S. Mann, Director Students Welfare, said the contest would be held as per the rules of the previous year. He said for cultural items, all colleges would be sending just one entry but the number of participants could be higher for literary and fine arts events.

Combined annual training camp begins
Our Correspondent

Doraha, October 13
The annual training camp for senior and junior women and pre-RDC for boys started at the Doraha Army Bridge Training Centre (BTC) here today. The 11-day camp will include drill, weapon training, map-reading, first aid training etc.

According to Lieut-Col Avtar Singh, Commanding Officer, “Sixty-two cadets, selected on the basis of performance at a camp organised at Phillaur, are participating in the pre-RD camp. The camp aims at training boys and girls for participating in the Republic Day celebrations.

Six cadets from Guru Nanak National College, Doraha, Narinder Pal Singh, Rupinder Singh, Lakhvir Singh, Maninder Singh, Sunny Bhardwaj and Amarpreet Singh, are participating in the pre-RD camp. A total of 15 girls, including Amandeep Kaur, Kamalpreet Kaur, Rajwant Kaur, Ramanjit Kaur, Amandeep Kaur, Ramandeep Kaur, Amritpal Kaur, Veenu Sharma, Lovely Sharma, Jatinder Kaur, Narinder Kaur, Sandeep Kaur, Jaspreet Kaur, Rajwinder Kaur and Rajni Saini, are participating in the annual training camp.

In the senior woman section, cadets from the Government College for Women-Ludhiana (22), the Khalsa College for Women-Ludhiana (25), Guru Nanak Girls College-Ludhiana (25), the SDP College for Women-Ludhiana (15), Ramgarhia Girls College-Ludhiana (15), MTS College-Ludhiana (15), GNG College-Gurusar Sudhar (15) and Swami Ganga Giri Janta Girls College-Raikot (15) are participating in the camp.

In the junior women section, cadets from Sacred Heart Convent School (15), KVM School (8), Khalsa Senior Secondary School (22), Government Senior Secondary School (22), Halwara School (15), Malerkotla School (15) and GNV School-Fraur (10) are participating in the annual training camp.

2 GNE teachers win laurels
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 13
Two academicians of Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College have brought laurels for their institution as their technical paper on computer science was selected at the International Conference on Emerging Technology (ICET-2003).

Prof Bakhshinder Singh and Prof Harloveleen Kaur of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering have been invited to present the paper which is in the area of pervasive computing. They have designed the system architecture for pervasive computing environment.

The conference is being organised by the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar, on December 19 to 21. The international advising chairpersons are from the USA, Canada, Australia, Singapore, France, Japan and New Zealand. 

COURTS

3 acquitted of murder charge
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 13
The Additional Sessions Judge, Mr Justice S.M.S Mahal, has acquitted Nihal Singh, Sikander Singh, both of Kaunke village, and Gurjit Kaur of Aitiana village, Sudhar, of the charge of murdering Jagjit Singh of Aitiana village in July, 2001, as the prosecution failed to prove the charges levelled against them.

The failure to identify the body of deceased was the main reason behind the acquittal of the accused. The prosecution failed to establish that the body recovered by the police was that of Jagjit Singh. Inspector Balwinder Singh had deposed before the court that the body was identified by Zora Singh and Charanjit Singh, whose statements had been recorded by him under Section 175 of the CrPC. But surprisingly, both the witnesses were not examined by the prosecution to establish the identity of the body.

The accused were booked under Sections 302, 201, 120-B and 34 of the IPC on July 9, 2001 at Sudhar police station on the statement of Gurnam Singh. Apart from them, two more persons — Gurpreet Singh and Taranjit Kaur — were booked but they were declared innocent by DSP, Raikot, during an inquiry and were not challaned.

According to the prosecution, Jagjit Singh and his friend Nihal Singh were having affairs with Gurjit Kaur and Taranjit Kaur but some time prior to the incident the relations between Jagjit, Gurjit and Taranjit became strained. Nihal Singh helped both the women, which created a rift between them.

There was no eyewitness in the murder case. The case was solely based on the circumstantial evidence.

CULTURE

Cultural mela ends with lively show
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 13
A cultural mela organised by the North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala, and the Punjab Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) ended here late last night. This year’s mela was a pale shadow of the last year’s mela. The mela was organised at a local hotel and saw thin attendance.

The “Craft Bazaar”, on lines of Delhi Haat, was a big disappointment as very few stalls were put up and did not really display handicrafts of the state.

However, a cultural programme that started around 8pm was spectacular and more than made up for the disappointment of the poor show of the mela.

The inaugural piece, Manglam, was presented by artistes from Mumbai. They danced superbly and presented a lively dance. The team was led by Anila Sunder.

Young lasses dressed in colourful costumes and big chunky jewellery were awesome in Ghoomer. Another dance from Haryana, “Kuein ki panihari” depicted how young lasses made merry when they got together at the village well to fetch water.

The Punjabis had a glimpse of “Rangla Punjab” with dancers dancing with earthy passion. Giddha stole the hearts of the audience. The fast tempo of dancers’ feet and their graceful movement sent audience into raptures.

Sidhi Dhamal, a special dance of Gujaratis whose forefathers had earlier settled in South Africa, enlivened the venue with its music. Another team of artistes from Mumbai presented a Divali dance, which was followed by Ms Anila’s “Fusion”. As the name suggested, it was an admix of several dances and won a lot of applause.

The piece de resistance was Malwai Gidda. The programme concluded with a unique presentation, Vande Mataram, choreographed by Ms Anila’s dance group. The show was compered by Channi Sharma.

The chief guest was Mr Jagjit Puri, Managing Director of the PTDC.

Madhpuri’s two books released
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 13
While releasing Sukhdev Madhpuri’s book ‘Giddhe dian bolian, khand mishri dian dalian’, here today, Dr Kirpal Singh Aulakh, Vice-Chancellor of the PAU, appreciated the efforts made by the author in collecting, compiling and publishing the rich cultural heritage of Punjab. He lauded efforts of Madhpuri and hoped that this book would create a unique niche in the literary circles of Punjab.

On this occasion, Dr S.P. Singh, Vice-Chancellor of the Guru Nanak Dev University, released another book, “Batan desh Punjabi dian”, written by Sukhdev Madhpuri. He categorically emphasise the need to revive the folk tales through which the valuable thinking, ethics and useful knowledge was inculcated in the juvenile minds of children. Therefore, efforts of Sukhdev Madhpuri deserve all appreciation. Dr Singh suggested that the message conveyed through this book should reach maximum number of hands so that our culture and related values could be projected in right perspective to counter the cultural pollution being propagated in recent times through the print and electronic media. It was also suggested that Madhpuri should produce another book on life of farmers of Punjab.