Farmers urged to adopt new techniques
Our Correspondent

Amloh, October 20
“Farmers will have to adopt new techniques to improve the quality of products with minimum inputs in agriculture and dairy farming to compete with the global competition,” said Mr Darshan Singh, Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry Department, while addressing farmers at a one-day camp here yesterday.

The camp was sponsored by Ranbaxy and held in collaboration with the Civil-Veterinary Hospital, here, to spread awareness regarding regular de-worming, use of mineral mixture and diversification of agriculture. Mr Darshan Singh suggested the need of timely de-worming and yearly vaccination of the cattle. By diversification of crops, he said the farmers could get more yield and income and improve the health of the soil. The farmers should adopt cattle breeding and poultry farming as other sources of income, he added.

Dr Ranbir Shukla, Senior Veterinary Officer, emphasised the need of production of milk, free from antibiotics, to compete at the international level. Dr Sharma said such camps would be organised once in a month in select villages of the area. A farmer would be selected in the district, who would adopt techniques provided by the Animal Husbandry Department for dairy farming, he said. Such farmers would be honoured at district and state-level functions.

Dr Rashpal Singh, Assistant Development Officer urged the farmers to produce more green fodder, which increase the milk production. He advised the farmers not to burn paddy straw as it could be used as fodder after treatment with urea.

Mr Rupinder Dyal, field co-ordinator from Ranbaxy, said the company had separated live-stock from poultry farming in 2000 so that dairy farming could be improved.

Mr Munish Singla, district manager, Ranbaxy, said the aim of the company was to produce products for better animal health at economical rates.

Mr Balbir Singh Jaria, a progressive farmer, who has turned his farm at Tarkhan Majra village near here into a mini-university, appealed to the farmers to work according to the direction of the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Departments.

Among the farmers, Mr Lakhbir Singh Rurkee told about his experiences. Mr Gurmail Singh and Dr Amreek Singh also addressed the camp. 

Correspondence students a harassed lot
Deepkamal Kaur

Ludhiana, October 20
The haphazard system of working being followed by the Distance Education Department of Punjab Technical University (PTU) has caused anxiety among the students taking these courses.

The most hit this time are the second semester students of Diploma in Hotel Management and Tourism course who are facing the problems of non-declaration of results of previous semester, non-availability of books and holding of next examination at a short notice. The students said they had appeared for their first semester examination in March this year and even after seven months their results were yet to be declared.

The students said they had repeatedly asked their centre heads to look into the matter but they too had expressed their helplessness in this regard. The students said the problem had aggravated when last Saturday they were told that their examination would begin on October 22, just four days after announcement. The students said they were not prepared for their examination and it was impossible for them to take their tests at such a short notice. They said normally the tests should be held a fortnight after the declaration of the results of the previous semester.

The students further added that all through the year, they were without their books as the PTU had failed to send them any books as per the norms. They said it was very difficult for them to prepare for the examination without any specific reading material.

When contacted, Ms Manmeet Sodhia, in charge of a study centre being run by the university, admitted that the result of the first semester was still not out. She said she had pointed it out to the university authorities but she had been told that the results had already been prepared but owing to some reshuffle in the department, these could not be compiled in time. Moreover, the Director of Distance Education, Mr V.P. Singh, had retired and things could not be coordinated.

Regarding the non-availability of books, Ms Sodhia confirmed that the PTU had not sent any books for both the semesters. But she said she had provided proper notes to all her students as per the syllabus issued by the university. She added that the situation was rather more convenient for the students, who were getting 10 per cent refund for not getting books besides copies of readymade study material.

Students, teachers take part in contests
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 20
Students and teachers from 27 government, aided and private schools falling in the Ludhiana East sub-division took part in competitions organised by the District Education Department at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Millerganj, here today.

Contests for chart making were held in the morning session in which 52 students from 26 schools took part. Six topics for chart making were given on the spot and the students were told to prepare one coloured chart on any of those topics in one hour. The six topics included ‘External combustion engine’, ‘Structure of the eye’, ‘Animal/plant cell’, ‘Blast furnace’, ‘Preparation of methane’ and ‘Solar cooker’.

In the contest, Akanksha from BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School won the first prize. The second prize went to Lovleen from Government High School, Pawa village, and third prize was won by Mandeep Kaur from Government High School, Ramgarh.

The judges for the contest were Ms Kusum Lata from Government Model Senior Secondary School, Punjab Agricultural University campus; Ms Varinder from Government Senior Secondary School, Hassanpur, Mr Om Prakash from Government Senior Secondary School, Kamalpur; and Mr Gurdeep Singh from Government Senior Secondary School, Aliwal.

In quiz competition, students from 27 schools participated and each team was represented by two members. Three rounds were held in the contest, one each for physics, chemistry and biology. There were simple questions based on topics related to fermentation, inertia, earth’s rotation, revolution, chemical formulas and reactions.

Of the 27 teams, seven failed to answer any question and eight teams got one mark each. Finally the team of BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School that had won seven points was declared first. For the second and third position, there was a tie among three teams. These were Government Model Senior Secondary School, Millerganj, Government High School, Ramgarh, and Government Senior Secondary School, Buteri village. Three rounds were again held for them in which Buteri school was declared second and Millerganj school stood third.

Later, contests for extempore and teaching aids were held for the teachers. Eight teachers took part in extempore competition for which the various topics included digestive system, depletion of ozone layer and others related to science. The contests were supervised Mr Varinder Sharma, District Science Supervisor.

7 Punjabi writers, folk singers honoured
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 20
Seven Punjabi writers and folk singers were honoured on the silver jubilee celebrations of the Professor Mohan Singh Memorial Mela at Punjabi Bhavan, here this evening.

Mr Tej Parkash Singh, Transport Minister, presided over the function and presented the awards. Sarabjeet Singh Cheema was given the Professor Mohan Singh Mela award, Parminderjit the Shiv Kumar Batalvi award, Sukhwinder Sukhi the Sur Shahzada award, Gurdev Dhillon the Dr Gurnam Singh Tir award, Dr Jagtar Singh Grewal the Zaildar Singh Memorial award, Nirmal Rishi the Sant Singh Sekhon award and Dhadi Tarlochan Singh Bhamaddi the Kavishar Balwant Singh Pamal award.

The minister said the mela had promoted cultural and traditional heritage among Punjabi youth since the past 25 years and was instrumental for holding of Punjabi cultural festivals in India and abroad.

He said the torch bearer of this event, Mr Jagdev Singh Jassowal, had done a great service for the promotion of all disciplines of the Punjabi culture, including dances, folk, kavishree and dhadi tradition, and a large number of prominent singers and writers were the creation of the mela.

He appealed to artists to refrain from spoiling the rich Punjabi culture in the name of western pop songs. He also announced a grant of Rs 50,000 for the Professor Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation.

Mr Jagdev Singh Jassowal, founder president of the event, expressed gratitude to the Punjabi writers and artists for their cooperation in organising the mela in the memory of the great Punjabi poet, Prof Mohan Singh.

Others who addressed the function included Mr Malkiat Singh Dakha MLA, Mr Jagpal Singh Khangura, Mr Gurbhajan Singh Gill, Mr Pragat Singh Grewal and Mr Nirmal Jaura.

Prominent Punjabi singers who regaled the audience today included Sarbjeet Cheema, Sukhminder Sukhi, Pammi Bai, Bhajna Amli and Jaswant Sandhila.