EDUCATION

Fee hike by PU flayed
Our Correspondent

Amloh, October 31
The hike in the fees by Panjab University has been flayed by former minister Dalip Singh Pandhi. He was talking to mediapersons after a meeting with Akali workers here today.

Mr Pandhi said that the government had failed to provide education and medical treatment facilities to the common people. Both facilities had gone beyond the reach of the common people.

Mr Pandhi was not convinced with the statements of the government regarding the poor financial health of the state. He said Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had spent Rs 6 crore on his travelling expenses by air up to October 30, 2003, out of government funds.

He said that students and their parents have to waste time and money to get SC certificates, which should have been issued by school heads as provided in the circular issued by the Welfare Department.

The welfare schemes of the Education Department with the Central grant of Rs 66 crore in first instalment under the Sarvsikhya Abhyan, too, would remain on paper as the Punjab government had failed to deposit 20 per cent share to the Centre as yet. The Punjab government has simply passed for the payment of its share in the Cabinet but the amount has not been deposited. The second instalment of the Central Government aid under the scheme would not be released, he said.

The DEO (Primary), under the new schemes, was empowered to inspect the elementary schools from class 1 to 10 under the Director of Elementary Education. Now the power of inspection of DEO (Elementary) has been reduced up to primary schools, Mr Pandhi said.

He said the patients had lost faith in civil hospitals as there is no certainty of the presence of doctors, nurses and staff there. Medicines are not available in the hospital and laboratories are not well equipped, he said.

PAU youth fest put off
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 31
The week-long inter-college youth festival of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), that was scheduled to begin from tomorrow, has now been postponed. The literary and fine arts events will now be held from November 5 to 9, to be followed by music, dance and drama items to be held from November 14 to 16.

This was stated by Dr A.P.S. Mann, Director Students’ Welfare and the Dean of the College of Basic Sciences and Humanities, PAU, here today. Giving out the new schedule, he said the youth festival had been postponed on account of some sports events, the schedule of which clashed with its dates.

As per the new schedule, contests for extempore and elocution will be held in the Students’ Home on November 5 in the morning session. On-the-spot painting contest will be held on November 6. Same day in the afternoon session, poster-making contest will be held. In the morning session of November 7 cartoon-making contest while collage-making contest will be held in the afternoon session.

Debate competition will be held on November 8 in the morning session, to be followed by clay modelling, poetry recitation and ‘haas ras’ in the afternoon session. Contests for creative writing will be held in the morning session in Students’ Home while that for quiz will be held simultaneously in the Pal Auditorium. Rangoli competition will be held on the same day in the afternoon session.

The cultural part of the festival will begin on November 14 with a cultural procession in which all five colleges of the university will take out a tableaux depicting the culture of Punjab. The procession will end in the open air theatre where formal inauguration will be held. This will be followed by contests for folk songs and creative dance. In the evening session, contests for all musical items including classical instrumental, classical vocal, light vocal, Indian group, western solo and western group song will be held.

On November 15, contests for one-act play and mimicry will be held in the evening session. On the concluding day, individual and group shabad singing contests will be held in the morning session. These will be followed by classical dances, skits and folk dances to be held in the evening session. The function will conclude with prize distribution function on the same evening.

Painting contest results
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 31
The Department of Fine Arts of Guru Nanak Girls College, Model Town, Ludhiana, organised an inter-college on-the-spot-painting competitions for undergraduate and graduate students. More than 80 students, comprising seven teams, participated. Mr A.P. Singh, Ms Kulwant Basra, both from PAU, and Ms Babli, a local artist, were the judges.

Winners of the postgraduate section are: composition: Pooja (KCW, Ludhiana) 1, Balwinder Kumar (Government College, Hoshiarpur) 2 and Geetanjali (Government College, Hoshiarpur) 3; landscape: Narinder Kaur (Government College, Hoshiarpur)1, Sangeeta (Government College, Hoshiarpur) 2 and Sheenam (KCW, Ludhiana) 3; and life drawing: Geetika Goyal (KCW, Ludhiana)1, Sandeep Singh (Government College, Hoshiarpur ) 2 and Shruti Sood (KCW, Ludhiana) 3.

Winners of the undergraduate section are: composition: Shveta (KCW, Ludhiana) 1, Varinder Kaur (KCW, Ludhiana) 2 and Preeti (Government College, Hoshiarpur) 3; collage: Deepali Chhabra (KCW, Ludhiana)1, Rupali Shamra (Ramgarhia Girls College, Ludhiana) 2 and Gagandeep Kaur (KCW, Ludhiana) 3; cartoons: Poonam (KCW, Ludhiana) 1, Meenakshi (DD Jain College, Ludhiana) 2 and Meenakshi (Guru Nanak Girls College, Model Town, Ludhiana) 3; still life: Navjeet Kaur (Government College, Hoshiarpur) 1, Gurkamal (Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana) 2 and Prabhet Kumar (Government College, Ludhiana) 3; poster making: Navjot Kaur (Ramgarhia Girls College, Ludhiana) 1, Tehal Singh (Government College, Hoshiarpur) 2 and Gagandeep Kaur (Ramgarhia Girls College, Ludhiana) 3; life drawing: Sonjeet (KCW, Ludhiana) 1, Anu (KCW, Ludhiana) 2 and Kamaldeep Kaur (GN Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana) 3; rangoli: Satinder (Ramgarhia Girls College, Ludhiana) 1, Chetna Aneja (Ramgarhia Girls College, Ludhiana) 2 and Sunaina (KCW, Ludhiana) 3; and landscape: Jaspreet Kaur (KCW, Ludhiana) 1, Ritu Thaman (DD Jain College, Ludhiana) 2 and Deepti Sharma (DD Jain College, Ludhiana) 3.

The Dr (Mrs) Randhawa Memorial Award was given to Jaspreet Kaur of the Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana.

Kids have a feel of rural Punjab
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 31
Tiny tots of Chanda Mama Nursery Play School celebrated Punjab Day in a novel way here today. Since trees and open fields are quintessence of Punjab culture, the function was celebrated under a tree. The kids participated in activities like dancing, eating and playing, thus bringing alive the spirit of rural Punjab. They danced to the tunes of songs like “Kuriye ne saggi phul waliye” and “Jatt di pasand”.

Objects typical to the rural Punjab like “charkha”, “piri”, “chatti”, “madhani”, “chakki, “saggiphul”, “kaintha” and “phulkari” were shown to them. Ms Harpreet Gill, Principal, explained to them how hard working rural women used “chakki” to grind flour, “chatti” to churn butter, “charkha” to spin cloth and embroidered phulkari and bagh patterns on handmade “desi khaddar” cloth to beautify dupattas.

Later the children sat down under the tree to enjoy “ladoos” and “jalebis”. The event proved an entertaining as well as learning experience for kids.

Fun show for students
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 31
The staff of New Senior Secondary School, Civil Lines, organised a fun show for the students here today. A huge Donald Duck and Micky Mouse welcomed children on the gates this morning. There were a lot of funny games inside like humpty dumpy and swimming pool. Parents accompanying the kids were happy to see their kids play cheerfully.

Mr Sunil Maria, president of the school managing committee, inaugurated the show and met the parents personally. He told the parents to motivate their wards for preparing themselves for big contests which the school would organise soon at the state level.

Ms Varun Lata Patel, headmistress, said the parents should take more interest and devote more time in building the morale and intelligent quotient of their children for the coming contests including quiz, declamation and debate.

NAAC team visits Jagraon college
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 31
A peer team, appointed by India’s premier quality assurance agency NAAC, under the chairmanship of Prof R.S. Mali, Vice Chancellor, North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon, visited S. Govt College of Science Education and Research, Jagraon.

The team interacted with the director, staff, students, the PTA and alumni of the college. The team appreciated the academic performance, extenion services and co-curricular activities of the college. The role played by the PTA and old students association in the development of the college was also appreciated. The team felt that the college was built in a pollution-free environment and was well maintained as far as cleanliness was concerned. The girls hostel was providing an ideal facility to girls from rural areas. The team felt that there was a good potential for conducting research in postgraduate departments of botany and chemistry.

The director of the college Dr P.S. Bhatti, talked about the future plans of the college and said that a multipurpose hall would be constructed soon whose foundation stone had been laid.

Seminar on Sikh history

Ludhiana, October 31
The History Department of the Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana, organised a seminar on “Sikh history” today for undergraduate students. Dr Harish Chander Sharma, Department of History, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and Dr Radha Sharma, Chairperson, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Trust, Guru Nanak Dev University, were two eminent speakers of the day. The Principal of the college, Dr Anoop Kaur Bansal, welcomed the guests and later Dr Harish Sharma delivered a lecture on the topic ‘Sikh resurgence’ and Dr Radha Sharma spoke on ‘Magnanimous Maharaja’ highlighting the valour, bravery, efficiency of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. OC

Three cops get 3-year RI for sodomy
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 31
Mr H.S. Grewal, JMIC, Jagraon, yesterday convicted and sentenced three policemen — Malkit Singh of Aiteana, Amarjit Singh of Ahmedgarh, and SPO Om Parkash of Baba Badori — to three years rigorous imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 each for committing sodomy.

According to information, on May 2, 1998 Jagrup Singh (14) of Halwara was summoned to the police station by the police in a theft case. Some articles were allegedly recovered from him and the victim was kept in a mess. The three policemen who were present there committed sodomy. Next morning, ASI Gurcharan Singh found the victim missing from the mess.

After the matter was brought to the notice of the SSP, he ordered an inquiry, which was conducted by Mr Rachhpal Singh, SP (HQ). The three were found to have committed the crime and a case under Sections 342, 377 and 506, IPC, was registered.