The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

British students visit academy
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 3
Students of Priesthorpe School, Leeds, England, in the age group of 16 to 18 visited Sahibzada Ajit Singh Academy, Ropar, on a 15-days cultural exchange programme. The team of students was led by Second Head Teacher Alison Hardaker. They visited various places and were particularly fascinated by the Taj Mahal at Agra and the Red Fort and the Qutb Minar at Delhi. Another highlight of the programme was their visit to the Golden Temple on Divali, where they saw glittering lighting and fireworks. They were given robes of honour by Mr Hardalvir Singh Shah, General Secretary of the SGPC, Amritsar.

The students also visited Sri Kesgarh Sahib, the birthplace of Khalsa, at Anandpur Sahib and interacted with the Jathedar of the Takht, Giani Tarlochan Singh. A visit to Chandigarh will also remain etched in their memories.

Interestingly, a night before their departure, they celebrated the “Halloween Day” at Boat Club here along with senior students of the academy and danced on both English and Punjabi numbers. The Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, Ms Seema Jain, who was the chief guest at the function, lauded the efforts of the academy in hosting such exchange programmes.

While, interacting with mediapersons, the students pointed out the differences in the education system in England and India. The syllabus in their country is simpler and less exhaustive and it only gets advanced at the college level. They also talked about their impressions about the country and the places they visited during their stay here.

CAMPUS NOTES
Denial of promotion: PU to review case
Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Panjab University has decided to review its decision of not allowing promotion under the Career Advancement Scheme to one of its faculty members who has been duly recognised at the national level and has commendable work at the international level to his credit.

The case pertains to Dr Karan Vashishth who was being considered to be promoted to the post of professor. The selection committee which met under the chairmanship of Prof K.N. Pathak, Vice Chancellor, had rejected the case.

The decision to reject his case “came in as a surprise to teachers on the campus”, a senior professor said. The opposition to the decision came to fore at the university Syndicate meeting last month. The university was forced to relook into the case.

Initiating the discussion in the Syndicate, Prof Charanjit Chawla said as per records none of the members in the committee which took up the case of Dr Vashishth for consideration were experts in the concerned field," which was a minimum requirement as per the university calender”.

The rejected candidate happens to be one associated with the working of the United Nations and is a member of one of its task forces which has sanctioned a project worth Rs 75 lakh. Similarly, the Ministry of Health has sanctioned another project worth Rs 68 lakh under him to the university.

Dr Vashishth’s publications feature in reputed national and international journals. He has delivered lectures in several countries, including Italy, Nigeria, Tanzania and China, to name a few. Majority of the Syndicate, including Mr G.K. Chatrath, Prof R.D. Anand, Mr Ashok Sachdeva, Principal P.S. Sangha and Principal Satinder Dhillon, among others, supported the case of Dr Vashishth.

The university will likely also look into the case of Dr A.D. Ahluwalia which has been rejected second time. His case was assessed under a new set of conditions of the UGC whereas he had applied before the change, sources said. The university will communicate the decision of the Syndicate to the University Grants Commission and request for conduct of fresh interviews.

NSS: Dr M.S. Bains has been appointed as coordinator of the National Service Scheme (NSS) Department of Panjab University. Dr Bains is a doctorate in Space Laws and has been teaching on the campus since 1977. His research work in Space Laws and Environment Laws has been well appreciated. He has also served as warden of a boys’ hostel for a full term of five years. Dr Bains was earlier a member of the Public Relations Committee of the Punjab Government. Currently, he a member of the Panjab University Tribunal and of various administrative and academic committees of the university.

Interesting debate: A little differently from the traditional subjects for academic debates in the educational institutions, students of Panjab University have picked a controversial subject “Liberal Thinking; Path to Moral and Social Degradation” for a debate scheduled for November 5. The debate is being organised by the Department of Chemical Engineering in collaboration with the Panjab University Campus Students Council.

Students took out a big rally on the campus on Friday. More than 50 two-wheelers and about a dozen cars took rounds of the university campus and later collected at the Students’ Centre. The purpose of the rally is to spread message among students about the challenging subject, Ankur Sood, a student said.

Sood said there was an apprehension that controversial subjects will hamper student participation, particularly girls. “We want to take up controversial subjects like sex, homo-sexuality and other social truths which were talked only with a sense of guilt or shame,” Shanker Soni said.

The preliminary round is scheduled for November 3 at the Department of Chemical Engineering and the topic is “Religion is the opium of the masses”.

The rally today has big posters reading “A” which signified “for Adults only” and asked students to ‘Grow up’. The posters also read “Always on your mind but never on your lips” and “do you have guts to discuss?”

Heavyweight retires: Dr Deepak Manmohan, one of the heavyweights of Panjab University academic scenario for the past over three decades, bade farewell to the university following superannuation on October 31.

A farewell function at English auditorium witnessed a rush which is usually missing in majority of the university functions, consisting largely of his students., colleagues and admirers. The gathering included Prof Kesar Singh Kesar, his teacher who later became his colleague, Principal Bharpur Singh, Raja Harnarinder Singh, a former Chairman of the Punjab School Education Board, Mr Manpreet Badal, a number of university teachers and senators, besides others.

Beautification: Beautification of Panjab University is at full swing in connection with the Indian Science Congress slated from January 3, 2004, onwards. The area adjoining trees on the pavements accompanying the main road is being dug-up and is being decorated with stone settings. The process has lent grace to the campus environs. More changes are expected.

Youth festival begins on religious note
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 3
Religious notes of shabads and bhajans provided a soulful beginning to the PU Zone A youth festival organised by the Guru Gobind Singh College for Women, Sector 26, for all six girls’ colleges of the city, here today.

Revolving entirely around music, singing, and painting, the contests for the morning session saw lively performances by the participating teams though it failed to attract a packed auditorium.

Also, only a couple of teams came forward to participate in the Indian orchestra category, thereby limiting the scope of instrumental music to percussion and non-percussion instruments which saw participation of very few teams from colleges in each of the two categories.

The classical instrumental, divided into two categories of percussion and non-percussion instruments, had hardly any takers. By afternoon, during contests for ghazals, ‘geet’, folk song, group song and ‘vaar’ singing, the audience too had come in and the mood became more festive after every item staged.

The ‘vaar’ singing contest saw a charged presentation from the teams enlivening the performance considerably while ghazals created a sombre mood all around.

Meanwhile, the on-the-spot painting contest saw participation of all colleges of the city. While landscape, still life and drawing from life had entries from all six colleges, collage making and ‘rangoli’ too saw entries from each college. Earlier, the local Member of Parliament, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, inaugurated the festival by lighting the inaugural lamp. Principals and participants from all colleges attended the inaugural session of the festival. The Principal of the college, Ms Harinderjit Kaur, presented the welcome address.

The second day of the youth festival would witness a creative writing session, debate and quiz while drama and histrionics would be held in the afternoon session of the three-day youth festival.

The results in order of merit are as follows: classical instrument (percussion): Deepshiska Malhotra (GGSC Sector 26, Chd), Kulwinder (GCG Sector 42, Chandigarh): classical instrument (percussion): Swati Sharma (MCM DAV College for Women, Sector 36, Chandigarh), Shika Nanda (GCG, Sector 11, Chandigarh), Kulwinder (GCG, Sector 42, Chandigarh): Rangoli: Narinder Kaur (GCG Sector 42, Chandigarh), Liza Bansal (GGSC for Women, Sector 26, Chandigarh) Vandita Sharma (GHSC, Sector 10, Chandigarh).

Fine arts (full life drawing): Preeta (GCG, Sector 11, Chd), Ashima (GCG, Sector 11,Chd), Seema Verma (GGSC for Women Sector 26, Chd); fine arts (cartooning): Nisha (GCG, Sector 42, Chandigarh), Baninder Kaur (GCG, Sector 42, Chd), Kanika Batra (Dev Samaj College for Women, Sector 45, Chd); fine arts (land scape): Anamika (GCG, Sector 42, Chd), Shaveta (GCG, Sector 11, Chd, Arpita Gupta (GHSC Sector 10, Chandigarh).

College making: Anita (GCG, Sector 11, Chd), Neena (MCM DAV College for Women, Sector 36, Chd), Suchita Gupta (GHSC, Sector 10, Chd); Poster making: Sandeep Kaur (GCG, Sector 42, Chd), Vanita (GHSC, Sector 10, Chd), Poonam (GCG, Sector 11, Chd); clay modelling: Pragati (GGSC for Women, Sector 26, Chd), Malika Sodhi (GHSC, Sector 10, Chd), Priyanka Aggarwal (GCG, Sector 11, Chd); still life: Shivani (GCG, Sector 11, Chd), Bhawna (GCG, Sector 11, Chd), Sunita Bansal (MCM DAV College for Women 36, Chd).