The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Training course on horticulture crops
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 22
The Punjab Horticultural Post Harvest Technology Centre of PAU is organising a short training course on “Maintenance of Post Harvest Quality during storage and exports of Horticultural crops” from 21-1-2004 to 23-1-2004. Dr A S Dhatt, director of the course said that this course is open for industrialists, scientists, teachers, extension and development personnel, farmer-exporters, etc working in food processing industries and agricultural universities and ICAR institutes etc.

Giving the importance of the course Dr Dhatt said that India produces more than 142 million tonnes of fruits and vegetables annually but processes and exports less than 2% of its produce, primarily because of improper post-harvest handling, which leads to 20-40% wastage, thus, leaving little genuine surpluses for exports and processing. The principal factor for these colossus losses is the lack of awareness of knowledge and skills on the part of handlers and inappropriate infrastructural facilities.

This three-day capsule course has been planned to bridge this gap and will cover the various aspects regarding post-harvest handling, packaging, storage and export, EU market for fruits and vegetables, quality standards, food safety and HACCP and laboratory exercises for quality assurance . Dr S P Schouten, an international expert and adviser from Holland will be a special speaker to deliver series of lectures in this course. This training course will be inaugurated on 21-1-2004 at 9.30AM in the committee room of Director of Extension Education, PAU.

Sky dotted with kites
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 22
A large number of undergraduate and postgraduate students of Punjab Agricultural University participated in a kite flying competition organised by PAU Students Union here today. The contest was held on open grounds outside the examination hall. It was not just boys, girls also enthusiastically participated in the contest in a large number. Students brought their kites for the competition and minutes after the contest began, the sky was dotted with colourful, variously designed kites.

Short course begins: A short course on maintenance of post- harvest quality during storage and exports of horticulture crops organised by the Punjab Horticultural Post Harvest Technology Centre began at Punjab Agricultural University here today.

Inaugurating the course, Dr G.S. Nanda, Director of Research, said the post-harvest technologies and infrastructure must keep pace with the increasing agricultural production, else losses during transport and storage would neutralise the increased production.

Dr S.P. Schouten, a Dutch expert on post-harvest technology and who would be the lead instructor in the course, said the focus during the course would be on latest developments in keeping fruits, vegetables and flowers fresh as per the EU rules and regulations for imports. The course deliberations would help researchers, exporters and processors to plan and execute their programmes more efficiently and effectively, he said.

Dr A.S. Dhatt, Director, Punjab Horticultural Post Harvest Technology Centre and chief organiser of the course, said during the three-day course the participants would be given critical and practical training in post- harvest biology, handling and packaging of fruits and vegetables, influence of pre and post harvest practices, storage systems and techniques for horticultural produce, food safety, implication of WTO in import and export of perishable items.

Youth festival: Four students, who participated in the North Zone Inter-University Youth Festival held at Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, recently, have returned with various prizes. Dr A.P.S. Mann, Director Students Welfare, said A. Sathya of the College of Veterinary Sciences won the second prize in rangoli, Parneet Kaur of the College of Basic Sciences and Humanities won the third position in collage making, while Gurrajneesh of the same college got the third prize in mimicry. The quiz team from the College of Veterinary Sciences won the fourth position.

Guest lecture on phonetics
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 22
The Department of English of Ramgarhia Girls College, Millerganj, organised a guest lecture on the ''art of pronunciation'' here today. The resource person was Dr D.V. Jindal, former professor in SCD Government College and an expert in linguistics and phonetics. The lecture was part of a series of extension lectures being conducted in the college for the benefit of the students and for the expansion of their vistas of knowledge.

In his lecture, Dr Jindal dwelt upon different areas of difficulty in pronunciation of English words. He also discussed nearly 15 sets of words which were commonly mispronounced. He advised the students to make the maximum use of the dictionary to improve their pronunciation and their grasp over English sounds.

After the lecture, the students were also distributed handouts for future references based on the phonetics and word sounds as discussed by Dr Jindal. The lecture ended with a vote of thanks presented by Ms Tejinder Kaur, lecture in English.

Kids celebrate R-Day
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 22
Kids of Swiss International Public School celebrated Republic Day during a fancy dress competition held here today. The children came dressed up like Nehru, Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu and Indira Gandhi who were instrumental in making India a sovereign democratic republic. The National Flag had been installed outside the school building and classrooms were decorated with tricolour balloons. Children recited patriotic poems including ''Jhanda hai Bharat ki shaan, jhanda hai veeron ki aan. Is par hai hum sheesh jhukate, jan man gan ke geet hai gate''.

Ms Daisy Pruthi, Principal, apprised the students of the importance of the day and told them to respect the National Flag.

The best-dressed kid awards were presented to Sanskriti, Inayat, Asees Sodhi, Aditya, Asees Sapra, Naman Sodhi and Kashir. The function concluded with the singing of National Anthem by the Principal and teachers.

COURTS

Gurjot’s killer gets life term
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 22
Mr Baldev Singh, Sessions Judge, Ludhiana, has sentenced China Kumar Pandit (23) of Bihar to undergo rigorous life imprisonment on the charge of kidnapping 7-year-old boy Gurjot of Dhandra village for ransom and killing him. A fine of Rs 10,000 was also imposed upon the accused.

Pronouncing the judgement, Mr Baldev Singh held that the prosecution had successfully brought home the guilt of the accused. Keeping in view the gravity of offence, the judge turned down the plea of leniency of the accused. He held that the circumstances proved in this case the guilt of the accused.

According to prosecution, the accused was working as a servant in the house of Hardev Singh, grandfather of the child. On June 11, 2000, the child came from gurdwara along with his grandfather around 10.30 am. His grandfather went inside his room and the child sat in the verandah to see a movie on television. After some time the child went outside the home and was never seen thereafter.

When the family members failed to search the missing child, they reported the matter to the police. An FIR was lodged at Sadar Police Station under Sections 364 and 34 of the IPC against unknown persons, following the complaint of Mr Harjit Singh, father of Gurajot the same day.

A lot of hue and cry was raised by villagers at that time, with demands to trace the missing boy and arrest the person responsible for the kidnapping. But the child could not be saved, as he was done to death by the accused on the day of kidnapping. However the police succeeded in arresting the accused after two days.

The administration had also taken a note of the incident and the then Deputy Commissioner especially deputed Mr Ram Singh, Tehsildar, to remain present during interrogation of the accused. Inspector Maninder Bedi had arrested the accused on June 13, following the statement of a former sarpanch, Mr Balbir Singh. He had stated to the police that the accused had come to his residence and confessed that he kidnapped the child for ransom. He kept him at cattle room for extracting money from his grandfather. But when the child went out of control and cried, Pandey strangulated him, leading to his death.

After arresting the accused, the police interrogated him in the presence of the Tehsildar. It recovered the body of the child following the disclosure by the accused that he had concealed the body in the field of Mr Jagir Singh.

However, the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed he had been implicated falsely. But he opted not to lead any evidence. Finding him guilty, the court sentenced him.