PAU honours two progressive farmers
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 4
Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) honoured Mr Mahinder Singh Grewal of Kangarwal village, Ludhiana, and Mr Balbir Singh Jaria of Dharamgarh village, Fatehgarh Sahib, with the Sardar Dalip Singh Dhaliwal Memorial Award during the opening of two-day kisan mela here today.

The awards were presented by Justice O.P. Verma, Governor of Punjab and Chancellor of the university. The awards carried a trophy, a shawl, a certificate and a cash prize of Rs 5,000 each.

In his 20-acre farm, Mr Grewal said he was growing 13 or 14 crops per year by following relay cropping pattern. This technique had cut down his expenses and increased his profit. In kharif season he grew rice, pulses, maize, bottlegourd and lady finger and in rabi, wheat, potatoes and tori. He grew carrots on the ridges.

Mr Grewal produces foundation and hybrid seeds in his farm. He said for selling his produce, he was not relying on middlemen as this lowered his profitability. He said he was selling his produce directly. He said he had arranged for buyers to procure potatoes, wheat and other crops that were almost ready for harvest.

Mr Grewal owed his success to the university for providing him training in crop and vegetable production, piggery, bee-keeping and poultry. He said initially he had tried floriculture and allied agricultural practices in his farm, but these did not prove profitable. He said currently, he was focusing on seed and vegetable production only.

Speaking about his success, Mr Jaria said he was growing crops without prior ploughing. He said he was able to reduce the cost of production and increase his profits considerably. He said he was following direct marketing practice in his farm. He said his was a joint family and every individual involved in the agri-business was taking care of one or the other aspect.

Mr Jaria said these days he was producing exotic vegetables in his field such as broccoli. He said he had brought his produce for the vegetable competition being organised in the mela. He said he was following zero tillage process in his farm. He said he was using the stalk left behind in the field after harvesting as fodder for the few dairy animals. He said he was against stubble burning and was spreading awareness against it among the farmer community.

Justice O.P. Verma, speaking at the function, asked agricultural scientists to accept the challenge of increasing agriculture productivity without compromising on soil richness. He urged the farmers to adopt new scientific processes and lead Punjab to a second green revolution.

With agriculture production reaching a plateau, it was another challenge for scientists to develop the strains of high-yield varieties, Justice Verma added. Emphasising the need for giving more stress on biotechnology and nano-technology while developing high-yield, disease-resistant and low water-consuming varieties of crop seeds for farmers, he said the PAU must come out with a blueprint to encourage farmers for diversification in agriculture and developing linkages between agriculture and the industry.

Justice Verma said the PAU should also focus on research of agriculture packaging to prolong the shelf life of agricultural products. He said modern marketing techniques should be developed for agro-based products.

Rival teacher unions hold rallies
Our Correspondent

Members of the Punjab Pardesh Teachers Union (left) and the Democratic Teachers Front hold parallel protest rallies in Khanna on Thursday. — Photo by Iqbal Singh

From Colleges
Students’ rich talent on display
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 4
Students of Khalsa College for Women, Civil Lines, Ludhiana, exhibited their rich store of talent in the annual exhibition organised by the Department of Home Science and Department of Fine Arts here today. More than 200 students participated in the various categories of the entire session work of Home Science Department. In the category of table mats, Charu of BA I bagged the first prize, Ruchi of BA II bagged second prize and Puneet of BA third prize. Students had also shown their fine skills of intricate embroidery by making hankies, using different stitches.

Maninder Kaur of BA II got to first prize, Vibha Jain of BA II got the second prize and Arshdeep of BA II got the 3rd prize. Colourful tie and dye dupattas made by the BA II students lit up the room with its bright rainbow colours and different patterns. Glass pieces stuck on the duppatas made them glint.

Arshdeep of BA II got first prize, Kulbir Kaur of BA II got second prize and Simrandeep of BA II third prize in the tie and dye category. The Department of Fine Arts was over flowing with the art of 94 aspiring painters as their talent was beautifully showcased in the various categories. In life study and portrait category for MA students, Varinder of MA I got 1st prize, Gitika Goel of MA II second prize and Sheenam of MA II got third prize.

In landscape and composition category for MA students, Ishpreet of MA I got 1st prize, Shruti of MA I the prize and Pooja of MA II got third prize. In still life and life study category for BA students, Anu of BA II got 1st prize, Manmeen of BA III second and Jaspreet of BA I got 3rd prize.

In compositions and advertisements category of BA students, Sanjeet of BA III got 1st prize, Poonam of BA III second prize and Roshni of BA III got third prize.

The exhibition was appreciated by the students and faculty members.

Meanwhile, the Ludhiana unit of the ABVP today held a press conference at Samiti Kender. Sandeep Kapoor, vice-president, ABVP, Punjab, said that Punjab Government had not kept its promise of withdrawing of fee hike in the colleges of Ludhiana and this gave a severe set back to the students.

The Punjab Government has made a fool of the students community. Sandeep Kapoor condemned the role of the Punjab Government and warned that if the government did not return the balance fee of withdrawn fee hike within 7 days, the ABVP will start a “students awareness campaign” against the government. He said that in coming Parliament elections students will caste their votes against the Punjab Government.

Rajat Sood, president, Ludhiana unit of the ABVP, condemned the role of government colleges regarding PTU students and closing of ITIT trades. He gave full support of ABVP to the agitation by PTU students.

In the press conference Navneet Sharma, Atul Sood, Rohit Sharma, Harsh, Amite Khera, Gurpreet Singh , Varun, Amar Ranu and Kunal Mehra were present.