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Proposed PU pension scheme likely to fall flat Chandigarh, May 9 The new scheme, framed by the Punjab Government with the cut-off date as January 1, 2004, entails a contribution of 10 per cent by the employee and 10 per cent by the government. The interest on this amount would be added to establish a pension corpus. Pension would be given to the employees from this corpus. This scheme, introduced as an amendment in the Punjab Civil Services Rule, would seek the employee’s option on investment in risky and non-risky ventures. On the basis of an employee’s choice, his contribution would be invested. While investment in a risky venture could increase the amount of pension than an employee would get after retirement, a fixed sum would be given in case the employees opts for a non-risk option for the same. Being seen as a burden on the employee and seen as diluting the issue of social security, the new pension scheme has not found favour with the faculty which has been pressing for the implementation of a scheme whereby the pension corpus is formed only through the contribution of the government rather than that of the employee. Terming the scheme as “non-profitable” for the university employees, Prof P.P. Arya said this new proposal was only an attempt at distributing the Contributory Provident Fund, handed to the employee at the time of retirement, over a few years as pension. “This is certainly not acceptable to us. Also, the authorities can propose such a scheme provided they agree to implement the already existing Punjab Government pension scheme for employees appointed before the new cut-off date. The university must not expect anything less than rejection from the teaching and non-teaching fraternity,” he said. It may be recalled that the university had recently proposed a provident-fund linked scheme wherein an employee was required to contribute a fixed amount towards his pension. This scheme, too, had been rejected as the employees were not satisfied with the amount being offered after retirement. |
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PU Syndicate
meeting on May 15 Chandigarh, May 9 During the meeting, a notification of Punjab Government regarding the defined contributing pension scheme, the issue of amendment in the rules and regulations of the BHMS, qualification for the post of Professor in the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies, and over 50 appointments will be discussed.
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PU Professor awarded medal Chandigarh, May 9 Having published over 12 books and 40 research papers on different aspects of medieval and modern Indian history, Prof Indu Banga is among the pioneers of urban studies in India, and her doctoral research broke fresh ground in the agrarian history of the region. As a teacher and as the founder secretary of the Institute of Punjab Studies, she has been promoting interdisciplinary studies of the Punjab region. She has also authored two text books for schoolchildren. Different academic and professional bodies have recognised her contribution to historical studies. Earlier, she was given the Research Scientist Award by the University Grants Commission and was elected president of the Modern Section of the Indian History Congress, president of the History Section of the Indian Social Science Congress, and president of the Medieval Section of the Punjab History Congress. In addition to academic bodies in north-western India, she has been on the academic committees and panels of national bodies like the UGC, the Indian Council of Historical Research, the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Jawaharlal Nehru University, the National Institute of Educational Research and Training, all in New Delhi, and the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. She has also participated in academic programmes of the South Asian Studies Centres of universities in the USA, Canada, the UK and France. Founded in 1784, the Asiatic Society is the ‘oldest institution of learning in science and humanities’, and has been declared ‘an institution of national importance’ by Parliament. |
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1,200 take mock CAT Chandigarh, May 9 The test, a simulation of the actual CAT in terms of difficulty and other parameters was an eye opener for the students planning to join MBA course. In Chandigarh, the test was conducted at MCM DAV College where more than 800 students took the test. The other centres of examination were at Bhatinda, Patiala, Shimla and Amritsar. “The test helped them a lot in understanding about the CAT pattern and in gauging competition”, said one of the candidates, Dheeraj Mehan, who appeared for his B Com(final) this year from Government College, Sector 46. The test comprising 150 questions in all had items on mathematics, verbal ability, logical reasoning and data interpretation. According to Mr Hirdesh Madan, Centre Head, Bulls Eye, the centre would offer full and partial scholarships to those selected on the basis of this test. In the past the institute has given full scholarships to more than 40 students in January under its BeST scheme for meritorious but financially constrained students. Bulls Eye runs nationwide chain of preparatory centers for MBA, GRE and GMAT tests. Mr Madan said this year students of the institute had received calls from the IIMs and University Business School (UBS), Panjab University. In addition, its students have scored the highest CAT percentile score in the region. |
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Several city students make it to IIMs Chandigarh, May 9 Arushi Nehra, a student of information technology at Punjab Engineering College has made it to the Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode IIMs. Another local student, also from Punjab Engineering College, Amitesh Rattan, has made it to five of the IIMs, except IIM, Ahmedabad. Satisfied with his performance, he said he was one the lucky few from the city to have made it to the top management institutes of the country. Over 2500 students from the city had appeared in the combined entrance test (CAT) for admission to the IIMs. After clearing the CAT, the students were called for interviews. Unconfirmed reports said though about 15 students had received the interview call from IIM, Ahmedabad, none could secure a seat in the topmost business school. Another city girl, Shweta Sharma, who has made it to IIMs at Bangalore, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode, was equally excited on hearing the news. She checked her result on the Internet. Inquiries with various institutes running coaching classes for IIMs revealed that around 20 students of the city had made it to one or the other IIM. Another Punjab Engineering College student, Nidhi Gupta, has also made it to the Kolkata, Lucknow, Kozhikode and Indore
IIMs.
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No substitute for hard work, says study circle chief Chandigarh, May 9 With seven students from his centre clearing the examination this year, he said the institute strived to fully prepare its students for the examination by holding regular tests and mock interviews. “As many as 200 candidates from our Centre have cleared various state service examinations and the civil services since we first started in 1995,” he said. A member of the faculty at the Centre, a former Haryana DGP, Mr
H.S. Swan, said, “Dastar (dress), guftar (conversation and depth of knowledge) and rafter (quick response) were essential for clearing the civil services examination. While these three, taken together, give an edge to the candidate, there is no substitute for hard work,” he stated. Prof Gurdev Singh, a former Principal of a government college, said the faculty at the institute laid stress on current affairs and group discussion sessions. “Any student who goes through the newspaper thoroughly need not worry about the current affairs aspect of the paper,” he said. The centre also makes provision for coaching candidates who cannot afford to join these classes because of the high fee. “We teach them absolutely free of cost after satisfying ourselves that they are serious about taking the examination. This year also we had 14 such students,” Mr Kumar said. |
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Former PEC student gets 77th rank in civil services Chandigarh, May 9 |
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Mother’s Day gift for destitute children Chandigarh, May 9 Teachers of the
school divided themselves in groups and discussed the problems being
faced by the inmates of the home. The senior students at the destitute
home were guided about various vocational courses available after
senior secondary class. In the second session, teachers played games
like musical chairs, and “antakshri”. The girl inmates of the
niketan presented a dance item ‘I love my India’ and giddha. The
Principal of the school, Mr Sanjay Sardana, gave this information in a
press note. Meanwhile, the tiny tots of Ever Green Academy, a
preparatory school, celebrated the Mother’s Day by singing and
dancing. The mothers prayed for the well being of the their kids. A
fashion show attracted attention of the mothers. Ms Kuljeet Suri, the
principal of the school crowned Ms Ekta Bansal as the “Ever Green
Mother”. At Sri Guru Harkrishan Model School, Sector 38, the tiny
tots of “Little Hearts” celebrated the Mother’s Day. The
function was marked with formal inauguration of the first session of
“Little Hearts”. Ms Harpreet Kaur, Principal of the school, shared
the vision of the “Little Hearts” with the gathering. A ‘Best
Out of Waste’ contest was held on the occasion. For mothers at
Ajit Karam Singh International Public School, Sector 41 and 45 day was
marked by various activities like healthy tiffin contest, dry flower
arrangement. Senior students of the school wrote poems, made posters
and collages to portray their feelings for their mothers. |
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Forum hails move to regulate private Panchkula, May 9 The president of the forum, Mr S.K. Nayar, said the decision of the apex court, if implemented in letter and spirit, would go a long way in mitigating the financial difficulties of the people belonging to middle and lower strata of society, who found it difficult to pay the ever-increasing fee of their wards. Terming regular increase in admission fee as “illegal”, the forum said it was unfortunate that the school managements were charging admission fee from students, already studying in their schools. The forum alleged that the fee charged by the schools had been increasing day by day and the common man was finding it difficult to educate its wards. Not only this, certain school owners have been living on the school premises “illegally” and even running commercial establishments. Though it was in the knowledge of the authorities concerned, yet no action had been initiated against the school owners.
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Plea to include yoga in school curriculum Panchkula, May 9 Mr A.L. Gupta from Yogoda Satsang Dhyan Kendra,
Chandigarh, advocated that yoga should be included as a subject in the school curriculum. Mr R.S. Bhalla detailed various activities of the sansthan. Over 500 persons from different parts of Haryana, besides Chandigarh and Mohali, participated in the function. Various yoga asanas, specially “kapalbharti
pranayam ”were taught by yoga teachers to the participants.
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Hamara School The school is located near Gurdwara Jyoti Saroop crossing and has a majestic building and beautiful lush green lawns. This English medium, co-educational school is affiliated to Punjab School Education Board, Mohali, and is located in an open and healthy atmosphere and is spread over an area of 12 acres. The building has different blocks for junior, senior and senior secondary classes. There are residential flats for the members of the staff in the school campus itself. In today’s world of materialism, where almost all educational institutions are set up for business purpose only, without caring to provide quality education to the children the B.Z.S.F.S. School is one such institution which aims at not only educating the children of all classes but aims at producing ideal citizens. The school is named after the younger Sahibzadas of Guru Gobind Singh ji who preferred to be bricked alive rather than forsake the path of truth and justice. The foundation stone of the new building of the school was laid way back in 1985 by Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra (President S.G.P.C. and president of the School Trust). The school is running three more branches successfully under the guidance of the members of the trust. These branches are at Naulakha Sahib, Kurhali Sahib and at Kotan (Manji Sahib). The school firmly believes that a country can progress only through the use of science and technology and students are the hope, wealth, pride and future of a country. Schools should not produce only book-worms and students must learn discipline, patience, optimism, team-spirit, regularity, obedience, sportsmanship from various sports which are essential to fight the battle of life. The school lays stress on discipline as discipline is for a school what breath is for life. The school follows 5 Ds of Discipline, Dedication, Devotion, Determination and Destination. Aims of the school are all round development of student’s personality, to follow the principle of ‘simple living and high thinking’, to inculcate moral values and to prepare the child for a modern and technical world. To keep pace with the world of today, the school has a huge computer lab eqipped with latest computers (25 number), where every child gets a chance to learn and work on computer. The school also has well equipped chemistry, physics, biology and geography labs and library. The school has a band of its own and students of all classes are given training after which they participate in various religious and other cultural functions that are held in the region. The school is likely to introduce NCC shortly for both boys and girls. Students will have the choice of Army or Air Force wing of the NCC. For developing the physical abilities of the child, the school provides facilities for athletics, football, cricket, hand-ball, volley-ball, badminton, hockey, kho-kho, wrestling in the school campus. Children get expert coaching for the games they are interested in. The school has extensive play grounds with multiple swings and slides, where children can play and enjoy. Students have participated in various sports competitions that are held at district, state and national levels and won many prizes. There is a spacious, well-ventilated and beautiful auditorium-cum-stage in the school campus. It has a seating capacity of 1,500 and is named after Baba Moti Ram Mehra, who used to serve milk to the younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh ji when they were in captivity. The school has its own 62 KV generator which generates power supply for whole of the school building when normal electric supply fails. The students of the school are divided into five houses and they participate in inter-house competitions which aim at developing self-confidence amongst students. Debates, declamations, G.K. quiz, poetry-recitation competition, shabad gayan, vaar gayan, dastar-bandi, turban-tying competitions are integral part of co-curricular activities in the school. The students are taught music from Class III onwards. They learn to recite shabads and songs and participate in cultural and religious programmes that are held in the region. A team of professional medical experts visits the school at regular intervals for medical check-up of the students. The success of a school largely depends on its competent staff members. The school has experienced teachers. They inspire their students towards the higher and nobler ideals of human life.
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Principal Speak “The responsibility of the school and teachers is not only limited to proper and effective class room teaching, but care should be taken for all round development of personality of the students. The curriculum should be planned in such a way that the students become mentally alert, emotionally balanced, physically fit, socially acceptable and possesses moral, spiritual values and leadership qualities. Ample opportunities should be created for extra curricular activities like declamation contests, debates, quiz competitions, sports competitions, painting, singing, acting, dancing competitions, fancy dress competitions etc. The winners should be appreciated and rewarded suitably. The students should be taken for sight seeing and study tours. Regular moral and spiritual lectures should be delivered in the morning assembly. During adolescence generally the students have lot of problems and care should be taken to deal with their problems on individual basis and to take remedial measures. We lay stress on providing proper educational environment and congenial atmosphere to the students. It is also our endeavour to look after the problems of the teachers, so that they work with free mind like a well oiled machine. I deem it my duty to advise the students that the journey before them is arduous and life is full of challenges which can be met only with hard work, dedication and by adopting scientific work culture.”
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Ice-cream companies woo consumers The ice-cream parlour next door never looked so colourful... or affordable. As price war among major ice-cream players in the city gets hot, residents are eagerly warding off the summer blues with frozen desserts and ice creams. With two new ice creams — Mother Dairy and Cream Bell — making an entry into the local market this summer, consumers as well as retailers are the ones to benefit. If the new brands to keep you cool this summer have come up with special introductory schemes, market leaders Amul and Verka, too, have done their bit to lure consumers. And ice creams are not what they used to be earlier. The simple Vanilla, Strawberry, Pista and Chocolate are history, in are exotic flavours like honey nut crunch, oranges, grapes, banana, peach and the cool litchi flavours. Baskin Robbins, which caters to the niche segment, stocks at least 45 flavours in its two outlets in the city, besides introducing a new flavour each month. “If Mango is the flavour of the month at Baskins Robbins in May, it will be peach in June and a new flavour each month thereafter,” says franchisee Satish Manocha. “The basic 10 flavours are the same, but we offer 70 different varieties and combi flavours,” adds Mr Sameer Puri, master franchisee of Mother Dairy Ice Cream, which launched its operations in Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali from May 1. Cream Bell, too, has come up with 36 flavours. Value for money, say the master franchisees of all ice-cream majors in the city, is the USP to woo the summer-weary souls. Considering the fact that the average combined annual turnover of ice-cream in the city is approximately Rs 1 crore, the new majors are eager to get a share of the pie. Thus Amul, Vadilal and Cream Bell have come up with twin packs of various flavours — getting two ice-cream bricks by paying for one. New entrants like Cream Bell are offering ice-creams from Rs 5 to Rs 25 for small packs, and Rs 45-50 (for one litre) to Rs 90-110 (for twin packs) for family packs. Mother Dairy, too, has done its pricing competitively with market leader Amul. Officials in Amul, Verka, Mother Dairy and Baskin Robbins claim that they are the only vegetarian ice creams, others like Vadilal, Cream Bell and Kwality are frozen desserts and not ice creams, as they are based on vegetable oils. “Thus they can afford to cut down their prices. Customer awareness is lacking about the difference between frozen desserts and ice creams,” they say. But is there a scope for so many players in the market. “Yes,” says Mr M.S. Parikh, director of Cream Bell,” people like to change the flavours and brands. It is only after an extensive market survey that we see ourselves getting 20 per cent of the market share by the year end.” Mr Sandeep Sahni, franchisee of Amul, which has 40 per cent market share, however, says that the people in the city are very brand-conscious and quality-conscious, and thus only big brands like Mother Dairy will be vying with Amul and Verka for gaining control in the market. Amul has, therefore introduced a twin-pack scheme wherein for Rs 100, a consumer gets 2 litre packs of either of these flavours — Tutti Fruity, Santra Mantra, Fruit Bonanza and Kesar.
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Journey of self-discovery for women artists IN a quest to discover themselves through paint and brush, 12 women artists of the city have joined hands and formed an association called “We”. Though the association is about three-month old, the artists for the first time, held a three-day workshop, which concluded at Punjab Kala Bhavan in Sector 16 here today. “The workshop gave us an opportunity to share and learn from each other’s experience,” said Geeta Vadhera, a self-taught artist, justifying the need for an all-woman group. Reflecting her belief on canvas, Geeta has portrayed woman as the chosen one for creation, who is the only link between the mother earth and heaven. The group is a heterogenous one, considering their age, group or medium of expression or their professions. Sadhna Sangar is the head of the Fine Arts Department in Government College, Mohali, while Renu Abbi is a housewife with limited experience in the field of art. What we get to see is diversified topics, ranging from simple themes like birds, trees, landscape to complicated subjects like Sadhna Sangar’s “Fragrance of Life” to Guneeta Chadha’s “Facets of Women”, which puts a woman under observation as she treads along her pre-destined route laid down by society. Other members like Anju Pasricha, Bharti Vandana, Nirmala Singh, Deepa Bajaj, Neeru Vij, Navpreet Kaur and Gurmeet Goldy, too, have come up with interesting paintings. The workshop also included works of three guest artists Karuna Mohindra, Gayatri and Geeta. Prem Singh, former Principal of the Government College of Art, Chandigarh, who inaugurated the workshop, said “We” would give the much-needed moral boost to the women artist community of the region, which is yet to take off in a big way. Blaming the social set-up for clipping the wings of talented women artists, Prem Singh said, “Though girls have been outnumbering boys in various streams of Government College of Art, girls just do not pursue their career after getting a degree. For a woman to become a professional artist, is a dream,” he lamented.
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A protagonist from the past comes back to make us realise what has become of the dream that inspired freedom fighters to fight against the British to make India free. Conceptualised along contemporary lines of thinking, it is the conflict between hope and harsh reality that makes political satire “Gandhi ki Wapsi” interesting. The play was staged by Theatre Age at Punjab Kala Bhavan in Sector 16 here on Sunday. The play started with a scene in which the heaven decides to send back Mahatma Gandhi to take stock of the current scenario in his country. Through a series of hilarious scenes, the play shows how Gandhi returns to his heavenly abode, thoroughly disgusted. The play, written by Ajay Rana and directed by theatre activist Zulfiqar Khan, presented 21 children from Sector 25 Janata Colony, whose enthusiasm and zeal contributed a great deal towards making it a successful play. Earlier, tiny tots of Sanjivni School, Sector 11, presented a choreographed danced item based on song “Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani”. OC
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‘Haas Raag Rang’ completes one year The National Theatre Arts Society (NTAS), Patiala, staged I. C. Nanda’s social satire “Eh Doomne” (1918) and award-winning humorous playlet “Patangbaz”, both directed by Pran Sabharwal and Sunita Sabharwal at Baradari Gardens here. The function, held to mark the completion of one year of the Garden Theatre campaign “Haas Raag Rang”, on a Sunday of every month, was inaugurated by the chief guest Mr Kabir Das, Senior Deputy Mayor, Municipal Corporation, Patiala. Mr Das urged the people to strengthen NTAS to promote human values and improve taste for good theatre. The society honoured him for his services towards the society. Mr Zora Singh Brar, a former Chairman of the PSEB, presided over the function. Among others present were Dr Hardev Singh, Civil Surgeon, Patiala, Dr S. K. Puri, a former Director of Health Services, PSEB, Mr P. C. Tiwari, joint secretary, Mr Tarlochan Singh Jeet, convener, Baradari Club. The main artistes were Sunita-Pran Sabharwal, Prof Akhilesh Happy, Manpreet Bedi, Suneel Chauhan, Dharminder Sandhu, Nimmi, Shruti Sachdeva, Rajni, Harpal Singh, Gursharan Gill, Santosh Kumar, Naveen, Jagdish Kumar and Rohit Vohra. The convener of the campaign, Pran Sabharwal, said here today the Garden Theatre, was a non-profitable and non-political venture. It had won love and appreciation of the people and its performances received momentum every month. He further said plays like Dr Satish Kumar Verma’s “Daairey” against female foeticide, I.C. Nanda’s Suhag against child marriage, “Eh Doomne”, Bhartendu Harish Chander’s “Andher Nagri”, Ajmer Aulakh’s “Begane Bohar Di Chhan”, “Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh” and Punjabi folk drama “Naqlaan” which were performed last year were appreciated by the people. TNS
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The lounge bar is moving out from the metros and the city clubs. Hotel Maya Palace is getting this metro concept of comfy wining to the city, as it gets ready to inaugurate the first lounge bar on May 14. A contemporary concept of wining, with an informal seating arrangement and bright funky interiors, this metro concept has been in the City Beautiful for long, says Mr Naveen Kumar, Manager, Foods and Beverages, Hotel Maya Palace. So far restricted to the Chandigarh Golf Club and the Chandigarh Club, the concept has now emerged from the clubs to the hotels. The concept has been borrowed from the hugely successful Buddha Lounge Bar in Gurgaon and others of its ilk spread across Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune. “The hotel had a general bar earlier, but due to competition, we have to be the trend-setters and thus we came with the lounge bar,” he added. The new lounge bar has grey sofas with steel bottoms and glass tables set in a blue and sunshine yellow bar. The bar has 50 laser lights spread all over the false ceiling, which give a hide-and-see effect to the room. A plasma TV and a DJ system belt out latest tunes in Hinglish, English, Latino and Arabic. A wide range of beverages are on offer. New table accessories in the contemporary SS Steel have been bought for the lounge. TNS
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