The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

IGNOU launches course in Intellectual Property Rights

New Delhi: The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) today launched an awareness course in Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), aimed at sensitising scientists, researchers, teachers, professionals and other such groups about IPR issues. The three-month course, dealing with patents, copyrights, trademarks and industrial designs, has been framed with special emphasis on the present scenario in the country, said the officials.

The programmes would benefit professionals like scientists, researchers, teachers and other similar groups involved in the creation of intellectual property. According to the University spokesperson, candidates interested in the programmes can get details from the IGNOU campus or from its web-site.

The University has also announced a one-year Post-Graduate Diploma Programme in Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in collaboration with the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). IGNOU officials said the programme, initially offered through select regional centres at Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai and Kolkata, was aimed at training professionals on procedural aspects of obtaining Intellectual Property Rights and exercising them. TNS

SCHOOL BUZZ
CBSE’s post-result helpline for students
Smriti Kak Ramachandran

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will provide free tele-counselling for 15 days from tomorrow to enable students discuss and solve their problems after the declaration of results.

Students and parents can discuss their problems with principals, trained counsellors and psychologists on a one-to-one basis till June 7, a CBSE release here today said.

The Board has set up 27 centres at Delhi, Noida, Gurgoan, Meerut, Jaipur, Indore, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Dhoha-Qatar, Dubai and Kuwait. This is a part of the two-phase counselling, first at the time of examinations and second after the declaration of results being arranged by the Board since 1998.

Students can also send their queries to directoracad@hotmail.com and www.cepavnesh@hotmail.com.

The Board has released a list of counsellors along with their telephone numbers. While Delhi leads the list with 11 centres, Indore, Chandigarh, Dhoha-Qatar, Dubai and Kuwait have one centre each.

Prakash Purab celebrated

Guru Angad Dev’s 500th Prakash Purab was celebrated by the Servants of Humanity Society along with the children. The society organised a written test in various Khalsa schools, wherein children were quizzed on the life of the Guru.

Society’s spokesperson Tehal Singh said volunteers had earlier visited various schools in the Capital and distributed the book published by the Sikh Missionary College on the life of Guru Angad Dev. The test was based on the information provided in the book.

Prizes were awarded to the top three students in each school and certificates were given to each participant. The prize distribution ceremony was organised in Dashmesh Public School. DSGMC general secretary Harbhajan Singh Matharu and chairman of the school Balbir Singh gave away the prizes. Teachers were also felicitated for helping students prepare for the contest.

Educational titles for children

Brepo Systems India Ltd are coming up with a new series of Educational titles for children. The nine new titles for children in the age group of two and six are aimed at being effective and independent learning tools. The contents have been based on the guidelines prescribed by the CBSE. Among the titles to be launched are ‘interactive English for kids’ and ‘Interactive Maths for kids’.

The former teaches kids how to converse in English, polite manners and the later works on the mental capabilities of a child by teaching them things related to counting numbers, tables and sizes and shapes.

PRINCIPALSPEAK
Let us hold hands and march together towards our goals

As I plodded my way to the town, the road looked endless. I was tired, and the destination appeared so distant. Then, I met a fellow traveller. We walked together and the town seemed so much closer. A third traveller joined us and the journey was no longer an ordeal but a joyous trip, full of laughter and fun. We reached the town too soon.” What seems so difficult alone becomes so easy when tackled by a group.

This is synergy. It means working together to create a better solution than one can find alone. Synergy is everywhere in nature. Many plants and animals live together in symbiotic relationships. If you have seen a picture of a small bird feeding off on the back of a rhinoceros, you have seen synergy. Each one is benefited – the bird gets fed and the rhino gets cleaned.

In school, we learn to synergise through the House system, group work, class projects, working with partners, game teams, and group cultural activities. All these help to maximise output in terms of performance and confidence. In a school we work as a fraternity to help every individual. It helps us to gain confidence, sharpen our skills, gain new perspectives and grow as individuals.

In working together we have the support, encouragement and guidance of others. Geese fly together in a ‘V’ formation. Learning to synergise is like learning to form ‘V’ formation with others, instead of trying to fly through life solely. You will be amazed at how much faster and farther you will go.
Synergy calls for open – mindedness, celebrating differences and working as a team, to find new and better ways. It does not mean bending other people’s will to yield to yours or thinking that you are always right. It is not your way or my way but a better way, a higher way.

A ‘Musical Band’ is an excellent example of synergy. Each band member, be it the drummer, vocalist, guitarist or the pianist, brings in his or her own individual strengths to the Band to create beautiful music – something better than each could have achieved on his own. Each one retains his individuality, yet synergises with others. No instrument is better than the other, just different. But, together the sound is miraculous.

Ask any mountaineer and he will tell you that the right team members can make that vital difference between success and failure, between life and death. “It is the biggest challenge to bend people into a team while, allowing them to retain their individual identities – creating the right values and culture, where each one works at his own pace, yet bound to the team on a common rope – where the slips of one are halted by the firm anchor of another”. In a school, we work as a team to help each other.
The world is fast becoming a meeting pot of cultures, races, religions and ideas. Thus, we must learn to respect other peoples’ faiths, beliefs, interests, creativity, and rise above biases and differences to work together and make world’s work easier. ‘Together we rise, divided we fall’. When the diverse people of India came together single-mindedly, to seek Independence, they shook the British monarchy, forcing them to give India her freedom. This is the power of synergy.

So, let us hold hands and march together towards our goals – the journey becomes shorter, easier and more fulfilling.

‘Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much’.

Madhu Chandra, Principal Birla Vidya Niketan

Free Tihar prisoners unable to meet bail conditions: HC
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 23
Concerned over the plight of those prisoners in Tihar Jail who are unable to fulfil their bail conditions, the Delhi High Court has asked trial courts to take action for their release due to space constraints. Mr Justice R. S. Sodhi has also sought a status report on the progress of work at Mandoli jail and has asked the state government to acquire land at Narela, Baprola and Ghitroni for construction of more jails.

Taking suo motu action, Mr Justice Sodhi had sought a report from the Deputy Inspector-General of Prisons, Delhi, on prisoners who were in jails due to their inability to furnish securities in spite of being granted bail.

A report, giving details of their living conditions, had said that as many as 538 undertrials were in jail even after a year of having secured bail. “The Tihar Jail is housing prisoners three times its sanctioned strength. The convicts and undertrials are provided 2 1/2 ft by 6 ft space to sleep. This is in addition to the open space where prisoners can move and play. This information is indeed alarming,” the court observed, reacting strongly to the report. The court has now sought a report on such prisoners from all jails within a period of three months.

One yr in jail for possessing shahtoosh shawls
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 23
A city court under the Wild Life (Protection) Act has sentenced Mohammad Mir (56) to one year in jail for possessing shahtoosh shawls.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Manoj Jain also ordered Mir to pay a fine of Rs 5,000. Mir was earlier arrested with 13 shahtoosh shawls in 1999 from South Delhi. Acting on a tip-off, on March 15, 1999, the wildlife authorities intercepted Mir at Greater Kailash-I here and seized from his briefcase 13 shahtoosh shawls made from the wool of the endangered Tibetan antelope. The Wild Life Institute, Dehra Dun, later confirmed that the seized material was indeed shahtoosh shawls

“The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, was recently amended and the penal provisions were made harsher to curb such type of illegal activities. But since convict Mohammed Mir has been facing trial for the last four years I am of the opinion that the interests of justice would be met if I impose minimum sentence on him,” the court said.

The court rejected the arguments of the defence that there were no public witnesses saying there was no reason to disbelieve wildlife officials who are “as good as independent witnesses”.

The court said, “The prosecution case cannot be thrown away merely because the chief plank of evidence is that of official witnesses,” the court said. “The Wild Life (Protection) Act has been legislated for the protection of wild animals, birds and plants with a view to ensure the ecological and environmental security of the country.”