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Call racket — Crime at click of mouse Kingpins abroad; Indian operators a small fry J.S. Malhotra
Cyber swindling. It may not ring a familiar bell, but in the city it is a part of the very familiar ring of a phone, particularly if the call is from abroad. Sample this: There's a call from a friend settled in Canada, but the ID caller shows a Jalandhar number.
The fact, as borne by the recent unearthing of call racket cases, is that Jalandhar has become a haven for the white-collar crime, which has its roots spread across the North American and the European Union countries. Unholy nexus Modus operandi Jalandhar and adjoining districts, including Kapurthala, Nawan Shahr and Hoshiarpur, are known as the NRI belt. People from these areas have successfully settled in the North American and the European Union countries. These NRIs communicate regularly with their families and relatives back home. A few decades ago, the NRIs depended on postal service to remain in touch with their homeland. But these days they no longer depend on the snail mail — it's too slow, as its very name suggests. Telephonic calls and e-mails are the preferred modes of communication. It's here that the cyber crime finds its space. Techno-savvy cyber criminals abroad and their facilitators here in Jalandhar (mis)use information technology tools to carry on with their illegal business, which offers easy money. They misuse the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) for automatic switching of international calls received through the internet-leased lines. International incoming calls are converted into local outgoing calls, depriving India of valuable foreign exchange. This came to light recently when the vigilance wing of the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) in Delhi, during a routine monitoring, found that the ISDN number 0181-5002802 was being misused. The international calls were being auto-switched, bypassing the authorised gateway of the ILD operator. Subsequently, the detailed record of the line was obtained from the service provider. It revealed a big fraud — hundreds of international calls were being received illegally. The district police and a special VSNL team, in a joint operation, recently unearthed a multi-crore international call racket running in different parts of the city. High-tech gadgets and equipment, used to set up three illegal private telephone exchanges, were confiscated. These exchanges were found operational in three rented shops located at the Lotus Towers, the World Trade Centre and the Gaushala Market here. The police also probed whether any terrorist outfit was using this illegal network to avoid detection during the monitoring of international calls by the VSNL through its gateway. Prima facie, there was no evidence to suggest any terrorist angle to the international call racket. City residents say that they often receive international calls from local numbers. "I came to know about the racket recently when my Canada-based friend Jagtar called me up on my mobile. The cell phone screen showed a local telephone number. The quality of voice was poor and the call got disconnected thrice," reveals a city resident. "International incoming calls received through internet-leased lines are shown as local outgoing calls. Since these telephone exchanges have been running independently, they are beyond the scope of legal monitoring. This racket has very dangerous ramifications; it could be a potential security risk," Mr G.S. Sharma, Manager, Vigilance, VSNL, maintains in a joint inspection report submitted to the police. Despite tall claims, the investigation into this type of white-collar crime is a Herculean task for the district police, which is yet to be fully equipped to handle the changing trends in cyber- and telephone-crime. The police, according to the Superintendent of Police, Mr Rajpal Singh Sandhu, have identified the accused in the case, who would be arrested soon. VSNL sources, however, maintained that more such illegal telephones exchanges were operational in the city.
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Grand old man of Ghadar recounts his days
His face is an alley of wrinkles and his eyes are dim with age. But his voice is deep and guttural and it rings conviction. Three years short of hundred, Baba Bhagat Singh Bilga, an associate of the freedom fighter Ajit Singh (Shaheed Bhagat Singh's uncle) and founder of the Ghadar (Rebellion) Party in Argentina, still retains the dynamism of the Ghadar days.
"Freedom from the yoke of imperialism — that was our goal. When the Ghadar Party was formed, I was about six years old. Our village, Bilga, actively participated in the freedom struggle. It was as if the freedom chant coursed through our blood. There was hardly a household in our village whose members had not paid fine or stayed in prison," he recounts, his eyes trying to lift the veil of the bygone time. "The Bardoli Movement had our farmers all revved up with anti-British sentiment. These farmers had to sell off their cattle at abysmally low prices. But they stuck to their point," he adds. His voice has risen by a few decibels and his eyes are fiery slits. The talk veers around 'The Escape'. "The day was no different from the other days. The Ghadar Movement was at its peak. I had to travel from Colombo through Madras and Sri Lanka on a fake passport. On the way, I got almost caught by intelligence men who interrogated me repeatedly. I feigned to be a simpleton. I kept on harping on my ma's desire to have me visit 'Hazoor Sahib'. My interrogators thought I was slightly unhinged, though they kept returning to me. Again, I would start the same parroting of my desired-by-ma-visit. Finally, they gave up on me." 'The Escape' was successful. Decades after 'The Escape', has he been able to escape the wobbling values, the tottering ideals and the faltering ideologies? Is he a disappointed man today? "A Ghadarite is never disappointed," he says cryptically. Why? "We are fighters to the core. Our spirits are never crushed. We are no better than dead if we are dejected. And Ghadarites don't die a living death," he replies. India is a bountiful land, feels Baba Bilga. "I have seen most of the countries except Australia. But India is unique. If hot summers oppress you, travel some distance and you'll come across the coolest breeze. The variety here is magnificent. Fruit trees that cannot be grown in one part of the country flourish in another part," he says. However, he regrets, those at the helm of the social and the political affairs are not sincere in their efforts. "Corruption and dishonesty have weakened our institutions," he remarks, with pain evident in his voice. "I don't want to do any philosophising. I know just one philosophy - patriotism. Till I am alive I will continue to think about my country. Our Desh Bhagat Yaadgaar Committee meets almost daily to discuss current social and political issues," he says, adding that the glory of his motherland is now in the hands of younger generation. As a parting shot, he says, “If you don't rise to the occasion, you will perish; oh my country people, then there will be no trace of your great story”.
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Scholarly officer with untiring zeal
His day begins at 3.30 am. He freshens up and takes a stroll. Then he sets off for a 5-km-jog. He returns home, scans a couple of newspapers and takes his breakfast. He is ready for the day's work. He reaches his office by 8 am and puts in uninterrupted 12 hours' work. Even though Saturdays and Sundays are his day offs, as per the norms of the Central Government, this dedicated septuagenarian makes it a point to devote six to seven hours of weekend to his office work.
Meet Lt Col Manmohan Singh (retd), Deputy Director, Sainik Welfare (DDSW), Jalandhar, who is the only person in the state to have received the state award twice. Honouring him for helping ex-servicemen and their families, Capt Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister, presented him the award on August 15. It was the welfare officer's second award. He had received an award in recognition of similar services way back in 1991. As a sainik welfare officer, Lt Col Manmohan Singh brought a remarkable change in the style of the working of the department. He revolutionised an almost defunct office by introducing pre-recruitment and vocational training schemes for wards of ex-servicemen, war widows and serving defence personnel. He had taken premature retirement from the army and joined the DDSW office in March 1987. He started the Pre-recruitment and Vocational Training Centre at the DDSW office the very next year. Expensive equipment for gymnasium, computers and stenography training equipment had to be purchased. Besides, staff of 10 to 12 persons had to be maintained. With his untiring efforts, the officer succeeded in collecting a sum of Rs 82 lakh from various sources, including the Vajra Corps, MPs, MLAs, DCs and NRIs of the district. He finally started one of the best training centres in the northern India. Going by the records, as many as 17,000 young boys and girls have undertaken training at the centre here in the past 19 years. At least 50 per cent of them have found employment in various services. The centre is now getting students not only from Punjab but also from surrounding states, including Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. The centre also runs a hostel for boys. Recently, Lt Col Manmohan Singh penned three books on training for recruitment into army, police and paramilitary forces. The books are being distributed free of cost to trainees at the centre. On account of his selfless work, the DDSW has been retained in service much beyond the age of retirement. He has been granted six extensions of two years each after his retirement and his present extension covers a period up to April 28, 2005. Since he has already given in writing that he does not want any salary for his services, he is hopeful of getting yet another extension. This is not all. Lt Col Manmohan Singh has another unique qualification. He is a postgraduate in five subjects and now at the age of 70, he is pursuing his sixth PG degree. The officer had completed post graduation in physics and defence studies before he joined the army. During his service in the army, he did MA in English, economics and political science through correspondence and contact programmes. Of late, his love for Urdu poetry compelled him to take up a PG degree course in the language from the Jamia Milia University, New Delhi. Says the untiring officer, "Urdu is a rich language in which you do not need many words to describe a situation. I studied Urdu at my school in Pakistan, where I was born. I could not continue with my studies in the language when we migrated to India. However, I have a good collection of books on Urdu couplets."
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Illegal taxi stand near library draws flak from visitors
The failure of the local Municipal Corporation and the District Transport authorities to curb the mushrooming illegal taxi stands on government land here is causing huge revenue loss to the state exchequer. City residents are also facing inconvenience, as some of these illegal stands are running in parking areas. Pedestrians are at the receiving end because footpaths are being used for parking taxies.
The district administration had ordered the shifting of one such taxi stand to a parking place adjoining the Guru Nanak Library. The library authorities and members objected strongly to the setting up of this taxi stand near the library, as they felt that the stand would have a nuisance value. "We are suffering because of the wrong policies of the district administration. Most of the drivers usually blow high- pitched pressure horns, disturbing the atmosphere of the library. One cannot concentrate in such a noisy atmosphere," says a city resident, who frequents the library. Sometimes, drivers use the library wall as lavatory. "This is very embarrassing for us," complains a college student. Most of the people visiting the library feel that taxi stand near the library has spoilt the whole ambience of the place. Some loiters there indulge in eve-teasing. A girl student reveals, "One of my friends complained to her father about the eve-teasers roaming freely near the library. Instead of taking any action, her father simply asked her not to visit the library again." The illegal taxi stand near the library is not an isolated case. Most of these illegal stands have been set up by erecting temporary wooden kiosks on government land. The irony is that the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) and BSNL authorities have extended the facility of power and telephone connections to such illegal stands, in violation of the prescribed norms. Such stands have come up near BMC Chowk, Kapurthala Chowk, Ravidass Chowk, Rama Mandi Chowk and Namdev Chowk. The Tribune team found that most of the taxis were plying without paying the mandatory tax. Though the District Transport authorities claimed to have challaned more than 100 vehicles during the past two months, but departmental sources revealed it was just a tip of the iceberg. Sources revealed that vehicles parked at such stands had neither the number plates painted in yellow nor was the word "taxi" inscribed on these commercial vehicles. Taxi owners, on the other hand, blamed the state government. "A city like Jalandhar, with a population of more than 7 lakh, is without any authorised taxi stand. The municipal corporation and the district administration have failed to select a single location in the entire city for setting up an authorised taxi stand. The blame lies squarely on the government," maintained an owner of an illegal taxi stand. The MC Commissioner, Mr Satwant Singh Johl, was not available for comments (his staff maintained that he was busy in a meeting and could not attend to queries of the media persons). The District Transport Officer, Mr Gurwarayam Singh, admitted that domestic vehicles were being used as commercial vehicles. "We are trying to enforce the All India Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, in the city. We challaned more than 100 vehicles during the past two months," he said, adding that the practice could not be completely eliminated by any means.
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Residents fume as queries remain unanswered at railway station inquiry counter
There is one telephone number that seldom draws a response, however hard one may try. Either it comes continuously engaged or it remains unattended. This much-tried-hardly-attended number is that of the railway inquiry. City residents complain that they are at their wits' end when it comes to making a simple telephonic inquiry about trains. "The other day, I tried the railway inquiry number at least for half an hour.
Finally I had to give up. The result was that I wasted neat two hours at the station waiting for the train that was running two hours behind the schedule," says a city resident Rajmeet Singh. The inquiry counter is meant to provide information about the arrival and the departure of trains. Queries pertaining to arrangement for a night's stay and location of various offices have to be attended to there. However, the residents rue that the railway inquiry system here has become almost defunct. "It seems there is no work culture here. It's as if inquiry counter staff is doing us a favour by attending to our queries," says a resident. A random visit by The Tribune team to the railway station here revealed interesting nuggets about the work culture at the railway inquiry counter. Two staff members there were busy chatting up with friends. When the rush of people at the counter increased, the busy twosome mumbled monosyllabic answers or just gesticulated their way out to satisfy the harried people. "You can see for yourself the indifferent attitude of the staff. They are not bothered that their carelessness or uncooperative attitude could cost us dear. Some of us have important engagements that are time-bound," complained a woman who had come to inquire about a train. "I had to repeat at least four times my query before it caught the attention of the staff. They gave me a grumpy look suggesting that I had disturbed their important chat-session. What is the point in setting up an inquiry counter when our queries remain unattended?" Mr Gurwinder Singh, a 70-year-old ex-serviceman, rued. "As you yourself can see, most of the passengers are trying to get information from notice board. The staff is busy in its own discussions. There is a need to enforce discipline," maintained Ms Parkash Kaur, a software expert. For people who try to make queries through phone, things are equally bad. In fact, the inquiry staff itself does not know the railway inquiry numbers. When this correspondent asked one of the staff members about the inquiry numbers apart from 131, he drew a blank. "I don't know. You can refer to a telephone directory or you may contact the station superintendent," was the cryptic reply of the staff member. A senior railway official, on the condition of anonymity, had a rather interesting observation to make. "Even our telephone calls are ignored. We can well imagine the plight of ordinary people. We prefer not to complain to higher authorities, as the inquiry counter employees are our colleagues," the official stated. While the Station Superintendent S.K. Ghosh was not available for comments, a senior official, who wished not to be quoted, admitted that they had received several complaints against the railway inquiry staff. Meanwhile, the inquiry staff here has its own version of the problem. "We don't have adequate staff. It's the paucity of staff that is at the root of the problem. It's not easy for two persons to handle inquiries of hundreds of passengers daily. There should be at least five staff members for an inquiry counter at a railway station like Jalandhar," the staff maintained.
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City cinema halls in dire straits
Owners blame home theatre culture Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service
If you are a cine buff, Jalandhar is not the place for you. The city has barely half-a-dozen cinema halls. These, too, do not have any provision for hi-tech sound and visual effects.
Most of the theatres exhibit small-budget adult movies, leaving no scope for families to be there. The condition of the cinema halls here has been getting worse over the years, if city residents are to be believed. Seats are broken. Toilets are filthy and canteens have very limited eatables to offer. "We last watched a movie in a cinema hall years ago. Most of the cinema halls in the city stink and the crowd is also no good. CDs of all movies are available in market soon after their release and it is better to watch the movies at home," says a city resident. The cinema hall owners have their own version of the things. They believe that cable TV, VCDs and DVDs have badly affected the cinema culture. "Jalandhar is a city of NRIs. They come back and buy home theatres, DVD players or TVs with LCD screens. A VCD player has become so common that almost every second house here has it," says Mr Raj Kumar, manager of the Naaz Cinema, GT Road. The Northern India Motion Pictures' Association general secretary Yashpal Mittal says, "The quality as well as content of movies is poor these days. Even though two to three movies are released every week, there are hardly any takers." Talking about 'good old days', he says, "Things were different earlier. Only a few movies were released but they used to be worth watching. Tickets were booked in advance. But over the years, it has all changed." Things have come to such a pass that at least seven theatres have winded up their business in the past few years. Krishna and Hari Palaces near the Railway Road have closed down. Jyoti Cinema, near Jyoti Chowk, was razed about seven back. The owners now plan to build a multiplex there. The remaining few cinema houses have opened their parking lot to people visiting the adjacent markets, so that some income could be shored up. There are others who have built shops on the front and the side portions of the theatres. These shops are rented out to generate some money. The CD markets, on the other hand, are doing a brisk business in the city. While most of the customers go in for CDs available on rent, there are some who do not mind buying CDs of good movies. Says Mr Bharat Khanna, a marketing manager with a private firm, "I have a home theatre at my place and my seven-year-old son is very fond of watching movies. I do not mind buying a good CD, for it pays in the long run. You can watch the movie at your own convenience as many times as you like." "With a home theatre and a big screen, the effects are as good as in a cinema hall. Whenever a new movie is released, I get its CD and hold a get-together at our place. I really enjoy watching good movies with my friends. We even have an interval during which we serve snacks and dinner so that it gives the feel of a theatre. After all, if there are no good theatres in the city, we have to manage somehow," says Ms Sonia Verma, a homemaker.
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Palahi: A snapshot of modern India
A high-tech village. It sounds almost antithetical. Villages are seldom hi-tech. At the most, they can have an apology for a road, a ramshackle PHC, a few garishly-decorated beauty parlours and a couple of shops selling gaudy, shiny stuff that is often touted as the latest dress material.
These are the stray thoughts that cross the mind when the signboard "Palahi - hi-tech village" greets you. Cambridge connection
The polytechnic has popularised the technology of solar water heaters, solar cookers, solar driers, portable
chullahs, smokeless chullahs and biogas plants.
To India, with love The sun is up and the day is hot and humid. You stop by to ask a villager what's so 'hi-tech' about the village. He directs you to the Community Polytechnic. A road, flanked by shops selling a variety of goods, leads you to the polytechnic. And then begins the journey into the rather unique village. The polytechnic has a biggish collage put up outside principal's office. It shows a century-old mosque, a historical park, ATM, acoustic community hall, water treatment pond - all located in the village itself. "Centuries ago, this place abounded in 'Pallah' trees, hence the name 'Palahi'. The Sikh gurus - Guru Hargobind and Guru Har Rai - visited the village. Guru Har Rai planted a sapling here. Young Tyag Mal, the ninth guru, was christened Guru Teg Bahadur at this very village," says Mr Manjit Singh, an employee of the polytechnic. But it's not just the hallowed past that gives the village a distinctive place among villages of India. Effective use of technology in consonance with the local needs has lent it a very credible tag of 'hi-tech village'. It's 'hi-tech' not because it has imported some seldom-used-much-displayed scientific contraptions. It's 'hi-tech' because science-savvy villagers have tempered technology with commonsense and adapted it to suit the indigenous needs. The villagers have learnt the art of tapping solar energy rather well. Solar street lights, solar domestic lights, solar pumps, solar water heating system, solar cookers are being used successfully here. "Villagers have access to the internet facility. There's an ATM that caters to quite a few customers daily. There's a sound-proof Miri-Piri Community Hall with Clock Tower. This hall has a seating capacity of 1000. There's a village library that stocks 10,000 books. The State Human Rights Commission, Punjab, has adopted the village as 'Human Rights Village'. Isn't all this wonderful?" Mr Jatinder Pal Singh Palahi, secretary of Shri Guru Hargobind Educational Council, reels off the achievements of the village. He adds, "The community participation holds the key." It's time to discover en route the varied hues of the village, and accordingly we set off with a guide. Sri Guru Har Rai Park with centuries-old trees, old mosque, small-brick houses that are almost a relic now, spacious swanky houses, ornamental trees, smartly-attired school students, gnarled old men grumbling about the hot sun - the village is a snapshot of India - modern, yet steeped in history and culture. "Tremendous changes for better have been wrought in the past few decades. It's time to march forward," says an octogenarian Daulat Ram, perhaps summing up the sentiments of the villagers.
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A passion for the written word
He's ordinary, rather very ordinary man with yet more ordinary ambitions (happy family, comfortable financial position, social recognition et al.). But he has an amazing fascination for books. Mr Bakhshish Singh Arora, who is in his late sixties, loves books. In the times of television ruling the roost, this man's favourite pastime is curling up on a sofa with a book. When he does not want to be a solitary reaper, he takes his jhola and goes off to give books to elderly readers, who are too weak and infirm to visit library. Youngsters find him raving about books, which he cajoles them to read, or at least take a shot at.
"Books open new vistas. You can traverse the whole universe by flicking through the pages of a book. It's so wonderful," he gushes, as he dusts the jacket of a travelogue. One of his favourite travelogues has been 'Bina Paise Duniya Kaa Safar', a book now out of print. Though he is a discerning reader, he says, yet his books are a nice mix of all kinds of fiction and non-fiction in English, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. "I have more than 500 books in my personal library. They come in all shapes and sizes," he says, adding, "I think I better not use the words 'personal library', as I hardy have space to keep books. My books are scattered all over the house - some find place in my cabinet, some are ensconced in our worship room, the chosen few manage to slip on to my sofa and bed." His 'passion for books' finds its social moorings in his honorary work as a librarian at the Bhai Veer Singh Library, Urban Estate, Phase II. In fact, he has been instrumental in giving the library a facelift, we learn. "When I took over, there were just 60 books in the library. Today, it stocks nearly 2,500 books. I try my best to encourage the youngsters to read. Children have to be made alive to the world of books and it's no mean job. Television vies actively for the attention of the youngsters. It's another matter that it bombards them only with fleeting images," he says. His heroes, predictably, are writers and poets. When he meets them, he can't get over his excitement. Then it's just he, his author and the written word. "The other day, I met Khushwant Singh. The man oozed humility. I will always cherish the memory of that meeting," he remarks, as if his life's entire joy could be summed up in that may-be-too-commonplace-a-meeting. But then the 'ordinary' nurtured assiduously does become the 'special and significant'!
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Kanya Maha Vidyalaya
Shrill, strident feminism…male-bashing…wearing skimpy clothes. This is women's emancipation in its most warped form. Women's emancipation is about living a life of dignity and at the same time making use of the available opportunities in the best possible manner. It's about doing away with practices like 'child marriage', 'infanticide' and 'sati pratha'. The image of Acharya Lajjawati, the grand old woman of Kanya Maha Vidyalaya, Jalandhar, discoursing on the downside of the Western (read alien) mode of women's emancipation flits across the mind's eye. Patriotic flavour The foundation of the common room at the college has been laid using the soil of
Haldighati. The sepia-toned images of the Khadi-clad, charkha-spinning old students of the college add to the patriotic flavour of the room. The present-day students also wear white Khadi on Mondays. The institution offers free education to wards of Kargil martyrs.
History unspools itself. About 15 have passed since the First War of Independence in 1857. A simple homemaker, Ms Kahmi Devi, who has no claim to high-sounding degrees, wants to educate her children without any 'Western' indoctrination. She starts out with a rented three- or four-student classroom that keeps oscillating between 'to be or not to be'. Almost simultaneously, crusader Lala Dev Raj, inspired by the Arya Samaj's ideals, takes upon himself to start a girls' school at Jalandhar. Finally, the modest yet conviction-suffused efforts of these determined individuals culminate in the opening of a school for girls here. Lala Dev Raj is reviled, abused and even stoned by orthodox people who want to keep the girls confined to home, but he remains unfazed. He's a man with a mission. A college that caters specifically to women students is the next logical step of his mission. Kanya Maha Vidyalaya (KMV) is born. The struggle with orthodoxy is not over yet. But already another struggle has begun - the struggle to free Bharat from the British. Freedom movement is at its zenith. Young boys and girls are fired with the ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity. Students of Kanya Maha Vidyalaya jump into the struggle with all their might. These young women are not afraid of embracing death in the service of motherland. One such student is Sushila Didi, who dies a martyr's death while making a bomb. Today, more than a century after the first seeds of this institution were sown, the old ideals still continue to be cherished and practised. Though the institution takes pride in its rich cultural heritage, yet it is open to new horizons. The college offers a wide choice of subjects, including information technology, Sanskrit, music, dance, mass communication, food science and microbiology, philosophy, psychology and electronics to the students. The library, stocked with more than 60,000 books, is a fine example of book-culture at its best. The college boarding-house, "Kanya Ashram", has four hostels for the students. A gymnasium, a health club, various literary and youth welfare clubs, research journals published by the college itself - the students here have a lot to look forward to. Keeping in view the global scenario, the students are offered free access to internet. To encourage students to take up the classical language Sanskrit, the college has instituted a scholarship for the same. "Recently, the NAAC team awarded us A+. We aim at building the national character of the students. We encourage them to think for themselves," said Ms Rita Bawa, the college principal. |
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From the schools
Teams from as many as 20 schools affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) participated in Sahodaya Complex Inter-school quiz held at Eklavya School on Saturday.
Students from classes V to VIII participated in the contest. Each team had two participants. The participating schools included SD Model School, Lala Jagat Narain DAV Model School, Apeejay School, Police DAV Public School, CT Public School, Shiv Jyoti Public School, St Thomas School, MGN Public School, Lawrence International School, Seth Hukum Chand SD Public School, all from Jalandhar, Dhilwan International Public School, Army Public School of Beas, DAV Public School of Bilga and MGN School of Kapurthala. Ms Sapna Bakshi, Principal of the host school, gave the participants a warm welcome. The quiz contest included questions from science, mathematics, geography, sports, literature, music and current affairs. The contest started with a preliminary round in which the teams had to take a written test. The students were given 15 multiple-choice questions. On the basis of the test, three teams were selected. These teams participated in the final rounds. The first round was on sports and films. The second round was a visual and tactile round - each team had to identify a picture and also feel and identify things inside a bag. The third round pertained to science and social studies. The fourth round was an audio round. The fifth round tested the participants' knowledge about flora and fauna. The last round was the puzzle round. Each team was given a puzzle and they had to solve it within two minutes. The first prize went to the team of Akshay Sehgal and Gaurav Khullar from Army Public School, Jalandhar. The team of Jasleen Chhabra and Manjinder Singh from MGN Public School, Jalandhar, bagged the second prize, while the team of Rohan Sardana and Mohit Thukral from Apeejay School, Jalandhar, clinched the third prize. Later, Ms Seema Handa, Director of the host school, gave prizes to the winners. The participants got certificates and trophies. The winners received merit certificates, prizes and a trophy.
School tie-up Ambika Modern School has joined hands with the "Shri Ram Group" of Delhi. A press conference in this regard was held at a hotel on Monday. Giving details about the tie-up, Mr V.K. Mehta, Director and Principal of the school, said that the tie-up would help the school in getting guidance and expertise in restructuring curriculum. He said that the changes would ensure that students got an opportunity to experience a creative way of learning. Mr Mehta said that the association would provide customised training programmes in academics for teachers, students, parents and non-academic staff based on their specific needs. He said that resource persons from Delhi would conduct training pertaining to various subjects. He said that the teachers would be exposed to varied teaching techniques and new methods of designing the curriculum.
Dance training A dance training programme was held at Eklavya School on Wednesday. Students of LKG, UKG and class I were trained in Rajasthani dance by their teacher, Ms Shilpa. The kids danced to the tunes of 'Dholi taro dhol baje'. Ms Sapna Bakshi, Principal, and Ms Seema Handa, Director, were also present on the occasion.
School renovated After months-long renovation and modernisation, Vajra Goldenline Montessori School re-opened on Saturday. Lt Gen P.K. Singh, General Officer Commanding, and Ms Dia Gupta, officiating president of the Army Wives' Welfare Association (AWWA), were the chief guests. Brig A.M. Sharma, Sub-Area Commander and patron of the school, also participated in the ceremony. Ms K.Bal, Principal of the school, said that students would be imparted theme-based education.
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Famous Jalandhari Varinder Singh Tribune News Service
Hardly anyone would have thought that a frail boy, who had run away from his home in Jammu and landed in the city to do petty jobs, would one day bring laurels to the country. This boy turned out to be the century's most celebrated singer, whose song 'Jab Dil Hi Toot
Gaya' continues to have its fan following even today, almost five decades later.
Kundan Lal
Saigal, as the lanky boy came to be known after 1931 when he signed his first film, also rendered and recorded a Punjabi song,
'Mahi Naal Je Akh Lardi Kade Na, Main Rah Jaande Dukhan Nu Phardi Kade Na'. The
K.L. Saigal Memorial Trust here has been trying to keep alive the memory of the legendary singer by organising musical events regularly. A beautiful statue of
K.L. Saigal here greets music lovers. Singers such as Runa Laila from Bangladesh and ghazal king Mehndi Hassan from Pakistan have already been to the place to pay their tributes to the great singer, whose songs are still popular in the south-east Asian region. Information gathered from various sources revealed that
Saigal, who was born in Jammu in 1904 had run away from home to spend his childhood years at Jalandhar, where he incidentally also breathed his last on the fateful day of January 18, 1947. After doing petty jobs of a salesman and a railway timekeeper till 1931, Saigal shifted to Kolkata. There he worked as a Sales Manager with the New Theatres. He was paid a meagre salary of Rs 150 per month. Later, luck smiled on him and he signed his first film. In that era of singer-actors, Saigal twinkled on the firmament of filmdom. He gave stunning performance in
'Dushman', 'President', 'Zindagi' and 'Street Singer'. A large number of his film and non-film songs, including 'Jab Dil Hi Toot
Gaya', 'Panchi Kahe', 'Jhulna Jhulaao Ri', 'So Jaa Rajkumari', 'Balam
Aaye', 'Babul Mora' , 'Ik Bangla Bane Nayara', not only exhibited his genius as a singer, but also turned out to be grand hits. Saigal became a legend when he was cast for
'Chandidas'. He later bagged the title role in P.C. Barua's all-time hit
'Devdas'. He was so versatile that he sang in Urdu, Hindi and Bengali. Interestingly, though Saigal rendered classical music with perfection, he was not trained by any
'Ustaad' and he used to admit this fact openly. He was so popular in Bengal that Bengalis even refused to accept that he had a Punjabi background. This great
Jalandhari, who was a symbol of humility, has left behind a rich legacy of immortal songs and a sea of fame for
Jalandharis.
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Dancing her way to success
Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service
She started learning dance when she was barely six years old. It was this childhood interest that made Ms Ravija Chawla take up post graduation in the subject of dance. Her dream to excel in dancing came true when she stood first in the Indian Classical Dance, MA II Examination, 2004, conducted by the Guru Nanak Dev University.
This topper from the Apeejay College of Fine Arts, New Jawahar Nagar, gives the credit for her achievement to her mother. "It was my mom who put me on this track. As a child I was very lazy and my mother forced me to learn dance, so that I became active and smart. Ms Parveen Sharma, a member of the Prachin Kala Kendra here, was my first dance teacher. She used to come home to train me in Kathak," she recalls. This initial dance training continued for five years. She even took the theory examination conducted annually by the kala Kendra. As a student, she participated in dance events held at school and college and brought back trophies each time. In Plus One she joined the Kanya Maha Vidyalaya, where she participated in the zonal youth festival of the university and won the third prize in the solo-classical dance category. Later, she joined the Apeejay College of Fine Arts. There also she participated in the zonal and the inter-zonal solo dance contests and won the first prize in both events in her final year. Thereafter, she joined the post graduation course. In July last year, she, along with a 14-member college team, represented India at an international dance contest "Heritage dancers" organised in England. The team performed the gidha and the sammi dances and brought home a bronze trophy. In February this year, she participated in a national level inter-university dance contest held in Gwalior and bagged the third prize. This young achiever owes much to her guru, Ms Santosh Vyas, one of the renowned Kathak trainers and lecturer in the Apeejay College. Now that her post graduation is complete, she has started working as an ad-hoc lecturer at the Kamla Nehru College, Phagwara. Her dream is to pursue doctorate in the subject of dance.
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Highest concentration of hospitals in Asia
Boasting the presence of about 400 full-fledged hospitals and nursing homes, Jalandhar has attained the status of the 'Medical Capital' of the northern region. It is the city with the highest concentration of hospitals in Asia.
There are about 100 superspeciality hospitals, offering top-of-the-line treatment facilities to patients afflicted with diseases of heart, kidney and skin, and infertility disorders. These hospitals also deal with nephrology, pediatrics, orthopedics, dentistry and neurology cases. About 2000 doctors, who are specialists in one or the other field of medicine and surgery, work in these hospitals. According to an estimate, the city has about 400 hospitals, including three heart care centres, 15 pediatric centres and hospitals, four plastic surgery centres, four gynecology hospitals, four hospitals dealing with brain disorders, 21 general medicine hospitals, 48 multi-specialty units, five skin care centres, seven ENT hospitals and four infertility centres. Apart from two hospitals being run by missionaries, there are nine major charitable hospitals, including the SGL Hospital, Guru Nanak Mission Hospital, Devi Talaab Charitable Hospital, and Tyagmurti Hospital, run by various trusts and social organisations. The availability of the state-of-the-art medical facilities at fairly reasonable price here has been attracting patients from almost all parts of Punjab and neighbouring states of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Rajasthan. The city has also proved to be a big attraction for doctors. These doctors prefer not only to serve here but also to settle here permanently. The city's easy approachability vis-à-vis the northern region has also played a role in its acquiring the status of a "Medical Capital". Dr Anil Sud, a child specialist, informs that the first private hospital of Punjab was set up in Jalandhar in the pre-partition era. "The city is centrally located. Moreover, the treatment available here is of high quality," says Dr Charanjit Singh Pruthi, Managing Director of the BBC Heart Care Centre. The centre was inaugurated in 1996. Inquiries reveal that the almost non-existent government medical services during the past 10 years led to the mushrooming of hospitals here. "People have no alternative but to rush to private hospitals, as government medical services have virtually been paralysed. Observe the rush of patients at charitable hospitals and you will realise that the government-run system has collapsed. The medical services at the government hospitals are nowadays availed of only by government employees, most of whom want to get reimbursements," says Dr Jasbir Dosanjh, a skin specialist at Model Town. Dr Vijay Mahajan, Managing Director of Tagore Heart Care Centre, feels that the resourcefulness of people here is a factor in the development of the city as the medical centre. "People want to get the best treatment. They don't mind spending money on it. This is the main reason for the flourishing of the medical business here," says Dr Mahajan.
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It is a CAPART-developed village. A new project involving duck-weed for purifying sewerage water and using the treated water for fish-farming has been set up at the cost of Rs 13 lakh. There's more on the anvil. The project of underground sewerage, with an estimated cost of Rs 51 lakh, and an indoor stadium (estimated cost is Rs 20 lakh), have been proposed.