Programme for farmers
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 11
Amaron Harvest, tractor battery division of Amara Raja Batteries (ARBL), has launched “Amaron Amaragaon programme” under which the company aims to create awareness among farmers.

The campaign, under which the company will adopt over 500 villages across the country, will provide information on crop via Internet, employment opportunities, facilitate railway ticket booking, apart from providing access to land records and creating e-mail awareness among farmers.

Addressing a press conference here yesterday, Mr Manish Sarupria, business manager of the company, said: “The programme has been successful in villages like Chacharadi. Through this programme farmers have been able to avail of better opportunities.”

The villages adopted by the company use IT to leverage information towards better business and enhance quality of life. Mr Sarupria said the company planned to spread the programme across small villages as a model concept in the use of Information Technology, thereby enhancing knowledge to improve life in rural India.

Farmers to get expert advice under programme
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 11
With an aim to combating the problem of decline in crop yield in Punjab a group of seven mills have adopted 10 villages in the cotton growing (Malwa) belt.

Under the ‘Village Adoption Programme’ the companies have tied up with Punjab Agriculture University to provide expert information to farmers.

“We are providing them expert information on crop cultivation. This includes selection of quality seeds, pesticides and other information related to enhancing the yield and the quality of crop,” informed Mr G.S. Dhiman, Director, Nahar Group of Companies.

Mr Dhiman stated that 17 field officers have been employed by the company to interact with farmers and help them.

“The programme has been successful with the farmers recording a higher crop yield,” he added.

The companies plan to expand the programme and adopt more villages.

College barred from holding exams for 3 years
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 11
The Baba Farid University of Health Sciences has debarred the staff of Lord Mahavira Homoeopathic Medical College, Ludhiana, from holding any university assignment for the next three years. There will be no examination centre in the college during this period and the students will have to take their exams at a specially set up centre at Shri Guru Nanak Dev Homoeopathic Medical College, Ludhiana.

The action has been taken by the university after the teachers of the college boycotted the examination duties during BHMS examinations in November-December, 2003, to press for their demands for the grant of pay scales as recommended by the Central Council of Homoeopathy. The teachers had decided to boycott the examination duties at the eleventh hour.

According to an order issued by the Registrar of the university around 5 pm on November 11, 2003, the Principal of Lord Mahavira Homoeopathic Medical College, Ludhiana, said the teachers of his college had decided to boycott examination duties. The examinations were to begin on November 12, 2003. The members took a strong notice of the conduct of the teachers and felt they had tried to sabotage the examination system and a severe action needed to be taken.

It was resolved that “teachers of the college be debarred from any university work for three years and no examination centre be created there for three years (i.e. till December, 2006), the practical and theory examinations of the students of the college (till 2006) be held in Sri Guru Nanak Dev Homoeopathic Medical College, Ludhiana, and the appreciation of the university be conveyed to the Principal, Sri Guru Nanank Dev Homoeopathic Medical College, Ludhiana, for its credible performance in the hour of need”.

The order also mentioned that “the demands of the teachers were considered by the Academic Council in its meeting dated may 28, 2003, (para 38). It was decided to constitute a standing welfare committee to look into the representation of teachers of various colleges. Accordingly, a committee, comprising Deans of all faculties and the Registrar as the convener, was constituted”.

‘Stop education privatisation’
Asha Ahuja

Ludhiana, September 11
“My single largest contribution during my tenure as Secretary of Higher Education was that I withheld the permission for setting up 56 new B.Ed colleges in the state as I was aware that the students graduating from existing college are not getting jobs,” said Dr Manmohan Singh, former Secretary, Higher Education. He was in the city to honour retired principals and teachers.

Dr Manmohan Singh said: “The cases of travel agents duping youth of their hard-earned money on the pretext of sending them attract a lot of public sympathy. But no one thinks of hundreds of students whose parents have to sell land or procure loans in order to pay fees for their study in professional colleges. Most of the new education institutions are being opened with an eye on profit”, he alleged. “This is due to shortsighted policy of the government as it has gone out to privatise higher education. Out of thousands of students gaining admission, only a few brilliant ones from good institutions will get good salary. Thousands of mediocre students will not get more than Rs 2000 to 3000. How will they payback loans and buy back the land sold? The higher education has become a commerce and that is all?”, he asked.

Dr Manmohan has served as the DPI and principals in several colleges.

From Schools & Colleges
‘Koshish’ to bring out students’ talent
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 11
Koshish-2004, the fifth annual eight-day inter-class literary-cum-cultural festival of the Punjab College of Technical Education, Baddowal, Ludhiana, started with fanfare today. The festival will continue till September 18.

The festival comprises 32 literary and cultural events. The main events will take place on September 17 and 18.

Around 90 per cent students of PCTE are participating in the festival and over 3,500 to 4,000 visitors are expected to visit the festival. On the first day of the festival today, events in photography, case presentation and software development took place, according to Dr K.N.S. Kang, Director PCTE.

“Such events encourage students to work as a team and bring desired result by applying their skills,” said Dr Kang.

Seminar: The Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology (GNIMT), Gujarkhan Campus, Model Town, organised a seminar on “Outsourcing business and placement” under the aegis of the ISTE students chapter. The seminar was conducted by V-Customer, a technical process outsourcing company. Around 80 final-year student of the GNIMT, Guru Nanak Khalsa College Women, Kamla Lohtia Sanatan Dharam College, Lala Lajpat Rai Engineering College, Moga, attended the seminar.

Mr Jagdeep Singh, training and placement officer, GNIMT, welcomed the executive recruitment team of the company, Mr Rohit Kaushik (team leader), Ms Richa Mishra and Ms Devika Rani. The team discussed various aspects of business process outsourcing. They highlighted the achievements of the company and held a pre-placement talk session with students.

Students were given exposure on facing interviews. A telephonic interview session was also held wherein a senior executive from the company conducted interviews of interested candidates.

Celebrations: The 400th Prakash Utsav of Sri Guru Granth Sahib was celebrated with religious fervor at Guru Nanak Auditorium of GGN Khalsa College today. The bhog ceremony of Sehaj Path was performed in which students and staff took part. The function started with an inter-college Shabad gayan competition in which around five teams from local colleges participated.

Giani Dharamvir Singh, head priest, Gurdwara Dukhniwaran Sahib, dwelled on the significance of the message enshrined in the holy Granth. He emphasised the secular character of the Granth.

The competition was won by Ramgarhia Girls College, while the second position was bagged by Master Tara Singh College and the third place by Guru Nanak Girls College.

IGNOU meeting: The induction meeting of Indira Gandhi National Open University, Delhi, will be held at IGNOU’s special study centre in Moti Nagar here tomorrow at 10 am. Dr Pardeep Sahni, Director, Student Registration and Evaluation Division (SR and H), IGNOU, will be the chief guest, while Mr Nahar Singh Gill, Mayor, MC, and Prof Harlal Singh, former Director, Punjab School Education Board, will be the guests of honour. Staff members and students would attend the meeting.

Talent hunt: The Malwa Central College of Education for Women, Ludhiana, organised a talent hunt programme for students of BEd and MEd from August 28 to September 11. The two-week extravaganza saw competitions in debate, folk song, group song, mono-acting, giddha, rangoli, etc. The aim of the programme was to shortlist students for the coming zonal youth festival of BEd colleges of Panjab University, Chandigarh, to be held at the DD Jain College of Education.

The last day of the four-day festival would be marked as “heritage day” to include items like “suhaag”, “ghori”, “sithnia”, “kawishri”, etc.

Traffic drive: NCC cadets of Master Tara Singh College for Women, Ludhiana, organised a traffic control campaign at Bharat Nagar Chowk yesterday from 10.00am to 1.00pm in collaboration with the traffic police.

The NCC in charge, Mrs Monica Sharda, and Second Lieutenant Mrs Inder Mohan Kaur selected 10 cadets, who were given a briefing by Mr Sham Sunder Juneja.

According to Mr Juneja, it was for the very first time in the city that such event was being organised by a college. Mr Gurdial Singh, SP, Traffic Control, stressed that such events would help in solving the traffic problem in Ludhiana.

The principal, Dr Madanjit Kaur Sahota, praised the cadets. Commanding officer Lieut-Col Avtar Singh also motivated the cadets.

Quiz competition: The Department of Computer Science, Guru Nanak Girls College, Model Town, organised an inter quiz contest here on Friday. The four teams — Athlon, Celeron, Pentium and Xeon — had four participants each in the team. There were five rounds in all. Athlon team was first with 45 points. The students of the winning team were Aditi Malhotra M.Sc-IT, Amisha Kapoor BCA-III, Kanwalpreet BCA-III and Saranpreet BCA-I.

The second and third positions were bagged by Celeron and Xeon teams, respectively. They secured 4 and 35 points each.

Bournvita quiz: Cadbury Bournvita Quiz Contest organised an Inter-School written preliminary at BCM Model Arya School here on Friday. Out of 18 participating teams, those of Pranav Sood and Fizza Jaffer from Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, BRS Nagar, were selected for the contest.

Kids celebrate Grandparents’ Day: Shemrock Kindergarten, Model Town Extension, Dugri Road, celebrated Grandparents’ Day here yesterday. The school was tastefully decorated and a cultural programme was organised to honour grandparents. Akanksha performed classical dance, while Deepali a western dance item. Nursery kids presented a small play. Amol presented bhangra. Grandparents also participated in various games.

The programme ended with a prayer. Students showered petals on their grandparents. The Principal of the school, Ms S. Harvi Singh, addressed the gathering.

Students visit stock exchange: The Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women, Gujarkhan Campus, Model Town, organised a one-day visit to the Ludhiana Stock Exchange for MCom students on Friday.

Mr Harjit Singh Siddhu, executive director of the exchange, gave a presentation about the working of the stock exchange. He presented an overview of the Indian securities market and explained its regulatory framework. He also spoke on recent developments in the securities market like the screen-based trading, paper-less trading, VSAT trading, derivatives and listing of ADRs and GDRs. He then went on to discuss the reforms to be introduced in various stock exchanges.

Mr Jagjit Singh Arneja, senior officer of the exchange, briefed the students about how to be good investors. He discussed the ‘book building’ process and the need to create awareness among prospective investors.

Mr Shammi Kohli, information and systems department officer, showed live trading of securities. Later, students’ queries were answered.

Quiz: The Language Department of the SDP College for Women organised an inter-class quiz on Saturday in the seminar hall of the college. Ms S. Verma, Principal of the college, presided over the function.

Twenty-five students participated in the contest. Student’s vocabulary and knowledge of literature, language, grammar and translation was tested in four rounds.

Team B of BA II stood first with 27 points. Team A of BA III secured the second place with 25 points and team D of Class XII was declared third in the contest. It got 23 points.

Ms S. Verma congratulated the winners and motivated other students to take part in such contests. She also gave away prizes to the winning teams.

Vanamahotsava celebrated 
Our Correspondent

Amloh, September 11
As many as 300 saplings were planted during vanamohatsav celebrations on Thursday at Government Senior Secondary School, Naraingarh, 4 km from here. Mr Sandeep Hans, SDM, Amloh, inaugurated the function by planting a sapling in the playground of the school. Students, staff and members of the parent-teacher association participated in the function.

Mr Hans, stressed the need to ensure proper growth and survival of plants. Mr Roshan Lal Sood, principal, spoke on the achievements of the school in the field of education, , sports and cultural activities.

Mr Balbir Singh, Mr Gurmel Singh, Mr Jassa Singh and Mr Sarjit Singh, sarpanches of Naraingarh, Haibatput, Bholia, and Baronga villages, and Mr Gurmeet Singh,president, PTA ,also spoke.

Jathedar Hardyal Singh, Mr Sher Singh, former sarpanch Bholia, Mr Chanan Singh, and Mr Sarjit Singh, former president, PTA ,were also present.

Salad contest results
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 11
Salad making competition was organised at BIS(N) Senior Secondary School, BRS Nagar, Ludhiana in which 106 students participated. As many as 94 girlstudents took part. Twelve boys actively participated in it. Their work was appreciated by one and all.

The school principal, Mrs Aneeta Kundra, presided over the function. Dr Mrs Malkeet Nagi, Mrs Sandhu and Ms Gurpreet Walia were the judges.

The school principal encouraged the students, especially boys, who showed courage in coming forward to show their skills in the field.

Following are the winners:

Team No. 37 — Hakirat Kaur and Ishwinder Kaur Ist; Team No. 31 — Jaspreet Kaur and Inderpal Kaur 2nd; Team No. 50 — Amandeep Singh and Sukhjeet Singh 3rd; Team No. 36 — Manpreet Mankoo and Taranpreet Kaur consolation; Team No. 51 — Jaskirat Singh and Jaskaran Singh consolation; Team No. 13 — Gurpreet Kaur and Pawanjot Kaur (appreciation); Team No. 44 — Dapinder Sandhu and Rajbir Kaur (appreciation).