EDUCATION

Teachers burn effigy of Education Minister
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 30
Teachers of the Un-employed Teacher Union, Punjab, assembled in local Chattar Singh Park to protest against the treatment given to unemployed teachers in Patiala on January 29 and burnt the effigy of the Education Minister, Mr Harnam Dass Johar, in front of his house in Model Town here today.

Later, district president of the union Pawan Kumar Pamma said the teachers were beaten by the police and some were held when they went to present a memorandum to the Chief Minister. The union was highly critical of this unruly behaviour of the police and is protest against the high-handedness of the police, it had summoned meeting.

A large number of leaders of the union like Paramjit Singh Mann, general secretary, Inderjit Singh Sidhu, senior vice-president, Avtar Singh Tari, Kawanar Jit Singh Plai, Bhupinder Kaur, Mandeep Kaur, Pulwinder Kawadi, Onkar Singh and others joined the protest.

General secretary of the Govt School Teachers Union Charanjit Singh Sarabha has strongly condemned the lathi-charge on teachers marching peacefully towards Moti Bagh, Patiala yesterday. He said the teachers were going to submit their demands to the Chief Minister.

Moreover, Mr Sarabha said ETT teachers’ demand of regular recruitment was not unjust as there are 30,000 vacancies. The government’s decision to recruit teachers on a contract basis was highly unjust. In this tussle, it was the schoolchildren that suffered. He further said the Bhattal Committee’s recommendations had not been fulfilled, too.

Punjab ETT teachers were also upset at the arrest of 19 teachers under Section 307, IPC. These teachers were arrested while they were marching to Motibagh to present a memorandum to the Chief Minister. They plan to launch a massive protest from February 1.

Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, Press secretary of the Unemployed Elementary Teache Union, Jhirmal Singh said that those 19 teachers arrested in Patiala yesterday had been sent to judicial remand today. Those 19 teachers would on a hunger strike in Patiala Central Jail from tomorrow. The rest of teachers would give a one-day notice to the government for their release or else they would take drastic steps.

Guru Nanak Girls College holds annual function
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 30
The annual prize distribution function of Guru Nanak Girls College, Model Town, was organised yesterday. Mr Jasjit Singh Randhawa, Minister for Co-operation, Punjab, was the chief guest. He was received and escorted by NCC cadets.

The Principal, Dr Charanjit Mahal, highlighted the achievements of the college in academics, sports and cultural activities in the annual report.

Mr Gurbir Singh, president of the Guru Nanak Education Trust, congratulated the students for their achievements.

The chief guest distributed prizes to the students who excelled in academics and co-curricular activities.

Twenty two students were awarded the roll of honour: Aarti Sharma of MA-I, Kulbir Kaur of MA-I, Maninder Kaur of B. Com-III, Parminder Kaur of BA-III, Arvinder Kaur of BA-III, Gurpreet Kaur of BA-II, Rajpreet Kaur of BA-II, Shivani Talwar of MA-I, Shikha Arora of PGDCA, Sarabjit Kaur of PGDCA, Paramjeet Kaur, Harpreet Kaur, Mandeep Kaur of PGDPMLW, Ameet Rana of B.Sc-III, Mandeep Kaur of B.Com-II, Sapna of B.Sc-III, Dilraj Kaur of B.Sc-III, Dupinder Kaur of BA-II and Manmeet Kaur of BA-III.

Twenty three college colours were also presented to the students for commendable performance in various sports, cultural events and social welfare activities. Four hundred students were awarded prizes for the academic excellence.

Student council members and best NCC cadets were also honoured.

From Schools
160 teachers take part in maths seminar
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 30
A mathematic seminar was organised in KVM School here yesterday. The chief guest Mr P.S. Kalra ,Principal Darshan Academy-Meerut, was given a floral welcome by the Principal Mr S C Saxena.

About 160 teachers of more than 75 schools participated in the seminar and visited the two newly setup mathematics labs. Mr Saxena emphasised the need for maths manual and labs for making mathematics more appreciable and loved by students.

All six teachers of the school, Mrs Vandana Dhuria, Mrs Banita Garg, Mrs Abhay Dixit, Mrs Saru Sharma, Mrs Amita Aggarwal and Mrs Kusum Sood, gave presentation on different topics of maths. Mr P.S. Kalra threw light on the subject encouraging teachers to make the subject more interesting. Colourful models, supported by multimedia presentation made the workshop lively.

The different presentations ranged from identities, exponents, surface areas and volumes of solids, Pythagoras theorem, fractional numbers to triangles and calendars. Some students from the middle section sat through the seminar and enjoyed answering questions and making small calculation through presentation by Mrs Kusum Sood and Mrs Saru Sharma and also Mr Kalra.

The CBSE has prescribed lab manual in mathematics as compulsory subject for new academic session 2005-2006 for Class III- VIII and also provided 10 marks for particular in this subject according to the CBSE guidelines.

Story-telling competition: Young children enjoy listening and narrating stories. To encourage tiny tots to go on the stage and to help in language development, a Hindi and English story-telling competition was held in the KG section of KVM, Civil Lines, Ludhiana yesterday. There were two groups in the competition. The first group comprised LKG students. They narrated various stories beautifully and confidently. Stories on Union is strength, Fox and crow, Sri Ram, Sri Krishna and Sudama, etc were narrated. Principal S.C. Saxena and other guests appreciated the children’s work and gave away prizes to winners and participants.

‘Life Hi to Hai’ to be staged today

Ludhiana, January 30
‘Life Hi To Hai,’ a play written by Krishan Chander and Arun Singh, will be staged at Guru Nanak Dev Bhavan tomorrow. The play will be a part of the second International Children’s Festival of Performing Arts to be held from January 31 to February 2.

Creative director of the play, Utkarsh Marwah, said the fest would also have dances and skits to be presented by various city schools. Seven schools are participating in the skit competition to be held during these days. — OC

HEALTH

Balance your diet, keep body healthy
Anil Datt

Ludhiana, January 30
Former national cycling champion Tejinder Singh, who has given tips to budding cyclists on how to avoid damage to the body, has now come up with information about the “nature and nurture, growth and development of the children and a balanced diet”.

Tejinder Singh, who represented the state in national cycling championships and had earned name by winning a gold and a bronze medal in team pursuit and road race events at Ludhiana a few years ago, says one should know about the stages of one’s physical and mental development.

Tejinder, who is currently working in a local college as physical education instructor, opines that one can match behavioural patterns with age periods like point of interest in the opposite sex, preoccupation with dress and grooming, sitting upright without support, ability to wash, dress and use toilet with minimum assistance etc.

A balanced diet contains proper amount of nutrients, which help provide energy for various activities of the body, help the body grow and replace worn out tissues, help control the body functions and protect the body from diseases.

“Diet differs from age to age. Young ones need different types of food both in quality as well as quantity as compared to the older people who need diet in less quantity and with lesser fats. It also depends upon the type of activity that we are involved in and its duration,” he says.

An athlete having vigorous training regimen needs more calories as compared to an office clerk. A sedentary person requires light food, whereas a worker who does eight to 10 hours of work needs high-calorie diet, he adds.

Eating habits, social customs and climatic factors determine a lot in one’s proper growth. Some individuals are habitual fast food eaters, while others aren’t.

Similarly, social customs play an important role in food preparations. A section of society prefers non-vegetarian food, whereas the other doesn’t.

Likewise, food is varied in different climates. People living in different climatic zones have different diets and foods.

Psychological factors like how the food is cooked or how it tastes also affect the diet.

Carefully planned nutrition provide balance between energy and nutrients. Chief nutrients are carbohydrates, which are the main source of energy, besides proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and water.

Medical camps mark martyrs’ day
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 30
To mark the death anniversary of the Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi, a free surgical camp began at a local hospital here today. The surgical camp would continue till February 20. As many as 20 patients would be operated upon, free of cost while another 150 patients could avail of surgical procedures at a heavily subsidised cost.

Inaugurating the camp, Dewan Jagdish Chander, former MLA and general secretary, Freedom Fighters Organisation of India, paid rich tributes to Mahatma Gandhi. He stressed the need to make the medical and surgical treatment affordable so that majority of the sick people, with meagre resources, could have access to the modern medical care.

Dr Narottam Dewan, chief surgeon at the hospital, observed that a lot of economically weaker patients were forced to delay surgical treatment for a long time and thus landed with life -threatening complications. Emphasising the need for free or low-cost quality treatment to the weaker sections of society, he remarked that the cost of medicines, medical equipment, nursing and paramedical services was rising and at the same time, health insurance being in its infancy, was beyond the reach of the masses.

According to Ms Neeta Dewan, director of the hospital, free and concessional surgical procedures to be made available to the patients at the camp would include laparoscopic surgery for gall stones, lithotripsy, PSNL, URS for kidney stones, hysterectomy for uterine tumours, hernia repair with mesh, piles and cancer surgeries.

Shri Gopal Nirdhan Sewa Samiti organised a free medical camp at Janakpuri here today in which more than 500 patients were given a medical check up and free medicines. Mr Surinder Dawar, Parliamentary Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, who inaugurated the camp, exhorted voluntary organisations to come forward to alleviate the suffering of ailing humanity. He said tending to the sick persons, particularly those who could not afford expensive treatment, was noblest of all deeds.

Mr Dawar announced a grant of Rs 50,000 for the samiti so that they could serve more and more patients through regular medical camps. Mr Khushwant Rai, president of the samiti, announced that medicines, free of cost, would be regularly distributed to around 500 persons every week and poor patients would continue to receive medical care till they were fully cured.

More than 1000 patients were examined at a medical camp organised by USPC Jain Charitable Hospital at Guru Teg Bahadur gurdwara on Tibba Road. Prominent social worker Pavittar Singh inaugurated the camp.

A team of doctors, including specialists in gynaecology, medicine, surgery, dental and eye diseases examined the patients, who were also provided the facility of free laboratory tests and other diagnostic procedures like ECG. The hospital offered to conduct free eye operations of the needy patients, who registered themselves at the camp.

Mr Ramesh Jain, president, Mr Satish Jain, secretary and Mr Bharat Bhushan, cashier of the hospital managing committee, among others, were present on this occasion.

NGO to hold free dental camps
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 30
The Aagaz Charitable Foundation, an NGO working for the cause of the downtrodden and weaker sections of society, will organise a series of free dental camps here. The first one in the series will be for women lodged in Central Jail on the Tajpur road here on February 1. This will be followed by another camp at Juvenile Cell in Simlapuri on February 2.

According to Ms Preeti Kansal, general secretary of the foundation, Mr Malkiat Singh Birmi, Parliamentary Secretary, will inaugurate the camp at the Women Jail, where around 3,000 inmates will be screened for dental ailments, followed by treatment.

The camp at Juvenile Cell will be inaugurated by Ms Shweta Verma, chairperson, Indian Red Cross Society, and is expected to benefit more than 200 children.

The NGO has further proposed to hold a camp at Government Girls Secondary School here on February 3 in which 1,700 schoolchildren will be examined and advised on follow-up treatment.

Mr Sumer Singh Gurjer, Additional Deputy Commissioner (D), will inaugurate the camp and later interact with students.

The foundation has been providing free counselling service to jail inmates for the past one year and during this period it has observed that jail inmates need to maintain good personal hygiene.

“The aim is not only to provide them with required dental care and treatment but also make them aware with the help of lectures by experts,” says Ms Kansal.

The NGO has approached the Christian Dental College and Hospital, the Indian Red Cross Society and the Department of Jails, to lend their cooperation in this endeavour.

“We have received good response and these institutions have promised to provided full cooperation in this regard.”

Unidentified patient at CMCH
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 30
An unidentified male patient, about 30 years of age, was admitted to Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) here at midnight on February 21 in an unconscious state. The patient was presumed to have met with an accident near Raikot.

According to hospital authorities, the patient was at present under treatment in critical care unit of neurosurgery under Dr Dewan.

Any body who can identify the patient or wants to extend help to the patient could contact the Medical Superintendent of the CMCH.

SPORTS

Shubreet, Harkamal fastest runners
Our Correspondent

Mandi Gobindgarh, January 30
Mr Suresh Goyal, President Gobindgarh Educational and Social Welfare Trust (GEST), inspected a guard of honour and took the salute at an impressive march past and declared open the 13th Annual Athletic meet at the Gobindgarh Public School ground here today. Guests, parents and students were present on the occasion.

Athletes of the four houses, Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and Tagore, vied for honours on the tracks.

The police chief, Mr Varinder Kumar, was the Chief Guest of the closing function. He appreciated the events and gave away prizes to winners.

The Tagore House was adjudged the Champion House with 170 points. Gandhi House came second with 154 points. Nehru House was third with 125 points. Harkamal Singh of the Tagore House and Manpreet of the Nehru House were the best boy athletes and Shubreet Randhawa of the Nehru House was the best girl athlete among seniors. Gursharan Kaur and Kamalpreet Kaur of the Gandhi House and Gurpreet Singh the best girl and boy athletes from the juniors.

Members of the trust and the school contributed Rs 51,000 towards the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for the Tsunami victims.

The following athletes won first and second positions in their events.

Long Jump (Junior boys) — Sunil Yadav first and Harpinder Singh second; Long Jump (Junior girls) — Juhi first and Palak Bharti second; Long Jump (Middles boys) — Gurpreet Singh first and Manvir Samuel second; Long Jump (Middles girls) — Gurpriya first and Ritika Second; Long Jump (Senior girls) — Subhreet first and Harbir Kaur second; Race 400 metre (Senior boys) — Manpreet first and Rahmeet second; Race 800 metre (Senior girls) — Nisha first and Simran second; Race 1500 metre (Senior boys) – Manvir first and Manpinder second; Race 4x100 metre (Junior girls) — Manvir first and Manpinder second; Race 4x100 metre (Junior boys) — Harkanwal first and Manpinder second; Race 4x100 metre (Senior girls) — Ruchir first and Yaran second; Race 4x100 metre (Senior boys) — Rashmit first and Pulkit second; Race 100 metre (Senior girls) Shubreet first and Dilpreet second; Race 100 metre (Senior boys) Harkamal first and Ruchir second; Shotput (Senior girls) — Sukhmani first and Navneet second; Shotput (Senior boys) — Harish first and Mehak second; Javelin (Senior girls) – Sukhmani first and Mandeep second; Javelin (Senior boys) Gurpreet first and Harkamal second; Garland race (KG girls) — Sukhanjot first and Palak Sharma second; Harland Race (KG boys) — Sarwaswa Bhalla first and Karanvir Singh second.