 |
|
|
|
|
||||
Mushrooming of institutes harming education: JNU Vice-Chancellor
Chandigarh, February 11 The VC, however, blamed the political stranglehold of the educational institutes, which, he said, was allowing the unhealthy privatisation in education at the cost of quality to flourish in the country. “Though the UGC is trying to maintain the quality of the institutes of higher education, but political interests are still very strong in India,” said Prof Chadha, who is also an alumnus of the Department of Economics at Panjab University and taught in the department from 1967 to 1976. “There should be an objective system for the evaluation of institutions,” he said. Reacting to the challenges in front of the Indian universities for facing the stiff competition from the foreign universities under globalisation, Prof Chadha said better universities in the country would have nothing to fear. “Only the universities which excel in the academics, like the JNU, will live up to the challenge,” he said. Our correspondent adds: The key note address of the two-day seminar was delivered by Dr Rajesh Kochhar, Director, National Institute of Science and Technology and Development Studies, Delhi, Mr Gurcharan Das, former managing director of Procter and Gamble. The seminar was chaired by the President of the Sikh Educational Society, Chandigarh, Mr S. Gurdev Singh, and Secretary, Bharpur Singh. In the first technical session, Dr K.K. Banwet, Professor, IIT, New Delhi, Dr A K Saihjpal, Dean, Faculty of Business Management and Commerce, PU, Chandigarh, Professor H.S. Mehta and Dr S.K. Chadha in University Business School shared their views. Dr S.S. Johl, Vice-Chairman, Punjab State Planning Board was the chief guest.
|
|
Rs 166 lakh Central aid for ITI
Mohali, February 11 Aimed to bridge the gap between the needs of the industries and the vocational training courses being imparted by the institute, participants discussed the courses. It was felt that the courses should be job specific so that the students get immediate placement or be self employed. Mr Bir Devinder Singh, stressed that high quality training should be provided by the ITI. He said job oriented courses like english speaking, listening and writing module should be introduced in the existing curriculum that would help students to get jobs in the multinational companies that were coming to Mohali. “Mohali is fast becoming the most sought after destination for investment by global companies and has tremendous job scope, hence we need to revamp the existing curricula to cope with the requirements of the industry, “said Mr Bir Devinder. He further said training institutes were also required to keep pace with the development taking place in the IT sector in Mohali. It was also decided that the following courses should be started in ITI for women, packaging course, quality inspector, designing of packaging material, software development and usage courses, call centre, desk top publishing, spoken english, taxation course, courses relating to IT Industry, bio-tech industry, textile industry, enterprenurship development, agro and food processing course, journalism, computer course for the blind, event management, real estate, home management, house keeping course for hospitals, corporate offices and industry. It was also suggested that short-term courses specifically catering to the industry be started at the ITI. Mr Narinderjit Singh, Director, Technical Education, sought help from the local industry to come forward in framing curricula of the new courses, provide guest lecturers and funds required for starting these courses. He also said regular interface with the industry shall continue with special efforts for career-counselling programme in senior secondary schools in this area. Among those who attended the interface included Dr Naresh Kumar, Vice President, Ranbaxy, Mr Vijay Bahri, Quark, Mr Dildar Khan, Jan Shiksha Sansthan, and president, Mohali Industries Association, Mr Gurmeet Singh.
|
|
Two-day mathematics colloquium inaugurated at PU
Chandigarh, February 11 Prof Bambah appreciated the efforts of the department in organising such types of programmes. He said Prof S.K. Malik was the person of high calibre in mathematics and his achievements were unparallel. Prof Manohar Singh, Professor Emeritus, Simon Fraser University, Canada, addressed the audience and recalled his long association with Prof S.K. Malik as a collaborator in research. More than 50 university teachers, college teachers and research students participated in the colloquium. The inaugural function was followed by academic sessions in which Professor R. Kulkarni, Director, H.R.I., Allahabad; Professor A.K. Agarwal from Panjab University, Chandigarh; Professor P.K. Jain from University of Delhi, Delhi, and Dr Kapil K. Sharma from Panjab University, Chandigarh, delivered talks. The colloquium will be continued tomorrow with lectures by Professor S. Bhargava, University of Mysore; Professor S. Bhave from University of Pune; Professor S. Ghorpade from IIT, Mumbai, and Professor Sudesh Kaur Khanduja of Panjab University, Chandigarh. There will be a paper presentation session in which four research students of the Mathematics Department, namely Ms Kalpana Dahiya, Ms Shivani Anand, Ms Gitika Narang and Ms Anuradha Sharma, will present papers on their research work. The colloquium was convened by Professor A.K. Agarwal with Professor Sudesh Kaur Khanduja as Chairperson.
|
|
|
Basant Panchami celebrated
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 11 Meanwhile, students of Rai School, Sector 48, celebrated Basant in the traditional manner. The students were informed about the significance of the day. The children of the pre-primary section of Ajit Karam Singh International Public School, Sector 41, celebrated the festival with a musical show “Spring Bonanza”. Lecturer awarded
Mr Arun Kumar, a lecturer at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, has been adjudged as the winner of essay-writing competition organised by the state-level coordinator, Chandigarh. Farewell party
A farewell party was organised for students of 1X and XIII on the campus of Maharishi Dayanand Public School, Daria. The students participated in cultural activities. Ganga Bahadur and Poonam were chosen Mr and Mrs Farewell. Principal Vinod Kumar told students to determine their aim and focus their mind with concentration to achieve the goal.
|
|
Students celebrate Basant
Tribune News Service
Mohali, February 11 DAV kids’ message on kite
To make their Basant celebrations meaningful, students of D A V Public School, Mohali made huge kites carrying a welcome message for the Indo-Pak cricket teams slated to play their first match here. The junior wing of the school wore a colourful look. Yellow ruled as the kids and teachers of the school had donned yellow attire. Students also painted the flags of both the countries on the especially prepared kites to mark the occasion. Ms Madhu Bahl, principal of Kailash Bahl D A V Public School, Chandigarh flew the first kite to kick off the celebrations. Jaya Bhardwaj, principal of the school, addressed the
students. Later, Ms Bahl held a counselling session with the students of Class X who would be appearing in the C B S E examinations from March 2 onwards.
|
|
School
delegation to visit South Korea
Mohali, February 11 According to a press note issued by Mr B.S. Shergill, school secretary, the delegation would be attending the graduation day ceremony of Jeong Myung School on February 15 and 16, 2005. The delegation would also call on the Mayor of Mokpo and the Chairman of Jeollanamda Education Board. A 20-member delegation of Mokpo Jeong Myung Girls School had visited Paragon Senior Secondary School and various other places in Punjab in January, 2005.
|
|
|
Ludhiana homoeo college wins trophy
Chandigarh, February 11 The trophy was won by Guru Nanak Dev Homoeopathic Medical College, Ludhiana. Prof Ashok Kumar Garg, Prof S. Mehta and Ms Satya Puri judged the debate, in which participants from six colleges participated, said a press release. The first individual prize went to Alka Jain
(Ludhiana) and second to Kamalpreet Kaur (Chandigarh). The third prize was bagged by Navneet Kaur (Chandigarh). The consolation prize went to Bhavna Sapra (Chandigarh). Prof V.C. Nanda, coordinator of the Azadi Bachao Andolan, presided over the function. Mr R.P. Joshi, of the Homoeopathic Medical College Association, Chandigarh, honoured Professor Nanda, according to Dr K.K. Dhiman, Principal.
|
|
Protest by nursing students
Mohali, February 11 The protesters said that 60 students were admitted to the institute last year. As the institution had been sanctioned only 50 seats, 10 students were now not being considered to be on the rolls of the college. They said that the institution had taken Rs 60,000 from each student as fees but were not being provided adequate facilities. They demanded that they should be shifted to other colleges.
|
Nigerian awarded 10-yr RI
Panchkula, February 11 Michael was arrested in February, 2003 for drug trafficking after a seizure of 900 gm of heroin from him. While holding the accused guilty, Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr J.R. Chauhan, said in case of default in payment, the accused would have to face imprisonment for
another year. The accused was arrested by the Sector 19 police on February 9, 2003, near the Zirakpur police check point while the police was checking for traffic violations. The accused was riding on a TVS Scooty (CH-01L-8466) towards Sector 12-A, from Zirakpur, when the police party pulled him over. On being asked to furnish the documents of the vehicle, Michael tried to be evasive. The police asked him to open the glove box of the vehicle and found a packet of the contraband and Rs 33,000 stashed in it. The accused, however, tried to flee but was overpowered after a chase. During the process of arrest, a scuffle broke out between him and Sub-Inspector Jaipal, ASI Shiromani Chauhan and driver Vijay Kumar. A separate case was registered against him in this regard. After the arrest, the accused claimed that his name was Sunday Michael John and that he was a resident of West Indies. After investigation and with the recovery of his passport, his name turned out to be Moaknya Michael, a resident of Agbor, Nigeria. He was then staying in a rented accommodation in
Sector 12-A. The defence pleaded that the police had actually arrested a different individual named Sunday Michael, but after he ran away it implicated his client. However, the public prosecutor, Mr N.K. Goyal, argued that the accused had tried to conceal his identity and mislead the police. He said the photographs of the accused had also appeared in various newspapers, along with the drug haul, valued at Rs 90 lakh in the international market.
|
|
PCA case: 6 Sainiks remanded in custody
Mohali, February 11 The six were arrested yesterday for entering the stadium with an aim to dig up the pitch and sabotage the organisation of the Indo-Pakistan Test match scheduled to be held in the first week of March. The DIG, Ludhiana range, Mr Parag Jain, and the SSP Ropar, Mr S.P. Singh said the six belonged to Haryana and five of them were the office bearers of the various Shiv Sena units in the state. Mr S.P. Singh said the plan to attack the stadium was hatched at the house of the North India Shiv Sena president Jai Bhagwan Goyal’s house in Delhi who had also been booked for criminal conspiracy. “We would be asking for his arrest warrants from the Kharar court tomorrow, said Mr Jain. Showing the identity cards that the six were carrying, the SSP Ropar added that all miscreants had been nabbed and there were no accomplices. However later in the day, pleading for a 10 day police remand for the accused, the prosecution informed the CJM, Kharar court that over 12 youths had entered the stadium and while six were arrested, the rest had managed to flee. The six named in the FIR included Suresh Kumar, a resident of Jind who was the district president of Hindu Suraksha Mandi (Bal Thackaray), Shiv Kumar, resident of Hissar and district president Shiv sena (BT), Aman Khatkar, resident of Narwana who is district sangathan mantri, Hindu Shiv Sena, Jind (BT), Pradeep Rana, resident of Kaithal who is district president Shiv Sena (BT), Sandeep Sharma, resident of Narwana who is a worker of Shiv Sena (BT) and Rakesh Rana, a resident of Jind who is vice president, Shiv Sena (BT). Mr Parag Jain pointed out that the aim of the attack was also to gather publicity. “We have been told that the six had informed a newspaper agency and some TV channels before they actually attacked the stadium.”
|
SPIC MACAY goes global
Chandigarh, February 11 Having signed a three-year contract for cultural exchange with the Norwegian government recently, the society has already brought the famous Norwegian “String Quartet” to India, beginning yesterday. In return, Kamal Sabri, a classical instrumentalist from India, has been touring various Norwegian cities. SPIC MACAY has also worked out collaborations in Japan and China to ensure a consistent flow of art forms from the respective countries. In Chandigarh today to inspire schoolteachers to incorporate Indian classical music in their curricula, Prof Kiran Seth, founder of the movement, told Chandigarh Tribune that SPIC MACAY had associated with Dr Fusao Okomoto, legendary Noh theatre practitioner from Japan and Kejun — the celebrated Chinese Qunqu opera performer. Kabuki also forms a part of its exchange programme committed to the revival of classical forms. Through primarily devoted to the resurrection of dying art forms and propagation of existing ones, SPIC MACAY has redefined its role significantly. Closer home, the institution has smartened its profile by proposing to set up a full-fledged FM radio station devoted to Indian classical music. Prof Seth confirmed that the proposal was being worked out with the Government of India. Besides, the society has established a digital heritage lab to take Indian and world heritage to every part of the country. The first software developed in this lab provides exclusive details about musical instruments, and is meant for use by six to nine year olds. “We are now developing softwares on yoga and the film classics of India,” said Prof Seth, who has also added another significant activity to the SPIC MACAY roaster this year. Under this new activity, the society will hold special workshops for students of Classes I to IV across the country. “These workshops will vary in span from two weeks to two years, depending on the response of the schools. The idea is to get the best performers from the realm of Indian classical and folk arts to teach children everything from light classical to ‘chotta khayal’, even ‘thumri’. We are ready to address our target group now. The experiment has succeeded in Delhi. We are launching it all over the country from April this year,” Prof Seth said. Exclusively for Chandigarh, SPIC MACAY has planned a Virasat series for schools this April. A similar function for college and university level will be repeated in July. The series will feature presentations in every conceivable realm of heritage from folk art and crafts to walks with historians and film shows by legends of Indian cinema. While SPIC MACAY strengthens its roots, it is also hopeful of a recurring grant from UT Administration. Prof Seth today held a meeting with Adviser to UT Administration Lalit Sharma who has promised all financial help for the regeneration of Indian culture. |
Theatre as a sounding board for life
Normally one takes from the space of performance what one brings to it. But sometimes the equation of give and take stands pleasantly skewed to offer more pleasure than one can actually take.
Diyva Arora, the force behind Neil Simon’s ‘Barefoot in the Park’ did just about that this Friday evening — used theatre to weave a tale of triumph against the odds and blessed the audience with bliss unlimited. Some portions of joy were, however, lost out to rats that played out their own acts of nuisance on the floor of Tagore Theatre, Chandigarh. The government interest in the upkeep of the venue was conspicuous by its absence. For her part, Divya kept making up for every loss. And as she surprised the audience with the power of her conviction, the play became a secondary occurrence in the scheme of things that boiled down to life itself. True to her word, the exceptionally gifted director-actress made her disability look unreal, and performed her acts of love and despair to utter perfection. Often the audience wondered what was real — her infirmity or her strength. But for Divya who gave theatre its true meaning this evening, everything that transpires with the consent of the conscience is real. The rest is a farce — just as the hopelessness surrounding a physical disability is. “Despair is a state of mind just as happiness is. You refuse to recognise it, it vanishes into thin air,” declares the victor who plays the lead opposite Daman, the Ram of Aamir Raza Hussain’s production “The Legend of Ram”. As for the production, it is a story of a conservative lawyer Paul and his off-the-wall bride Coris. The play evolves through a maze of problems that arise from the incoherence between man and his wife’s character. On top of their problems, the couple must deal with Mrs Banks, Corie’s mother who, her daughter thinks, desperately needs a companion. Mr Victor Velasco thus walks in. And both Mrs Banks and Mr Velasco brought under the light of the Cupid are found missing for two days. Love slowly makes space in every heart and dissonance disappears in the light of passion. Coris, the flaky, free spirited wife of Paul, realises the worth of matrimony and is willing to give in…and let her man be. She no longer creates a fuss if Paul refuses to walk barefoot in the snow-covered park with her. The play was well chosen, being one of the finest contemporary comedies ever written in the world. Scripted by Neil Simon, “Barefoot in the Park” debuted in the Biltmore Theatre in New York way back in 1963 and ran 1530 shows till 1967. Till today, it is hailed as a bubbling, rib tickling comedy, refusing to let the audiences stop getting into constant splits of laughter. But this evening, the play served a purpose larger than entertainment. It became a sounding board for a woman who dares to scripts a “rosy” success in the face of thorns.
|
|
From model to ‘item girl’
There was a time when models were dismissed as being dark or short. Not caring two hoots about such remarks, this dark beauty knew she had the potential to win over people with her looks.
Malaika Arora Khan not only did that with perfection but also proved she was unique. Her perfect figure and smart looks set an example for many beauties to follow. In Chandigarh on Friday to a launch a product of a slimming centre, Malaika enjoyed every bit the change from the busy and hectic life of Mumbai. She relished the sunless weather in City Beautiful. Malaika who has been a model, VJ, actor and “item girl” enjoys doing whatever she is assigned. “I guess the tag of ‘item girl’ will accompany me even when I am in my grave,” she laughingly said. She has been a cynosure of all eyes but has remained aloof from controversies. “Yes in that way I am a bit boring. I have not been linked to any scandal. I am here to do my job and I want to do it well,” the dusky beauty averred. Malaika who has given tips to audiences on her show “Style Check” on MTV doesn’t have any fashion guru and believes in making her own statement. Wanting to become a full-fledged actor, her marriage to actor Arbaaz Khan took away that opportunity. She said: “It is very difficult to have two actors in one family.” On whether she felt the pressure of looking glamorous all the time, being a model, she quipped: “My job demands me to look beautiful all the time. But of course I don’t wear makeup for 24 hours. I should feel comfortable with myself,” she stated. For the time being, she is busy doing a show on the TV and will be seen in guest appearance in a forthcoming movie, “Kaal”.
|
|
Musical ‘baithak’ at kala kendra
The 96th ‘baithak’ of classical music and dance recitals at Pracheen Kala Kendra today was altogether a ‘teacher and the taught’ affair but never the less captivating and thrilling for both who performed to the best of their ability and those who watched.
A well-known flautist, disciple of Pandit Hari-prasad Chaurasia, Shyam Parkash Mehta, commenced the soiree with rendition of popular raga ‘Bhopali’ with a short ‘alaap’ before moving on to a slow-paced composition set to ‘ek taal’. Mehta concluded with a ‘dhun’ in raga ‘Mishar Shivranjani’ which was well received. Besides Mehmood Khan on tabla, Babusha Shukla and Yogayta Mehta provided drone on the tanpura. The kendra presented ‘kathak’ dance under the direction of danseuse Samira Koser. The group, including young virtuosos Swati, Shruti, Chamki, Nimisha and Shashi, demonstrated the intricate dance patterns of ‘nritta’ of Jaipur Kathak before presenting the ‘abhinya’ part with an emotional choreographic piece depicting the dialogue between Krishna-Radha. Narinder Singh accompanied on tabla. In the end Haryanvi and Rajasthani folk dances were presented by Prachi, Jas-mine , Kangan, Apoorva, Mannath, Saumya, Miathali, Vidushi, Shiv, Kanupriya and Abhilasha.
OC
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
