Mohali, February 23
In an interesting finding, the review committee reporting on revitalizing technical education in Punjab has pointed that architecture engineering students in the state are among the first to obtain jobs followed by agriculture engineers. Computer engineers were absorbed later followed by electronic engineers.

Among diploma holders, those with a diploma in knitting technology were absorbed the fastest followed by diploma holders in textile technology, textile chemistry and leather technology.

Since many subjects are offered both as degrees and diplomas, a comparative analysis of the estimated absorption of such courses was also done. The results showed that employers preferred degree holders in chemical, civil, computer science, electrical, electronics, mechanical and architecture over diploma holders in these disciplines. Interestingly, however, employers preferred a diploma holder in textile technology over a degree holder in textile technology.

The report released by the Deputy Chief Minister, Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Minister for Higher Education, Medical Education and Technical Education, here yesterday pointed out that a large proportion of engineering degree holders irrespective of the disciplines got employment within the first year as compared to II year. For full absorption the engineers of all disciplines had to wait for more than three years.

On the other hand, employment prospects for diploma holders is unsatisfactory in almost all disciplines but the condition was worst for those who had diplomas in civil, electrical and mechanical engineering.

According to a projected analysis of the employment scenario for technical students, including degree and diploma holders in the coming year, unemployment among those with computer science engineering degrees would be the highest followed by electronics.

Among diploma holders, those with electronics would have the highest rate of unemployment followed by computer science and electrical.

Stating that diploma education in Punjab had failed to recognize the importance of new emerging market potential of the country, the committee has decided that separate courses for urban and rural students be introduced. Diploma courses in fashion, designing, jewellery designing, animation technology, safety security and disaster management and energy management would be introduced in urban areas while diploma courses in dairy management, fire engineering, cooperative and entrepreneurship, non conventional energy resources would be introduced in rural areas.

Diploma courses like modern office practice, commercial arts, computer engineering, information technology, plastic technology, printing technology, and library science would be phased out.

Similarly, the committee has comprehensively listed a set of courses that would be introduced at the degree level.

Specifying certain areas of thrust the committee would be asking the engineering colleges to focus on lasers photonics, accelerators superconductivity cryogenics, marine biotechnology highway and road engineering, oil and petrochemicals etc.

Chandigarh, February 23
It was the day of the bhangra and giddha at the Panjab University today as their annual cultural festival-Jhankar, organised by the Panjab University Students Council, entered second day. Music and the rhythmic movements of the dancers charged the atmosphere as the university auditorium remained full to its capacity while the folk dances regaled the audience. More than 10 teams from the various colleges and universities took part in the event.

The team from Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar won the Bhangra competition, while the team from Government College, Sector 11 finished second.

In Giddha, the team from DAV college for women Ferozepore finished first while the team from PU campus were the runners up the general dance competition was won by Chitkara Institute of Engineering and Technology while MCM DAV college , Chandigarh were the runners up.

The folk songs contest was also held today at the auditorium and the fine arts competitions were organised at the student centre during the day. The landscape making contest was won by Abhir Mukherjee while Shweta Sharma finsihed second. Rangoli competition was won by Manish and Aarti and Paint Your Face was won by Seema Sagar.

In the debate competition, the Lalit Jain and Gaurav from the GC sector 11 were declared winners while Roerich from PU and Jimmy from Government College Ludhiana were declared the best speakers in for and against category respectively. The declamation contest was won by Ajay Singla from PU.

An extension of the cultural bonanza extended in late evening as well as participants continued their performances on the informal stage. The festival concludes on Thursday.

Chandigarh, February 23
The Punjab Governor and UT Administrator, Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd), today called upon NCC cadets to practise discipline, adventurism, fortitude and ideals which they acquired during training. This would enable them to contribute to society and the country.

Addressing the function to honour NCC cadets and officers who took part in the Republic Day parade and PM’s rally in New Delhi, General Rodrigues said the future of the nation depended on the youth and they needed to act as instruments of change in the transformation of society.

General Rodrigues said the goal could be achieved only with innovative ideas, initiatives and more positive and practical approach.

Complementing the NCC cadets for achieving third position, the Governor said there was no reason for not achieving the first position in the next Republic Day parade as Punjab had the tradition of a leadership role and serving as a model of excellence in different spheres of activity.

Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab in her address, said Punjab had high hopes on the youth and they must prove worthy citizens to take Punjab on the path of progress and prosperity. Brig. D.S. Dhillon, Deputy Director General, NCC, highlighted the achievements of the NCC and assured its better performance.

Chandigarh, February 23
As part of its ongoing ‘Campaign for Peace-city Chandigarh’ Yuvsatta in association with CRRID today organised an interaction of Prof Yashpal with students of different schools.

Students from five different schools of Chandigarh — KB DAV Centenary Sr. Sec. Public School, M.R.A. Sr. Sec. School, Guru Nanak Public School, Govt. Model Sr. Sec. School, Sector 16 and Govt. Model Sr. Sec. School, Sector 23 along with their teachers participated in the event.

Known for his innovative sessions with students, Prof Yashpal initiated the discussion in a very lively manner. He inspired students to ask questions related to scientific queries. Finally the students posed questions about UFOs, laws of gravity, ways of observing stars and universe, what’s beyond our universe, is there a life anywhere else than planet earth, what’s the life of our universe etc.

Seeing the interest of students in cosmos, Prof Yashpal stressed the students and teachers of respective schools to start amateur astronomers clubs in their schools. Sharing his anguish over the state of education in India Prof Yashpal said in India a child is expected to get educated without the easy and natural tools of education — work tool and the mother tongue tool. That’s why school education has become a burden on children.

And 50 per cent parents cannot afford good schools. This, in turn, perpetrates violence among children. Basic education, said Prof Yashpal, must be made relevant to children’s lives and must also teach them some crafts. He added that ‘City beautiful’ can’t be beautiful if one-thirds of its population has to live in slums. “This development model is not sustainable,” he said criticizing ‘Tuition Culture’ in Chandigarh.

Professor Yashpal, former Chairman, UGC, and a Padma Bhushan has had a deep engagement with education at all levels. He has led People’s Science Movements and has been the Presidents of Children’s Science Congress for many years. He was Chairman of the committee, popularly known as the ‘Yash Pal committee’ for “Reducing the Burden on School Children while Improving the Quality of Education”.

He also led a study that produced a report titled “Real Education for the Real India”.

Chandigarh, February 23
The move to bring in order to the university departments has been thwarted once again at Panjab University as a high-powered committee constituted by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof K.N. Pathak, has decided against the proposal to limit the casual leaves to be availed by the employees to four in December, the end of the year.

Apparently perturbed by the virtual fiesta availed by the PU employees every year in December, when most of them proceed on casual leaves (CL) to finish off their pending quota of CLs, a proposal had been mooted that employees should avail their CLs proportionately throughout the year. It was proposed that under normal circumstances, not more than four casual leaves be allowed in the month of December.

The idea behind the proposal was simple: to have enough people in all departments so that the university functioning in any of its departments did not get paralysed at the end of the year.

However, the proposal had now been sent to the VC’s coordination forum but the committee comprising the Dean University Instructions (DUI), Prof J K Gupta, Prof R K Kohli, Mr Dharampal Sharma and Controller of Examination Dr Sodhi Ram, decided that there was no need to change the existing rules.

Under the existing rules the PU employees have 20 CLs at their disposal and can avail up to 10 CLs at a stretch. By combining it with the holidays otherwise in the calendar year, the leave period of the CL can be extended up to 16 days also.

The committee also studied the rules pertaining to CLs in other universities and found that PU’s existing rules did not differ much from them.

Resting the powers with the head of departments to make sure the normal working did not get affected, the committee had agreed that rule should not be changed.

However, the university Syndicate in its meeting scheduled for February 28, would finally put its approval on the recommendation. 

Mohali, February 23
The Punjab School Education Board has despatched roll numbers of students appearing in the matriculation and Class XII examinations starting from March 2.

Mrs Sukhwinder Kaur Saroya, Controller of Examinations, said in a press note here today that the roll numbers of private candidates had been sent by post. Roll numbers of regular students had been sent to the boards, text book sales depots at various districts and to the distribution centres set up by the board at tehsil levels. The roll numbers of students studying in colleges had also been sent by post.

Mrs Saroya said if any student appearing privately failed to got the roll numbers, he could contact the board office along with a proof of the examination form sent, fee deposited and an attested photograph of the candidate. The board was also sending its employees to the text book sales depots at the districts from February 27 to March 1 and these employees could also be contracted if roll numbers were not received by students.

The Controller said examinations of Class X would be held in the morning session while of Class XII in the afternoon.

Chandigarh, February 23
A book exhibition was put up by MCM DAV College for Women, Sector 36, on the college premises, here today. The exhibition offered a wide array of books ranging from cookery, literature, self-help to bestsellers.

The college library also held competitions in slogan writing, reference hunting and book-mark making. The competitions received an enthusiastic response and students exhibited rare ingenuity and creativity. The names of prize winners are as follows:

Reference prize: Amanpreet Kaur (1), Harleen (2), Consolation: Pulkit Khanna. Slogan writing: Sunaina (1), Shobhika (2), Consolation: Vasundhra.

Bookmark making: Anshul Dhull (1), Shesha (2), Consolation: Malvika Khurana.

In a function organised by the Department of Mathematics, there was a lecture delivered by Prof V.C. Nanda, an eminent mathematician. The Department of Office Management of the college also organised an inter-college competition in short-hand and typing.

Constituted: The Chandigarh Administration constituted the Board of Governors of the Punjab Engineering College, under the chairmanship of Mr Chander Mohan (former vice-chairman, Punjab Tractors Limited), here today.

The other members include the Home Secretary, Chandigarh Administration, ex-officio (vice-chairman), finance secretary, Chandigarh Administration, ex-officio, vice-chancellor, Panjab University, or his nominee, Director, Technical Education, UT, ex-officio, Mr Ravi Mathur, Joint Secretary, Technical Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, New Delhi (nominee MHRD), Mr Vikram Dev Dutt, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi (nominee of MHA), Mr RK Chauhan, Additional Secretary, UGC (Nominee of UGC), Director IIT Delhi or his nominee, Chairman CII Northern region, Director, CSIO, Chandigarh, Mr Prithipal Singh former CMD, BSNL, technologist, Prof TN Kapoor, former PU V-C, Mr RK Saboo, Saboo Group Industrialist, Mr Krishan Goyal, industrialist, Mr Pawan Aggarwal, alumnus, Director PEC, ex-officio, Registrar, Panjab Engineering College, ex-officio members secretary.

Reconstituted: Mr Veerendra Rishi, president and director of Indian Institute of Romani Studies has reconstituted the executive committee and nominated the following as members: Mr Divaker S. Pathak, vice president and executive director, Mr N.S. Brar, PCS additional director, Mr Mehar chand, secretary general, Mr Narinder K. Sharma, general secretary, Mr Kamal Sarup Mehta, executive secretary and treasurer, Prof Mr Shankar Ji Jha, member.

Chandigarh, February 23
Cities are often identified by their poets. Urdu poet Sahir Ludhianvi carried with him the name of his city wherever he went and Batala is known as the city of the Punjabi lyrical poet, Shiv Kumar Batalvi. Even though he did not string the name of his city to his name yet the most prominent poet who emerged on the city canvas, spanning over half a century, was the Hindi poet Kumar Vikal.

The character of the city came alive in many of his poems and the opening lines of one of his poems “Once in a while this city is also mine/Especially when the snow glistens on the Kasauli hills/Like the sparkling teeth of a Santhal girl”.

On his eighth death anniversary today many of the writers and artists, who were his friends and contemporaries, recalled him in a memory play of the times they had spent with this unforgettable person.

Remembering those days fondly, journalist Surinder Khullar said: “I recall him hailing me across the Sector 17 plaza with a line of his favourite song ‘Ni Sultana Re, Pyar ka mausam aayea’. This was the line he sang when he wrote a new poem or saw an old friend and was at his ecstatic best.” Photographer Diwan Manna said, “I was fortunate to be one of his friends. I loved photographing him. He was ever so photogenic. He is no longer there but his poems are still alive in our minds”.

A known professor of English, Narendra Oberoi, who happened to be one of his closest friends, said: “This day is always a special one for me. I like to go back to the days of our youth and relive the charm of his sharp wit. One year no function was held and I spent the day going to all places that we had been together and live on in his poetry.” In fact many of Kumar Vikal’s poems were written to the experiences he had shared with Oberoi. And it was in his buddy’s arms that he had breathed his last on February 23, 1997.

Kumar Vikal was born in Wazirabad in West Punjab and spent his childhood in Rawalpindi. After the Partition his family migrated to Ludhiana. His friend, journalist Ramesh Kapila recalled: “Kumar Vikal, Satyapal Anand and I started our career with a Punjabi publisher Jiwan Singh in Ludhiana. As young poets, we worked together at the Lahore Bookshop. Anand went to academics, I strayed into journalism and Vikal joined the Panjab University Publication Bureau at Chandigarh. It was Vikal who pursued poetry with true dedication.

Kumar Vikal had penned three anthologies of poetry in Hindi and his poems were popular in the entire Hindi belt. Punjabi readers too loved his poetry and currently his friend Rippy is working on an anthology of his poems in Punjabi. His friends and admirers plan to hold a poetical symposium in his memory at Chandigarh in March.

LEISURE

Rhea finds peace in Art of Living
Adit Tandon

Transcending rigidity of the musical gharana cult, Kolkatta-based classical vocalist Raka Mukherjee has evolved her own signature style in Hindustani classical music assimilating the best ingredients from the Kirana, Agra and other gharanas. Her claim was endorsed by her performance at a special musical concert organised by the Pracheen Kala Kendra today.

She chose the popular raga ‘Yamane’ which is very much within grasp of a layman and of course, the connoisseurs, for her second soiree in the city beautiful so that the listeners could evaluate her caliber with which she bared the finer nuances of the raga.

She opened up with Bara khyaal composition ‘Palkon se mugh jharo..’ set in slow tempo of twelve beats. She elaborated the composition highlighting the prominent musical note ‘teevar Ma’ in the delectable style. She established her competence with the rendition of the melodious brief alaap and maintained it in the Chhota khyal ‘Sanjh bhaye udit bhaye.’ in fast tempo and same taal.

She delineated the rarely sung ‘Dadra’ in raag Khamaj with the shorter syllables of the composition ‘Sudh naa lieeno jab se gye..’. The audience reciprocated with applause at the proper ‘sam’ and the culmination of Tihai. Singing with free mind she encompassed many embellishments in the rendition of ‘taans’ to the matching rhythmic support. Raka Mukherjee concluded the e concert with a bhajan ‘Aali re more naina.’ bringing alive the devotional and contemplative aspects of the composition amidst applause from the audience.

Prem Kumar Bhardwaj articulated the melody on Tabla, Neeraj Gandhi accompanied her on Harmonium and both Ms Babusha and AS Gill provided the dreone on Tanpura. Kendra Director ML Koser honoured the artists. OC

The ‘Sur Sanjh Cultural Society’ staged a religious play’ Hind Di Chadar’ at the Tagore Theatre in collaboration with the North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC) Patiala and the Department of Public Relations Chandigarh Administration today. Scripted by Ravinder Singh Sodhi and directed by Gulzar Pawar and Rupinder Rupi the play chronicles the saga of supreme sacrifice by Guru Teg Bahadur ji from the slice of history. It was during the period when the Mughal splendor was at its zenith and the forcible conversions were rampant.

The play starts with the devout Makhan Shah deciding to pay homage to the real Guru with ten per cent of his earnings but at the abode of the Guru at Baba Bakala he finds many persons impersonating as the real Guru. However, he comes to know about the reality and shouts in oblivion of finding the real Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib. The play later projects the atrocities being committed on the Kashmiri Brahmins for not baptising the Islaam where in the Nawab of Malerkotla not only counteracts the atrocities on such people but also advises them to seek the patronage of Guru Teg Bahadur for redressal of their grievances. The great Guru Teg Bahadur embraced the martyrdom so that all the forcible conversions under the state patronage could stop and killing of those people who refused to accept Islaam could be stopped. This amply proved the efficacy of the great Guru’s philosophy. The great Guru embraced death to demonstrate that there was no virtue in killing those who refused to embrace Islaam which is the incontrovertible truth.

The play already staged about fifteen times holds the relevance that the supreme sacrifice is the divine bliss which only the blessed can perform for the benefit of humanity. Make up by Lakha Lahri were astounding. The play though started late was largely attended among others by GPS Riar, Vijay Tandon and Mr Mansoor Ali, Painter from Pakistan, as per Rupiunder Rupi.