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Amritsar MISSING: Mr Avtar Singh (70) a retired Central Government employee, has reportedly gone missing after paying obeisance at the Golden Temple. According to a complaint lodged with the police, Mr Sukhwant Singh, son of the missing person, who had come to pay obeisance at Darbar Sahib along with his wife, Ms Mohinder Kaur and son on April 28, stated that they were staying at the Golden Temple serai. He said when they were returning, his father went to Guru Ram Dass serai but never
returned.
Bathinda LIQUOR VEND: Various voluntary organisations and political outfits have joined hands to protest against the opening of a liquor vend in thickly populated Pratap Nagar. The representatives of these outfits have formed a joint welfare front against gambling dens and liquor vends in the area, according to front convener Mahinder Singh.
Hoshiarpur Ludhiana INSTALLED: Installation ceremony of the office-bearers for the year 2005-2006 of the Bharat Vikas Parishad was held here on Sunday. Sukhdev Garg, Surjit Bansal and Subash Nagpal were administered oath by Mr Narinder Mittal, regional president, for the posts of president, secretary and treasurer. RETIRED: Prof Gurdip Singh Sobti, Principal of Gujranwala Guru Nanak Khalsa College, Ludhiana, retired on Saturday. On his retirement, a farewell function was organised by the members of the staff. The wife of outgoing Principal and newly appointed Principal Tarlochan Singh and his wife were present on the occasion.
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Chamba Dharamsala Nahan Solan GUTTED: Household goods worth Rs 1 lakh, including a television set, a CD player, music system, furniture, etc. were gutted in a fire caused due to lightening in a house at Kandhaghat on Friday. No loss of life was reported. |
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Taking birds under his wing
There was a time when the migratory birds visiting the wetland in Ropar district went unnoticed. Many were even killed by the locals out of lack of awareness. It took 20 long years for a local government school science teacher, Jaspreet Singh, to get the villagers and officials of the administration involved in protecting the hundreds of migratory birds that come here from Central Asia every year. The efforts of the teacher paid off and the villagers gradually started coming forward to protect the birds and even built a structure in the wetland area for viewing the winged visitors. Besides, environment clubs have begun functioning in the local schools on his initiative. The district administration is also holding a special function to welcome the birds. Schoolchildren from all over the district have been brought here to educate them about the various birds species and their role in preserving the ecological balance. “When I launched a campaign to protect the birds, I was just a one-man army. I requested the locals as well as officials to put an end to the killing of birds, which had been going on unchecked. Sometimes, I even suffered humiliation since as a government employee I had limited powers to raise my voice against any wrong-doings,” says Singh. “After school hours, I used to spend a lot of time to trace the birds and interact with people to create an awareness about the need to protect migratory birds,” he recounts. “I have had no formal education on the subject but my interest was kindled when I came across a book on migratory birds in a library years ago. Thereafter, I purchased a detailed book on the subject from Chandigarh,” he says. “For the past 20 years, I have been keeping a record of the migratory birds that come here Besides, I keep a record of the rare species of local birds and have been making efforts to stop poaching in the forest area,” adds Singh. But the problems don’t end here. “The Sutlej continues to get polluted by the industrial waste that is released into it, reducing the fish population and vegetation. Owing to this, the population of the migratory birds has also been declining over the past few years,” he laments. In deadly earnest Some people want to contribute their bit to society during their lifetime. Others would like to be of use after death. Murari Lal Munjal of Fatehabad is one such person. He has decided that after his death his body will be donated to a medical college for research. Munjal (82) has been suffering from paralysis for the last eight years. Born at Khuban village near Abohar, Munjal and his wife, Sumitra Devi, now live with one of their sons, Kul Bhushan Munjal, in this town. In fact, one of his grandsons has recently completed MBBS and is preparing for admission to a postgraduate medical course. One fine morning, Munjal told his wife and son that after his death he wanted his body to be donated for medical research. He felt that if it were donated to some medical college, it would at least help students in their studies. At first, the family was stunned by the patriarch’s announcement. But soon they reconciled to his wish. The family then approached Agroha Medical College, near the town, to enquire about the procedure. His son is now in the process of completing the documents that will formalise this wish of Munjal. Minding her business
When she came to the tiny village of Rakkar in Dharamsala eight years back, she had already helped seven depressed women, for whom shock therapy and protracted medical treatment had proved ineffective, come out of their negative state of mind in Ghanati village, near Shimla. Kishwar Ahmed-Shirali, who describes herself as a ‘mental health activist’, says sharing her house with these women was like “giving them space for madness.” “There was one teenager, rescued from a brothel in Delhi, who had a phobia of people and was addicted to drugs. Since I gave her the much-needed respect, acceptance and the freedom to be herself, she soon joined a vocational course, got married and adopted a girl,” she says. Kishwar, who is at present working as a consultant for an NGO, Nishta, besides being on its board of trustees, says she always wanted to find an alternative to the conventional therapies of dealing with depression. “I never subscribed to the use of shocks and drugs as part of this treatment,” she says. “We hold psychotherapy workshops twice a week and group therapy sessions for single mothers and alcoholics once a month. We also help school and college students get over their anxiety related to exams and other tests,” she adds. “Nothing works like offering your heart and ears to depressed people. And this seems to have worked even in places like Kashmir, where we held workshops to tell people how to deal with stress,” she says. A major social problem in Dharamsala is that of alcoholism, which has been aggravated by the unemployment arising from the ban on mining. “We advise women not to get into an argument if their husbands come home drunk as it then leads to domestic violence,” she says. “Even during my stay in Ghanati, although I shared my house with seven depressed women, I had scores of people, including young boys and girls, coming to me with their problems, mostly about relationships,” she says. In fact, initially, the villagers thought that I was a Pakistani spy or was running a brothel since all these were women staying with me. Kishwar, who went to study clinical psychology in Boston, had a small stint teaching psychology in New York before joining Punjabi University, Patiala. Later, she moved to Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, from where she retired in 1997. Contributed by Kiran Deep, Sushil Manav and Vibhor Mohan
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