ETT teachers released
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 28
The detained ETT teachers were released from the jail here today. They had been in the Central Jail since July 9 when they were arrested under Section 188 of the IPC from outside Mr Harman Dass Johar’s house.

Mr Jaswinder Singh Sidhu, district president of the Unemployed ETT Union, emerged hero. He had been in the Civil Hospital as his condition had deteriorated in the jail due to fast that he was on. Yesterday, Mr Shamsher Dullo had persuated Mr Jaswinder Singh to end his fast. Mr Dullo had met representatives of various teachers’ unions, including the ETT Teachers Union in the Circuit House. He had assured them that the arrested 150 teachers would be released and they would also be given employment. He assuaged the hurt feelings of teachers by assuring them that he would be holding talks with the Chief Minister and apprising him of the demands of teachers.

Mr Piara Singh Dhillon, one of their spokespersons has, in a press note appreciated Mr Dullo for asking the administration to release the detained teachers. “They have given time till August 15 to the state government to fulfil their demands or they will go on statewide protest from August 16. On September 5 teachers will wear black badges to lodge their protest,” he said.

Teachers’ stir to continue: Sarabha
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 28
Mr Charan Singh Sarabha, General Secretary, Govt School Teachers’ Union, Punjab, through a press note, has thanked all teachers in Punjab who participated and supported the rally at Chandigarh on July 26 under the banner of the Anti-Privatisation Front.

Mr Sarabha said at Chandigarh thousands of teachers in one voice declared that they would not tolerate privatisation of government schools and commercialisation of education. The agitation would continue until the government issued advertisements for regular appointments of teachers against vacant posts .

In the next phase of the agitation, tehsil-level rallies would be held throughout the state from August16 and on September 5, Teachers’ Day. Mr Sarabha condemned Punjab’s proposal to cut grants to private aided schools and delink grades of those teachers from teachers of government schools as it would be a further step towards commercialisation of education.

He appreciated the efforts of Punjab Pradesh Congress President Shamsher Singh Dullo towards the unconditional release of detained unemployed ETT teachers.

Employees sore over non-implementation of demands
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 28
More than 2,500 non-teaching employees working in 165 non-government aided colleges are sore over the denial of benefit under the 95 per cent deficit grant scheme.

Mr Rajiv Bhasin, general secretary, Private Colleges Non-Teaching Employees Union, Punjab and Chandigarh, in a press note issued here on Tuesday said the state government had already implemented the merger of 50 per cent of basic pay.

He appealed to the Minister of Higher Education and the Chief Minister to intervene in the matter and sanction the merger of 50 per cent of basic pay in case of non-teaching employees of non-government aided colleges at the earliest.

Baldev Dhillon is PAU Research Director
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 28
Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, former Assistant-Director General, ICAR, took over as Director of Research in Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. Dr Dhillon is also working as Director (Seed) in this university.

After taking over as Director of Research, Dr Dhillon addressed agriculture scientists from Punjab who came to attend the meeting organised by the Directorate of Extension Education regarding “Kisan Melas” to be held in September, 2005.

Dr Dhillon said it was our duty to make agricultural research reach farmers properly through extension services. He said: “we should make efforts to meet the challenges being faced by the farmers as we all are acquainted with the traditions of agricultural research and extension services rendered by the PAU.”

Announcing the dates of “Kisan Melas” Dr S.S. Gill, Director, Extension Education, said the theme of these melas was “Save Water — Save Punjab.” Dr Gill added that it was the responsibility of the departments of farm power and machinery, plant breeding, soil and water engineering and soils to make the farmers aware of the latest research technology developed by the PAU. Dr Gill disclosed that the “Kisan Mela” at Regional Research Station, Gurdaspur, would be held on September 6, while it would be held at Kandi Research Station, Ballowal Saunkhri, on September 13.

“The Kisan Mela” at Rauni (Patiala) will be held on September 16 while two-day “Kisan Mela” at the PAU will be held on September 22 and 23, 2005, and at Regional Research Station, Bathinda, on September 28,2005.

From Schools & Colleges
Schoolchildren celebrate Teej
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 28
Teej festival was celebrated by children of Sky Way Prenursery School, with fun and frolic here today. Children came dressed in traditional village dresses. Little girls wore lengha and applied mehndi on their hands.

Later, children were served with kheer-puda as part of celebrations. It was followed by a photograph session. The Principal, Mrs Asha Chikessal, spoke about the festival. They were also told about rain god Indra.

Fancy dress contest: The Teej festival is being celebrated in SAN Jain Model Senior Secondary School on Saturday. Besides a fancy dress competition for little kids, other competitions viz, mehandi, rangoli are being organised on this occasion. A variety entertainment programme consisting of short speeches on the significance of Teej would also be held.

Monsoon day celebrated: Tiny tots of KIDZEE Rainbow School celebrated ‘monsoon day’ here today on their school premises. The school looked like a huge rainbow as colourful umbrellas were put up in the entire school. The tiny tots came dressed in colourful raincoats carrying equally colourful umbrellas. Some of the kids were wearing gumboots and had a whale of time splashing water on each other.

Co-ordinator Shivani Arora said that objective of celebrating a rainy day was to enable the students to recognise different elements of weather. The students were shown clouds , raindrops and cutouts of a ‘rainbow’. They also learnt about the creatures that come out in this season. They danced to the monsoon songs and later on exchanged tiffins with each other .

Paper-reading contest: Inter-class paper reading contest was held in New Secondary School, Sarabha Nagar, here today.The topics were Rani Laxmi Bai, Subash Chandar Bose, Guru Rabinder Nath Tagore, Chander Shekhar Azad, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru .

Students of classes VIII to X participated . Every speaker was given 4 to 5 minutes to speak. The judges Mr Kultaj Singh , Ms Shelly Sharma and Ms Vandana declared the following students winners:

Roop Kamal Class X A-first, Falak Sharma, Class X A second, Gurpreet Kaur Class IX A third, Sakshi Kapoor Class VIII B-consolation and Kamalpreet Kaur XA- consolation.

The function was conducted by Ms Sonia Bajaj and sponsored by Shaheed Sukhdev Branch of Bharat Vikas Parishad, The winners were presented trophies.

Art workshop at GNKCW: A two-day art workshop conducted by Fine Arts Department, Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women, concluded here today. Ms Vandana, Ms Aarti and Ms Poonam Luthra of Pidilite colours gave demonstration on different techniques of fabric painting and glass painting. Over hundred students took part in this workshop. Ms Manju Chawla, Principal of the college, appreciated the response and interest of the students in this workshop.

BDS topper: Supreet Singh Wadhwa of Christian Dental College has stood first in BDS (II year), Baba Farid University of Health Sciences by scoring 614 out of 800 marks. He got distinction in pathology, pharmacology and dental anatomy, Supreet was also the topper of Ist professional.