Teachers rue govt apathy
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 16
Teachers are sore at the Congress government’s apathetic attitude towards education. They feel that the ruling party had forgotten its pre-poll promises, which led it to victory.

Prof K.B.S. Sodhi, former president of the PCCTU said in 2002, the teachers had ensured Congress victory but it was unfortunate that things had worsened.

“They have been denied pensionary benefits and hundreds of vacancies have not been filled. Also, institutions have not been released grants.

Again elections are coming but we will not like to support the party which forgets its pre-poll promises”, he said.

Mr Bhajan Singh, district president of the Democratic Teachers Front, said the teachers were unhappy with the state government’s policies towards education. He said earlier there used to be 15-17 per cent allotted budget to education and the percentage was further decreased to 3-4 per cent only by the ruling party.

“The present government is not focussing on the improvement of education in the state.

The teachers are being forced to perform non-teaching duties. More than 30,000 vacancies are lying in the state but the government refuses to recruit people.

There are over 12 per cent primary schools in the state with just one teacher. Educational institutions lack quality and privatisation is another setback to the set-up”, said Mr Bhajan Singh.

From Colleges
GCW students enthral audience with individual performances
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 16
The students of the department of music, Government College for Women, presented impressive individual performances in light music at a function organised by Sur Sangam, the vocal music body of the college. The function held recently was presided over by the Principal of the college, Ms Prabhjot Kaur.

More than 30 students gave individual performances in various forms of light music like shabad, bhajan, geet, gazal, folk songs and film numbers.

In her inaugural address, the Principal said such functions should be made an inseparable part of the college curriculum to infuse the spirit of self-confidence and enthusiasm into the students.

Although the function was not in the form of musical competition, the students seemed to be going all out to do their best.

Talent hunt programme: A talent hunt programme for the students of BEd and MEd being organised by Malwa Central College of Education for Woman concluded here on Friday. The two-week long programme comprised competitions in various fields.

The purpose of the programme was to select students for the coming zonal youth festival of BEd colleges, zone B, of Panjab University, scheduled to be held at Dev Samaj College of Education for Women, Ferozepore.

In singing competition Taranjit Kaur and Harjinder Kaur got first and second position, respectively, in the shabad-gayan category while Taranjit Kaur was selected for vaar singing. In the ghazal competition Ruminder Kaur and Navneet Kaur of MEd were awarded first and second places, respectively.

In the creative-writing competition, Harjeet Kaur was selected for story writing. Harpreet Bhatia and Darapan Narang were awarded first and second places, respectively, in the essay-writing competition.

Hardeep Kaur, Jaspreet Kaur and Gurmeet Kaur were selected for suhag, ghori and sithnis, respectively.

Harpreet Kaur and Damandeep Kaur of MEd were awarded first and second places in debate whereas Monika of BEd was awarded the third place. The chief guest on the concluding day of the event was Dr Nerotma Moudgil.

Nominated: The managing committee of the Shanti Tara College, Ahmedgarh, Principal, staff and its students have expressed their gratitude to Mr Harnam Das Johar for nominating Prof Arvind Malhotra member of the Punjab School Education Board for two years.

A party was held on Friday to honour Prof Malhotra here on the college premises.

Seminar at GNIMT: Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology (GNIMT) organised a seminar on “Young Managers- Challenges Ahead” here on Friday. It was organised under the aegis of the students chapter of the ISTE. The resource person was Mr Manuj Mehta, General Manager (HR) with Malwa Industries.

In an interactive session with the students, Mr Mehta highlighted the importance of goal-setting and positive attitude as a key to success.

He discussed various attitudinal and behavioural challenges which the budding managers had to face in the industry.

All students of MBA/MCA attended the seminar.

They discussed various issues related to problems being faced by them in the job market and the possible strategies to counter them.

Diploma students accorded farewell
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 16
Diploma students of the Swami Vivekanand Institute of Paramedical Sciences were accorded a farewell by the management, Principal and staff of the institute at Las Vegas here yesterday.

A dance competition was organised for both boys and girls. Aman was declared the best girl dancer while Sukhraj won the best dancer title among boys. The musical chair event evoked a lot of laughter and the Vishal emerged winner.

Certificates of diploma in medical laboratory technician and in radiography technician were handed over to the students. 

Eurokids pampers grandparents
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 16
Students of Eurokids (Egmont International Pre-School), celebrated the Grandparents’ Day at the school premises here today. They were accompanied by their grandparents. The school had organised various games in which the grandparents could also participate and kids prepared sandwiches to welcome their beloved grandparents.

Bajaj Allianz also made the grannies and grandpas aware of the various plans with which they could help the kids with a secure future in today’s competitive world.

All the kids were given sweets while gifts were given to the winners in the grandparents’ category.

The grandparents really liked the changes that the schools have undergone since their own times.

The function was presided by Mrs Anuja Sood, the Principal of the school . She thanked the grandparents for making the day successful. 

Teachers hold dharna
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 16
On a call of the Democratic Employees Front, Punjab, hundreds of teachers of the district staged a dharna in front of the DEO’s office in the mini secretariat here today. They were protesting against the large-scale corruption, irregularities and “anti-teacher” policies.

They demanded the immediate transfer of Ms Harbans Kaur, Block Primary Education, Samrala-2, and asked for an inquiry. They said if she was not transferred by September 22, the agitation would be intensified.

COURTS

Man gets life term for wife’s murder
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 16
The Court of Sessions Judge has sentenced Bhole Shankar of Lohatbaddi village, Raikot, to rigorous life imprisonment on the charges of killing his wife, Channo. The son of the accused, Deepak (15years), who was an eye-witness to the murder, boldly deposed before the court that his father had killed her stepmother by beating her.

Pronouncing the judgment, Mr Harbans Lal, Sessions Judge, held that it had been proved beyond any doubt that the accused committed murder of his wife at his home on December 10, 2003 and later on tried to commit suicide.

Nine-month imprisonment was also awarded to the accused on the charge of attempting to commit suicide.

However, both the sentences will run concurrently. Fine of Rs 10,000 was also imposed on the accused.

The accused was booked under Section 302 and 309 of IPC at Raikot police station on December 11, 2003, following the statement of Sunita, daughter of deceased.

The complainant had stated that his mother had contracted second marriage with the accused after the death of her previous husband and alleged that her stepfather used to maltreat her mother.

The accused had thrown out his step son, Mangat, from his house and the deceased was insisting to bring her back.

Due to this reason, they used to quarrel.

During the trial, the accused pleaded innocence and claimed false implication.

But convinced with the arguments of the District Attorney, Mr Amar Ashok Pathak, and the evidence adduced by the prosecution after examining 16 witnesses, the court found him guilty.

113 cases settled at Lok Adalat
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 16
As many as 113 cases were settled today in the quarterly labour Lok Adalat held here under the supervision of Mr A.K. Singla, Additional Sessions Judge-cum-Presiding Officer of the labour court.

Labourers were provided a compensation above Rs 5 lakh and several cases, the amount was paid on the spot.

Giving the information, Mr Arvind Mark of the Legal Services Authority said Mr. P.D. Sharma, Mr B.D. Arora, Mr B.N. Sehgal, Mr Manoj Singla and representatives of various labour organisations participated.

HEALTH

Rotary Club to start eye care centre
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 16
The Rotary Club here is starting a rotary eye care centre at Swami Vivekananda Hospital, Model Town extension, Ludhiana, in the memory of the late K.B. Gupta who was a philanthropist. K.B. Gupta Rotary Eye Care Centre will be inaugurated by Justice N.K. Sud. This project is inspired by Dr Suresh and Dr Verinder Aggarwal who are settled in the USA.

On the occasion, eye surgery equipment of more than Rs 9 lakh will be donated to the centre. This project has been possible with a grant received of $ 21, 300 which has been funded with the cooperation of the Rotary Club here, the Rotary Club of La Jolla Golden Triangle (San Diego in California) of RI district 5340 and the Rotary Foundation, the USA.