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City’s ‘golden duo’ talk about how they persevered and won laurels in the international arena recently
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Trouble brewing in NRI Sabha
AICTE approval for new seats comes too late
From Schools and Colleges
Illegal colony in Kapurthala thrives
on political patronage
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City’s ‘golden duo’ talk about how they persevered and won laurels in the international arena recently
Manjeet Kaur (MK), who bagged the individual gold medal in 400 m, and Rajwinder Kaur Gill (RKG), who was a member of the gold-winning ATF team in the Asian Athletics Championship held at Incheon, South Korea, may be the best of friends off track, but once on field they are the fiercest rivals. In a tête-à-tête with
Minna Zutshi, they speak about their hopes, aspirations, and, of course, the ‘track-record’ of their friendship.
What propelled you towards sports? RKG: My family has been sports-oriented from the very beginning. My siblings have been into sports. In fact, there is a kind of sports culture in our village, Sabhra, about 55 km from Amritsar. I am happy that I got a chance to do my schooling at Nehru Garden School, Jalandhar. Later, I joined HMV College there. Luckily, at HMV the students are encouraged to excel in sports. MK: My father has been into sports. Perhaps, I took the cue from him. I had a feeling that I could do well in sports and I let that hunch lead me to my chosen field. The right coaching at the right time, too, helped. How strong has your family’s support been? RKG: My family has stood like a rock behind me. Without the encouragement of my parents, my interest in sports may have fizzled out. MK: Luckily, there has been no “girls-don’t-do-this” culture in our family. I have been as good (or as bad!) as a son, and my family members acknowledge it. What’s the secret of your success? RKG: God’s grace, parents’ blessings and my own hard work. I believe in solid work and not mere packaging. Your work should reflect sincerity, commitment and a sense of purpose. MK: Success is something that leaves you aspiring for yet more. And there is no guarantee that success would stay with you for long. Unless the Almighty showers His blessings on you, fate may wrest defeat from the jaws of success! Who are your sports idols? RKG: Unfortunately, I don’t have many sports idols, though I look up to my older sisters and my coach R.S. Sidhu. I like watching the game of cricketer Harbhajan Singh. I feel his game has a certain class to it. MK: I admire the resilience of P.T. Usha. She has been a girl with oodles of spunk. Her hard work and her determination have been her hallmarks. She has been a fighter to the core. How did you two become friends? RKG: It was our common interest in sports that gave an impetus to our friendship. We were the students of the same school. We used to do our workouts together and participate in the same events. Gradually, we became good friends. MK: It was sheer chance that we became friends. Had we not been in the same school, we may never have even met. Had we been unreasonably competitive, we may have very well become bitter rivals! What are the qualities you admire in each other? RKG: I guess Manjeet’s firm resolve and her belief in the Almighty are her most remarkable qualities. Her athletic frame gives her a ‘sporting’ chance of doing well in the game. MK: She’s a team player. Rarely aggressive, she tries to maintain her calm even in most difficult situations. She has the knack of making the best of what is given. Does the issue of rivalry never crop up between two of you? RKG: Rivalry is not an issue between us. Our pact is simple: We are good friends. Nothing will deter our friendship, but once on the track, it’s winning that becomes most important for us. We don’t go about sentimentalising our win. Whosoever wins, wins. And that’s it. MK: I have told Rajwinder that we are too good friends to be bothered by each other’s medal tally. I do my utmost to register a win, and she, too, tries to do her best. And we both welcome the results without any feeling of rancour or disappointment. Do you think sportswomen gain an extra mileage if they are glamorous? RKG: Yes. And there’s nothing wrong in it. But in our country, players are given oversized, worn-out outfits to wear. If our tracksuits are smart and well fitting, I am sure we will feel good about ourselves and this feel-good factor may as well show in our performance. MK: Forget about glamour. If only we were given the outfits of the right size, we would consider ourselves lucky. Sometimes, we feel that our outsized tracksuits may give us a bad fall. Your future plans? RKG: I want to win individual medals in Commonwealth Games to be held in March 2006. I am also gearing myself up for the next year’s Asian Games. MK: Next year’s Commonwealth Games and Asian Games are on my priority list. But at the same time, I want to concentrate on my studies.
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Trouble brewing in NRI Sabha
Tribune News Service “The NRI Commissioner, who is also the chairman of the sabha, has failed to perform his first and foremost duty of holding elections that have been due since January 2004. The powers of the president, since January 2004, have been delegated to the managing director,” alleges an NRI Sabha member. Not just that, a provision given to the NRIs to exercise the franchise through their nominees residing in Punjab also has been withdrawn in a recent amendment and the latter have been disallowed to cast their vote, it is learnt. The NRIs have been left with just one option of coming back to Punjab personally to elect their executive committee. This, in effect, means that each one of them will have to shell out at least Rs 1 lakh biennially to avail of the opportunity. The nominees, who are NRIs’ relatives or local friends, have also been denied the right to stand for the president’s election. A grand get-together for celebrating the homecoming of NRIs annually every winter, too, has not been held for two consecutive years now. Similarly, a general body meeting coinciding with this celebration has also not been held for the past two years. The apprehensions in the minds of the NRIs following such developments over the fate of their NGO are also evident from the decreasing number of visitors coming to the NRI Bhavan set up by the sabha to get guidance for their legal or administrative matters. What really irks the NRIs, it is learnt, is that they feel they have been kept in dark about the developments in the sabha back home. “After all, we have paid Rs 5000 as life membership so that we could get some help for ourselves in the times of need. If our money and our association with the sabha are not valued, there is no point in continuing with the membership. Such acts of the bureaucracy will only force us to lose our faith in the NGO,” the members rued. It is not just the bureaucrats who are intervening in the NGO’s working, even two local ministers, in connivance with the bureaucracy, are reportedly trying to control its working for their petty interests and fight for supremacy. Both Mr Avtar Henry, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, and Mr Amarjit Singh Samra, Minister for Revenue, Rehabilitation and NRI Affairs, have been accommodated as patrons of the sabha through an amendment made by the Chief Minister, who himself has taken over as the sabha’s chief patron through yet another amendment, it is learnt. The CM initially was the patron and had the right to appoint one vice-patron as per the constitution drafted in 1996 at the time when sabha was formed. Since last year, there have been a chief patron and two patrons. The NRIs have also expressed concern at the utilisation of funds worth nearly Rs 2 crore lying in the account of the sabha for their welfare activities. “There have been so many amendments since January 2004 by the powers vested with the CM and we cannot bear the brunt of any more amendments of that sort,” an ex-NRI who is a member of the sabha said. When contacted, Mr N.S. Kalsi, NRI Commissioner and Chairman of the sabha, said that elections would be held in January 2006. He said that the decision of allowing the NRI nominees to cast their votes would be discussed in a forthcoming meeting. He claimed that he was not aware of the amendments made in the executive committee and only the Chief Minister’s Office could answer queries related to that.
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Cantt area residents battle stray cattle menace
It’s a role reversal at the Cantonment area. As army personnel get trained in fighting wars here, the local residents also find themselves waging a different kind of battle — a battle against stray cattle.
Though the Cantonment Board, around a decade back, had declared the area as a “no-cattle zone”, the stray cattle menace continues to haunt the residents. “You can easily find cows and buffaloes as daily visitors to the residential areas and market complexes here,” says Mr Rajesh Kumar Agarwal, president, Samrat Market Shopkeepers’ Association. “They usually pick up the belongings of the people. Such incidents add to the chaotic situation of the markets.” He said these roaming cattle also caused traffic jams. “Though no incident of people falling prey to the menace has been reported so far, the possibility cannot be ruled out.” Moreover, the sabzi-mandi areas, he added, were found to be the favourite spots for these creatures, as there they found good stuff for their appetite. Vijay, a vegetable-seller in the Hardayal Road sabzi mandi, says that they have to take care of their vegetables as one does not know when and from where these cows would come and take away one’s source of livelihood in just a few minutes. “You can ask people to go away from your area, but how can you control an animal? It’s for the authorities to shift these creatures to some other place. We are helpless,” says Rohit, a utensil shop owner. Even as the shopkeepers and local residents face these awkward experiences daily, dairy owners here are successfully carrying out their business. “These milkmen let their cows roam freely in the area. And after making rounds, the animals simply go back to their sheds,” says Raj Kumar, a sweetmeat seller. However, the local dairy owners have a different story to tell. “What can we do when we are not allotted any place to shift our dairies? Though the administration had promised us a place in the Shabana Pind area, no headway has been made yet. We will lose our source of livelihood if we close our dairies,” says Ram Kumar, who owns two buffaloes and five cows. When asked where his cows were, he replied, “Woh ghumne gai hain (They have gone to take a stroll).” Sometimes when their animals are caught by the authorities, the owners have to pay around Rs 500 to get their cattle back. Meanwhile, the Cantonment Board is waiting for the green signal to implement a proposal which once sanctioned will provide land in Shabana Pind area to these dairy owners. “The board has already sent the proposal to the state government and it is likely to be sanctioned within a month,” Mr K.J.S. Chauhan, the board’s Chief Executive Officer, said. “Moreover, we have already removed around 11 dairies from the area.” Mr Chauhan admitted that before the removal of these milkmen, there was a need for the creation of rehabilitation sites. He said that the board did not have enough staff to catch these cattle. “As such, under an incentive scheme, the local residents are being paid about Rs 75 for handing over stray cattle to the authorities. Besides, usually in a month, around 25 cattle are caught, which are later sent to various gaushalas outside the Cantonment area.”
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Documentary films best for historical subjects: Dhillon
Acting is too small a job for him. He wants to be associated with the entire process of film making, right from direction to editing to screening. This is what Mangal Dhillon, earlier better known for his roles in Bollywood movies, feels.
“Restricting myself to acting is not fulfilling for me. As a writer, director, producer and editor, I feel satisfied when the film finally rolls out,” he tells us. On his latest documentary film “The Inseparables — A Sikh and his Turban”, he says the film aims at providing information about the close relation of a Sikh with his turban. “The documentary becomes all the more relevant as the turban controversy in France has still not been resolved. I feel there’s a need to tell the people from other countries about the significance of the turban,” he adds. Expressing his preference for documentary as a medium of depicting historical subjects and incidents, he says, “In a feature film, you tend to take liberties. And you are tempted to tinker with facts. In our case, we required a documented history, and for that, we had to stick to the documentary mode.” He is ready to vouch that “The Inseparables” is not a preachy film, though he admits that the film is for intelligentsia. For masses, he plans to make another film “No Turban, No Sikh”. He has quite a few ventures to look forward to. “Saaka-Sarhind” is about the martyrdom of the Sahibzadas, while “A Tribute to Sikhism” deals with the devotion of the white American Sikhs. A film on the dark alleys of drug addiction is also in pipeline. Interestingly, Dhillon, for all his pro-turban stance, does not seem to be overly optimistic about special grooming schools for Sikh (turbaned) models. “If anything sells, it is a big business. Once the agencies realise that turbaned models are in demand, they will try to cash in on it. There’s nothing more to this,” he says, as a matter of fact.
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AICTE approval for new seats comes too late
The technical education system in the state seems to be getting invariably into mess. One month after various universities and their affiliated colleges in Punjab held two rounds of counselling for BTech as well as MBA/MCA, and happily commenced the new session, Punjab Technical University (PTU) has finally got the much-awaited AICTE approval on increasing or decreasing the seats in colleges affiliated with it. But it is all too late.
While the university authorities are yet to receive a copy of the approval order, Dr V.K. Arora, PTU Dean (academics), said that he had confirmed the matter from the AICTE’s official website. He said the written communiqué from the council might arrive by this evening. But this puts the students in a dicey position. Those who had been trying for an admission in BTech (electronics) but had to settle for their second priority due to lack of seats are the most confused. Harpreet Singh and Ashish, both students of a local engineering college, say they have already paid the fee for reservation of seat. “The approval from the council has come too late. Had we been given any information about the increase of seats for BTech (electronics) earlier, we definitely wouldn’t have gone for BTech (mechanical).” Refund from the colleges, they say, is almost uncertain. “Now, we may not be able to try for electronics due to the financial burden on our parents.” College authorities are also not happy with the AICTE’s delayed decision. The colleges say they had applied for an increase or decrease in the number of seats almost eight months ago and were expecting a relatively quicker decision. “Had we got this sanction at the time of counselling, we would easily have got more meritorious students into our college. But now we have to fill up our seats with only those students who have not been able to get seats anywhere,” rues Mr Ashok Mittal, director of Lovely institutes. This is not the first time that changes have been made in PTU’s tally of seats. In June this year, the AICTE slashed almost 900 seats in 14 engineering and management colleges under PTU. But most of these were restored a few days before the counselling started. Around that time, a new college in Kharar also got PTU affiliation. This latest change in the number of seats is perhaps the third such exercise. Lovely Institutes have got the best deal from the AICTE with the approval for 180 new seats, which include 60 each for MBA, MCA and BTech (computer science.) The seats in each of the three courses have been doubled. The other colleges where seats have been increased include the Sri Sai College of Engineering (Pathankot), the Punjab College of Technical Education (Baddowal), Sahibzada Ajit Singh College (Mohali), the Chandigarh College of Engineering (Landran) and the Sri Sukhmani Institute of Engineering and Technology (Dera Bassi.) But 30 seats each have also been reduced in BTech (electrical) at Sri Sukhmani Institute and BTech (civil) at the Sri Sai College of Engineering. Meanwhile, Dr Arora, PTU Dean (academics), says the Punjab government had sent a notification that admission to technical colleges could be conducted at management level till September 30, and as such, the approval was well within the time frame. He claimed there should not be much problem in filling up the new seats.
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Punjab Technical University during a function at the Apeejay College of Fine Arts felicitated Ms Sushma Berlia, president of the Apeejay Satya Group. Ms Berlia inaugurated a photography and sculpture exhibition and addressed the college staff emphasising the need for government-industry collaboration in promoting research.
A special function to emphasise the use of Hindi as the national language was also held at the Apeejay College of Fine Arts. Speaking on the occasion, SBI’s assistant general manager, Mr R.K. Kaul, stressed on the need to promote the language in the field of industry and computers. UK tour A delegation of 34 students and five teachers from Mayor World School recently left for an educational and cultural exchange tour to the United Kingdom. Mayor World has tied up with Westgate Primary School in Morecamble and Ripley High School in Lancaster for this exchange programme. Office-bearers Ms Manpreet was elected president of the Amrita Pritam Society at the Prem Chand Markanda SD College for Women recently. Ms Meenakshi was elected as the vice-president, while Ms Seema was elected secretary and Ms Iswinder, the joint secretary. A debate on “Pen is mightier than the sword”, was also held on The English Literary Society of the college gave lessons on communication skills. Dr Sukhdev Singh, Head of Department, English, Guru Nanak Dev University, addressed the function. Quiz competition Lawrence International School organised an inter-house quiz competition for class VIII to XI students. The Jawahar House bagged the top position, while the Bhagat House stood second. School upgraded Emm Aar International School, a venture of the Saraswati Educational Society, Adampur, has been upgraded to the status of senior secondary school, with the CBSE granting it affiliation up to Plus Two. Yoga camp A yoga and meditation camp was held at Seth Hukum Chand SD Public School. In the camp, students were taught how to sharpen memory with yogic exercises, along with exercises to keep fit and healthy. (Compiled by Anuradha Shukla)
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Illegal colony in Kapurthala thrives
on political patronage
This slum came up four years ago on government land. And it’s flourishing. Near Melon Mandi in Shekhupur, the illegal colony has even got water and electricity connections.
The municipal authorities here More than 200 huts that comprise this colony mostly house the migrant labourers. As the homeless encroach upon the government land, it also sadly adds to the woes of the nearby Shekhupur village. Slums usually don’t have any bathrooms. Hence, residents of the colony use the open area around the village for nature’s call. “The unhygienic conditions in the slum can be a potential source of disease. Unless this problem is tackled, it can have serious consequences,” says a resident of a nearby locality. Local residents blame the slum’s survival on politicians looking for a vote bank. It is alleged that during the Akali Dal regime, local politicians helped encroachers to set up jhuggis at the government land. It is also alleged that Congress leaders, in last assembly elections, allocated eight water connections to the colony. When enquired about the official procedure adopted in providing basic amenities to the encroachers, authorities both at the Electricity Board and the Municipal Committee, feigned ignorance but assured of looking into the matter.
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