Mock test series for Class X students
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, December 21
‘Steps’, a division of BetterThink Learning Systems is organising a mock test series for Class X from December 25, 2005, in their centre at Sarabha Nagar, here. The test series would be based on the pattern of the CBSE Board Examination and would be held every weekend till February 25, 2006.

Class X is the milestone in every student’s career, after which they decide as to which field they have to pursue:

The series would begin with an orientation session held on every Saturday from 6 pm to 7 pm, followed by a mathematics and science test on alternate Sundays from 10 am to 1 pm.

A performance improvement chart will be chalked out for individual students and be provided to the students along with individual scores. Test discussion along with complete solution will be held every Saturday.

The focus areas would be, time management, error identification, presentation improvement, calculation shortcuts and drawing skills.

An online feedback will be given to students through www. stepsedu. com, where the students would get, question wise comparative analysis, section wise comparative analysis and overall performance comparison and ranking.

From Schools
KVM organises elocution contest
Our Correspondent

The stage was conducted by Abhishek Sangar, Garima Gupta and Shekar Kapoor. The judges were Ms Aruna Pawar and Ms Kirat Grewal, the heads of Hindi and English Departments. Not only the contest but the gap items presented by Sadaf, Tamana and Diksha were also appreciated.

Show organised

Alpine International Senior Secondary School organised a show titled ‘Snow Heaven’ here today in the school campus. The scene presented something similar to a scene of snow capped mountains of Kashmir. The life and culture of Kashmir was presented. The children presented themselves in traditional Kashmiri costumes.

Quiz contest organised
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, December 21
IT Gladiators, a forum of IT people at the Gujranwala Guru Nanak Institute of Vocational Studies, organised the Mega Mind Testers (quiz contest) . This was the first event in a series of seminars, debates, quiz contests, group discussions, which will be held in coming days.

The function was inaugurated by Mr Harmohinder Singh, joint secretary, and Mr Kuljit Singh, assistant secretary, Khalsa Educational Council. Navpreet Brar and Kamal Rana of Jasmine Team were the winners of the quiz contest out of five participating teams. In group discussion, Manisha and Ajay of MBA and Gaurav of BSc IT bagged first, second and third positions, respectively. Quiz contest and group discussion were followed by cultural items by students.

Mr Kuldip Singh, director, and Mr Manjit Singh Chhabra, coordinator, encouraged the students to organise and participate in these kinds of extra-curricular activities. The audiences appreciated the efforts of IT Gladiators team in this direction.

Sweater distribution function

A sweater distribution function was organised at Govt Elementary Middle School, Kailash Nagar, under the supervision of Headmistress Ms Balwinder Kaur. The sweaters were donated by Mr Ajit Singh Mangat and Ms Nirmal Devi, former teachers of the school. The needy students received the sweaters. The chief guest of the function was Dr Rajiv Tiwari, social worker of the area.

Teachers urged to provide latest information to students
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, December 21
Teachers should provide the latest knowledge and information on education and must concentrate on making the subjects and topics more interesting by using teaching and learning marterials (TLMs), said Ms Gurdeep Kaur, Principal Govt In service Training Centre (GITC), while addressing about two hundred teachers of the district in the “Teachers training programme”, which commenced at the GITC here today.

Teachers from Ludhiana Blocks I, II & III and Mangat Blocks I, II& III are participating in this training programme, being organised under the SSA on the directions of DG (school administration) Mr Anurag Aggarwal, IAS Secretary (Education), Ms Tejinder Kaur, IAS, and SCERT Director Dr (Ms) Harcharanjit Kaur Brar.

Ms Gurdeep Kaur also advised teachers to come up to the expectations of the students and perform their duties more efficiently so as to improve the educational standards of the state. She said, “Government School teachers are more competent and hence they should deliver more while imparting information and technology to the students.”

She also announced that an exhibition on TLMs, prepared by participating teachers, would be displayed on December 23 at the GITC.

Director DEO (Ms) Manjit Kaur also spoke about the importance of in-service training. Among those present on the occasion included lecturers Ms Savita Chadha, Shashi Trchan, Davinder Singh Chhina, H.S. Manocha, Pradeep Kumar, Mr Prem Lal Sharma (DPE) and members of the GITC staff.

BVM students for national meet
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, December 21
On the basis of their performance during the North Zone Athletics Championship held at Amritsar recently, the following 12 students of the local Bhartiya Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School have been selected to represent North Zone in the National Athletics Championship to be organised by the Vidya Bharti from December 24 to 29 at Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh.

According to Mr Baljeet Singh Gill, Director Sports, BVM Educational Institutions, Ludhiana, Mr Mitter Sen, President, BVM Trust wished these students good luck. The names of students are: girls (u-14 years) — Ganga Gautam for 600 m race, Priya Semphlay for shot put; boys (u-17 years) — Amandeep Singh for 800 m race; girls ( u-19 years)- Priya Bawa for 1500 m, 5000 m and cross country races; Manisha Verma for 800 m and 3 km cross country race; Rupali Arora for 100 m and 200 m races; Manisha Gupta for 400 m race and Sakshi Talwar for 3 km cross country race; boys ( u-19 years) — Deepak Soi for 100 m and 200 m races, Jasbir Singh for 400 m race, Jatin Ahuja for 400 m hurdles and Deepak Gautam for 800 m and 1500 m races.

AGRICULTURE

Kisan mela camp organised
Our Correspondent

Samrala, December 21
A Kisan Mela camp was organised by the local branch of State Bank of Patiala in Naulari Kalan village, 10 km from here yesterday, in which Assistant Manager Balwinder Kumar was the chief guest.

On this occasion Deputy Manager Ram Pal told about the new schemes of the banks for the farmers and weaker sections of society. Apart from this, the customers of the banks could get loans for the studies of their children and even for the marriage ceremonies of their brothers/sisters, daughters or sons.

Mr Kumar said the loan facilities had been simplified for dairy, poultry, piggery, fisheries and flower farming.

Among others who spoke about the problems of farmers were Mr Satnam Singh, Agriculture Officer, and Mr Jagjit Singh, sarpanch of Naulari village.

Summons to PAU for denying information
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 21
Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has been summoned by the Punjab State Information Commission for not disclosing information, sought by a city industrialist who is also a former PAU official, under the Right to Information Act (RTI).

On a complaint by Mr Vidya Sagar, who worked with PAU for over 35 years and has retired as a Senior Draftsman Grade 1 (Architecture Department), the commission has asked the Additional Director, PAU, to appear before it on December 22, 2005.

Mr Sagar stated in his complaint to the Chief Information Commissioner of the Punjab State Information Commission on November 26, 2005, that he had sought information pertaining to his service records but was denied the same by the Additional Director for Communication-cum-Public Information Officer and later also by the Registrar of the university.

“I needed this information to claim pension and other service benefits for which I wrote 11 applications, including seven requests and subsequent reminders. However, I was denied information,” Mr Vidya Sagar told the Ludhiana Tribune.

Among the documents that the complainant sought were three service books and a service certificate. “In all I asked for 89 documents and the penalty works out to be Rs 22.25 lakh,” said Mr Sagar, who also urged the commission to penalise the university at the rate of Rs 25,000 per document.

Acknowledging receipt of two requests by Mr Vidya Sagar, the Additional Director of Communication-cum Public Information Officer, Centre for Communication, Languages and Culture, in a written reply stated that “under Section 8(1)(i) of the Act (RTI), the information cannot be given as it is not in public interest”.

Bar association poll results

Ludhiana, December 21
The Dhanda group has stormed back to power in the District Bar Association, with its candidate, Mr Naval Kishore Chibber, winning the election of the president of the North India’s largest body of lawyers.

He defeated his nearest rival, Mr K.K. Bagai, by a margin of 66 votes, here yesterday. Mr Chibber polled 531 votes, while Mr Bagai managed 465 votes. The third contestant for the same post, Mr Vijay B. Verma, secured 206 votes.

Mr Bagai has lost the election for the post of the president for the second time. He was a candidate of sitting Bar President, Mr Balwinder Goel, who was heading the Bar Association for the past two years. Mr Sunil Dutt of the Dhanda group was elected the vice-president. He defeated his opponent, Mr Baldev Arora, of the Goel group by a margin of 32 votes. Mr Dutt secured 550 votes, while Mr Arora got 528 ballots. The third contestant Mr Ajaib Singh got 111 votes.

Mr Rajneesh Gupta, a candidate of the Goel group, was elected secretary of the association. He defeated his nearest rival Mr Harpreet Singh Makkar by a margin of 116 votes. Mr Gupta secured 552 votes, while Mr Makkar got 436 votes. Other two contestants for the same post, Mr Sanjiv Malhotra got 161 votes and Mr Arun Khurmi got only 46 votes.

Out of the 1318 votes, 1207 votes were polled. Five votes were declared invalid, as per the information provided by the returning officer, Mr S.K. Pathak and assistant returning officer, Mr P.S. Batra.

Mr Harnam Dass Johar, Education Minister, Punjab, former minister, Mr Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, Mr Sukhminder Pal Grewal, former president, Bhartiya Janata Party, Yuva Morcha Punjab cast their votes, being member of the association.

Mr V.K. Goyal of the Dhanda group was declared elected the joint secretary. He defeated his opponent Mr R.B. Vashisht by a margin of 24 votes. Mr Goyal got 593 votes and Mr Vashisht got 569 votes. — OC