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Plea for more farm shows on TV
Ludhiana, January 18 This was the common refrain at a meeting of the Scientific Advisory Committee at Faridkot on Tuesday. The farmers also suggested to the Director, Extension Education, Dr S.S. Gill, who presided over the meeting, to have the telecast time changed from 5.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. The farmers argued that 70 per cent of the Punjab population was dependent on agriculture and the share of agriculture to the GDP was nearly 40 per cent. Therefore, it was imperative that more agriculture-related programmes were telecast for a longer duration, at least for 30 minutes daily at 6.30 p.m., when most farmers are home from the fields. Some farmers objected to the use of cow dung for manufacturing “fire bricks” by a private entrepreneur in Faridkot. They said cow dung was a rich source of manure and its misuse should be stopped. In fact, farmers were being asked not to burn cow dung cakes or use these as fuel. Farmer Gursewak Singh of Malsihan Bhaike near Jagraon talked of the need to conserve and manage water in urban areas. He said it was unfair to find fault lines only in the agriculture sector when it came to use of water for irrigation. There must be a way to make an estimate of the quantity of water wasted in cities and towns. Appropriate legislative measures were needed in building designs to conserve water. Another point which the farmers raised in the Scientific Advisory Committee was marketing and pricing of diversified crops. A farmer rued that basmati sown by him went abegging in the mandi for several days. The government agency concerned did not extend help on whose advice it was sown. Dr Gill assured the farmers that the university would take cognizance of their grievances. He urged the farmers to follow the practices recommended by the university for various farm operation. The views expressed by farmers were endorsed by representatives of the officers of agriculture-related departments.
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Vet staff to be imparted regular training
Ludhiana, January 18 Mr Kang stated that regular training of staff was important to improve the conception rate of our cattle. He said a state of the art training centre was being set up at Chatamali village in Ropar district at a cost of Rs 1 crore, where training would be provided in modern techniques of management of dairying farming to prospective dairy farmers and field staff also. Mr Kang said during the ensuing year the Animal Husbandry department had done 12,57,137 artificial inseminations in cattle and 7,640,17 in buffaloes, while appreciating Ropar, Muktsar, Patiala districts for doing exceedingly well on this front. The Animal Husbandry Minister called upon the deputy directors of different districts to pull up their socks and monitor the working of the field staff so that benefit of government schemes reaches the grassroots level and economy of dairy farmers was improved. Mr Kang also reviewed the working of Fisheries and Dairy Development Departments. The Secretary, Animal Husbandry, Mr D S Bains, stressed upon the need to raise the artificial insemination targets in cattle so that cattle breeding programme of the Government of India was implemented in letter and spirit. In addition to deputy directors from different districts of state, Additional Secretary Surjit Singh Dhillon, Director, Animal Husbandry B.S. Sidhu, Director, Dairy, Anil Kaura and Director, Fisheries, JS Panaich were also present.
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US expert asks PAU to identify foods for global market
Ludhiana, January 18 Delivering a lecture on “Food Industry and University Partnership” to PAU faculty and students, Prof Alvarez stated that the university should identify key Indian foods for national and international markets. He said short and long-term business plans needed to be developed. Lauding the role of PAU in ushering in the green revolution, he cautioned that the next challenge now was not food production, but value addition. Food industry in India has the potential of becoming one of the largest business sectors. Indian food was healthy, tasty and at time spicy too. The lecture was organised here yesterday under the auspices of the PAU Science Club. In the near future, a high demand is expected for organic food which is prepared without the use of hormones, antibiotics, herbicides, insecticides, chemical fertilisers, genetic modification or germ-killing radiation. Similarly, people were also demanding natural food minimally processed. Talking about the food trends in the USA, Prof Valente said over 60 per cent population in America was overweight. About 13 per cent children and 14 per cent adolescents were overweight. Hence, the preference for low-fat food was growing. Food safety and bio-security was a big issue in the US food industry. By the year 2010, about 51 per cent households would be of single persons and about 55 per cent houses would comprise men as home-makers. Hence, the eating habits and demand for food types were expected to change drastically. The Dean, Post-graduate Studies, PAU, Dr Darshan Singh underlined the need to further strengthen the Food Industry centre. Calling for diversifying the produce into products, he invited the industry to play a pivotal role as agriculture was in crisis with declining profitability and depleting natural resources. The dean, College of
Agriculture, Dr G.S. Chahal, said the university would concentrate on partnership in the area of food processing. Also, food processors’ association in the state would be formed. Steps for confidence-building with the industry had already been initiated. The Punjab Agricultural University was planning to sensitise policymakers for attracting the private industry in food processing enterprise. Bulk projects for negotiation with industry through the state government and setting up of modern vegetable and fruit markets were also in the pipeline.
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Education fair draws crowds
Ludhiana, January 18 As per the information, the University of Windsor, Singapore Education, FHRAI Institute of Hospitality Management and Chinese Medical Programmes got a good response. Mr Siddhartha Jain, Chief Marketing Operations said with the changing times, a lot many courses were being introduced for students in India and abroad and appropriate guidance was a must to start a career. During these two-day fair, students would be provided with up-to-date information on professional courses within various streams, including management, computer education, medical, fashion, multimedia, hotel management, tourism, graphic design, beautycare, language courses, call centers etc. One of the consultants at the Indian Air Force stall said: “We are getting a lot many queries. It is good to see the enthusiasm among students to join the Air Force. They are clear about what they want to become but they are unaware of the process”. Another consultant at the FHRAI Institute of Hospitality Management (with academic consulting and certification from Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne, Switzerland) said their four-year degree course cost about Rs 8 lakh. The institute was started a year ago. “We have already enrolled 45 students so far and the response has been excellent”, he said. Educational consultants from Singapore, the UK, France, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Australia, Switzerland, the USA, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Cyprus, Russia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Thailand are taking part in the fair.
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Seminar on WTO begins
Ludhiana, January 18 The keynote address was delivered by Prof A.C. Julka, Department of Economics, Panjab University, Chandigarh. The speaker said the world economy had been changing fast in the post-war period and the changes were quick and far reaching in 1990's. One of the important changes was the introduction of globalisation. This globalisation accelerated the level of interdependence and competitiveness among nations. The seminar aimed at assessing whether the WTO mechanism and agreements posed challenges and risks to nations. The sub-themes of the seminar will be the WTO and its impact on agriculture sector, industrial sector, service sector, trade and post-Hongkong ministerial analysis. Prof Sucha Singh Gill, Department of Economics, Punjabi University, Patiala, will be the keynote speaker tomorrow.
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Move on status of blood donors welcomed
Ludhiana, January 18 Dr J.G. Jolly, consultant in the Department of Transfusion Medicine, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, said in a statement here today that until now the donors were not being informed about their HIV status with the apprehension that it might adversely affect the availability of voluntary blood donors. This had been conveyed to the government by the National Aids Control Organisation. Divulging the status of a blood donor was important to ensure safe blood. He observed that if this information was not given to the donors, they would continue to give blood at other centres and also transmit infection to their partners.
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Neurosurgeon joins Oswal
hospital
Ludhiana, January 18
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Sushyant, Nakul star in Sanatan Vidya Mandir win
Ludhiana, January 18 The meet is being organised by the Ludhiana District Cricket Association under the aegis of the Punjab Cricket Association. The match was curtailed to 30 overs due to bad weather. Spring Dale School won the toss and elected to bat. They scored 127 runs for the loss of nine wickets in the allotted 30 overs. The main contributors were Saurav, who remained unbeaten on 45, and Aatish and Nikhil, who scored 10 runs each. For Sanatan Vidya Mandir, Deepak Bansal was the most successful bowler, claiming three wickets for 15 runs. Nakul Sharma and Vinod captured two wickets each for 26 and 20 runs, respectively. Sanatan Vidya Mandir achieved the target in the 14th over after losing four wickets. Their innings revolved around Sushyant Kohli and Nakul Sharma. Deepak Bansal scored 12 runs. Spring Dale’s Darshan was the main bowler who chipped in with two wickets for 15 runs, while Karan and Harpreet grabbed one wicket each. Local industrialist and sports promoter Subhash Dawar inaugurated the match. He was accompanied by sports in-charge of Sanatan Vidya Mandir School Mangat Sharma.
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Check noise pollution or face action, marriage
Ludhiana, January 18 In order to ensure compliance of the order, he had already passed orders under Section 144 of CrPC. As per the orders, the noise level at public places would not exceed 10 dB(A) above the ambient noise standards for the area or 75 dB(A), whichever was lower. He said no one could beat a drum or blow a trumpet or any other instrument between 10 pm and 6 am except in public emergencies. It was also ordered that the peripheral noise level of privately owned sound system shall not exceed 5 dB(A). There shall be complete ban on bursting firecrackers between 10 pm and 6 am. He directed marriage palace owners to give a copy of the orders to those booking the marriage hall and take receipt from them. Before letting any DJ or sound system organisers enter the marriage palace, they should take down the name and address of the DJ system/music system owner and give a copy of the court orders to them. In case the DJ did not comply with the orders, the marriage palace owner shall be duty bound to inform the nearest police station or a police control room on 100. If any violation was made, the instrument would be confiscated. Mr Ravcharan Singh Brar, DSP, has been asked to sensitise all SHOs in this regard. Mr Amarjit Singh, president of the Ludhiana Marriage Palaces Welfare Association, and Mr N.S. Nanda, president of the Hotel and Restaurants Association, assured the Deputy Commissioner that they would comply with the orders.
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