EDUCATION

Industry effort needed to rev up agriculture: VC
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 23
The PAU Vice-Chancellor, Dr K.S. Aulakh has stressed that it is high time the public-private partnership was forged to ensure agricultural transformation. A blue-print, along these lines, was drawn at an interface between agricultural scientists and captains of industry at Delhi recently.

Dr K.S.Aulakh, who attended the ICAR-industry meet inaugurated by the Union Minister for Agriculture, Consumer Affairs Food and Public Distribution, Mr Sharad Pawar, said all along private sector had benefitted from the Green Revolution which increased the demand for farm inputs, including plant-protection chemicals to fertilisers to seeds.

Infact, with the government providing infrastructure and support price for the produce, private sector gained without any direct involvement and investment in the Green Revolution, Dr Aulakh added.

It was now time for the private sector to financially support the public sector for generation and commercialisation of new ventures for mutual benefit of farmers and private entrepreneurs.

Dr Aulakh said besides scientist-farmer interaction, public-private sector interaction was imperative. This new linkage had to be strengthened.

This could be done through need- based financial support to public sector institutes to generate new technologies.

He said need and type of partnership and current status of operation of partnership should be kept in view for this venture.

Referring to the government’s support in terms of price and market, the VC said such support was available for only wheat and paddy. Involvement of private sector could contribute value addition for other cereals.

Such intervention of the private sector would help farmers with the support of the universities to produce quality food.

The private sector, infact, should support research projects in the universities to develop technologies to help itself, Dr Aulakh stressed.

This could be done if the industry sponsored specific research projects to meet operational costs of undertaking the research work of direct relevance to the private sector, he emphasised.

“The public sector institutes have adequately trained and competent scientific community whose services remained under-utilised for want of contingent grant to meet the cost of equipment, chemicals, acquisition of new literature etc,” he added.

Dr Aulakh also emphasised the need for training of graduating students in private-sector industry. During his interaction with captains of the industry at Delhi, he said Punjab Agricultural University had taken the initiative to forge public-private entrepreneurship. Consequently, Sir Ratan Tata Trust had sponsored programmes on revival of Green Revolution through diversification by encouraging farmers to take up cultivation of maize, groundnut and basmati rice. 

‘Laado — My Girl Child’ appeals to audience
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 23
Students of the local Ryan School enacted a play, “Laado — My Girl Child”, at Guru Nanak Bhavan yesterday. The use of interplay, fabrication of imagination, dance performance and narrations through puppets, which were crafted by the students, coupled with superb acting by the young minds made it an extraordinary play.

The play centred around female foeticide. The students presented grim realities of results of female foeticide in the next 50 years. A scene of the play set in 2056 — the boys are tying rakhis to their brothers.

Utkarsh Marwah, creative director with the school, said the children wrote the play, made puppets and did paintings depicting infanticide at a 15-day workshop held on the school premises from January 9. It culminated yesterday.

Mr Anurag Verma, Deputy Commissioner, was the chief guest at the concluding function. He said required attention could not be accorded to tackle the problem of foeticide in the state. He said in Punjab there were only 873 women after 1,000 men. During 1991 to 2001, the number of females after 1,000 males in the age group of 0 to 6 years was only 793.

Mr Verma, expressing serious concern over the prevailing myth in the society that the girls are inferior to the boys and a lot of dowry is required for the marriage of girls, said with the spread of education among the girls, they were making excellent achievements in every field. 

Students’ show on female foeticide
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 23
As a part of their crusade against ‘female foeticide’ and ‘gender inequality’, the students of Ryan International School staged a street show at Satguru Partap Singh Apollo Hospitals here today.

The children, in all their innocence, enacted scenes from different strata of the society, wherein they depicted how deeply gender bias was entrenched in the society and the serious repercussions the menace could have in the times to come if timely remedial steps were not taken.

Mr Jugdiep Singh, Director, SPS Apollo Hospitals, while felicitating the students, hailed this unique initiative by the youngsters.

He stressed the fact that it was education and awareness only which could help the society in saving the girl child and preventing female foeticide.

The street show was well-attended by a large number of people, including medical and para-medical staff of the hospital, who lauded this bold and educative endeavour of the young students.

Mr Jugdiep Singh also presented mementos to all students who performed in the street show.

School holds eco quiz
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 23
The Junior Humanities Forum, along with the Eco Club of Kundan Vidya Mandir School organised an intra-school eco quiz on the premises of the school here today. Six teams participated in it. The entertainment round of the quiz featured songs based on flora and fauna.

Team-E comprising Charu Malhotra Class VI-E, Sidarth Sachdeva VII-C, and Jasnoor Basra VIII-E won the quiz. Team- F of Vishal Gupta VI-F, Upasana Sharma VII-F and Rajul Jain VIII-C was the first runners up while Team -A with Piyush Jain VI-A, Tushant Saigal VII-A and Gurbir Singh VIII-A remained the second runners up.

Annual day celebrations: A prize-distribution function marked the annual day celebration of Sacred Heart Convent School, Bhattian, Jalandhar Road, here on Monday. The function was inaugurated by chief guest B.S. Brar, Senior Town Planner, Punjab. The students presented dance and skits. 

CULTURE

Sufi singer enthrals
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 23
On the second day of golden jubilee celebrations of the Malwa Central College of Education for Women here yesterday an alumni meet was held at the college with around 70 former students attending it.

Mr K.K. Bhatia, former lecturer of the college, welcomed all guests of the evening. Dr Saroop Singh Alag, the oldest member of the Alumni Association, shared his experiences as a student of the college. Taranjeet, Head Girl of the college, recited Gurmit Barsal’s poem “Sabhiachar”.

Mr Dev Dildar, a renowned Sufi singer, sang kalams of Baba Bulle Shah and Shiv Kumar Batalvi. He enthralled the audience with the poems of Surjit Pattar.

Dr Gian Singh Mann, former Principal of Government College for Boys, was the chief guest of the evening. In his presidential address he recited two of his poems.

Mr Pritpal Singh Grewal, president of the Khalsa Dewan, along with members of the college managing committee, were among the prominent persons present at the celebrations.

HEALTH

Early detection of gynae cancer stressed
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 23
A seminar was conducted by the Obstetrics and Gynaecological Society of Northern India in collaboration with the Department of Gynaecological Oncology, Mohan Dai Oswal Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation, here yesterday. Doctors stressed the need for early detection and treatment of the gynaecological cancers.

More than 150 gynaecologists from the region participated in the seminar, which deliberated on the theme — “Malignant gynaecology and benign gynaecologists”. In the course of different technical sessions, gynaecologists from several reputed institutions presented their papers.

Dr Raman Arora from the Mohan Dai Hospital spoke about the role of chemotherapy in epithelial ovarian cancer, while Dr Satish Jain discussed carcinoma breast in pregnancy. Dr Vanita Suri from the PGI, Chandigarh, outlined the intricacies of role of HPV vaccine in carcinoma cervix as her colleague from the same institution, Dr Lakhbir Kaur Dhaliwal, discussed surgical management of the condition.

Dr G.K. Rath from AIIMS, New Delhi, delivered a lecture on recent trends in radiation oncology for management of gynaecological cancers.

Dr Vanita Jain from the PGI, Chandigarh, Dr Kumud Gupta from IGMC, Shimla, Dr Amarjeet Singh Rattan, Dr Poonam Goyal, Dr Mary Abraham and Dr Sunita Modi presented their papers on different aspects of gynaecological oncology.

The speakers emphasised that early detection and treatment of the disease was important for better results. A panel discussion on gestational trophoblastic tumours was conducted to sensitise the gynaecologists with the latest advances in diagnosis and management of cancer. 

Docs express concern over rise in heart diseases
Our Correspondent

Mandi Ahmedgarh, January 23
Dr Kahna Vijay Kumar, a renowned cardiac surgeon, and Dr Pardeep Kapoor, a chest specialist, have shown concern over the increasing frequency of cardio-vascular and pulmonary diseases among men and women living in the suburban and rural areas.

They made these observations after examining patients at a free medical check-up and heart care camp organised by the local Hind Hospital and Bharat Vikas Parishad, Hargobindpura, yesterday.

After going through the reports of around 600 patients, who came for diagnostic tests and treatment at the camp, the doctors said, “Observations have revealed that contrary to previous trend, now younger men and women suffer more from cardio-vascular and pulmonary abnormalities”.

The doctors said about 60 per cent of the total world patients of heart and chest were Indians and 25 per cent of them were Punjabis.

They said the situation was so alarming that four Indians died of these diseases every minute. They advised patients to keep their environment clean and pollution free and avoid smoking, drinking, stress and strain.

Exercise and meditation were said to be other measures to keep one’s heart and other vital organs healthy.

Earlier, the camp was inaugurated by Mr Harpreet Singh, member SGPC, and Mr Kedar Kapila, group leader of the Ahmedgarh Vidya Parcharak Sabha, was the chief guest.

Dr Jyotsana Kapoor, Dr Sunit Hind and Dr Kiranpreet Rangi examined patients for various ailments. Spirometer, ECG, ultrasound scan and other diagnostic tests were conducted free of cost. 

Rotarians to hold free eye camp today
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 23
The Rotary Club, Ludhiana Central, will organise a free eye checkup and operation camp at Swami Vivekanand Hospital, Model Town extension, on January 24 to mark the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand.

Mr Harish Singla, project chairman, said Dr Manjot Gill, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at North-West University of Chicago and a renowned retina specialist, would conduct eye examination of the patients and perform surgical procedures.

Dr Varinder Aggarwal, a noted physician practicing in Detroit (USA), will also be present at the camp and render advice to patients with medical problems.

Punjab, Haryana share honours in hockey
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, January 23
Hosts Punjab had mixed luck in hockey as the boys team routed Delhi 6-0 to bag the title whereas the Punjab girls went down fighting to Haryana 1-3 in the under-14 category and had to content with the silver medal in the 51st National School Games which concluded here today.

In the boys’ section, Chandigarh beat Madhya Pradesh 5-1 to finish third and in the girls’ section Rajasthan won the third position. In the match for the hard-cup, Rajasthan eves proved too good for Maharasthra whom they beat 6-1.

In baskeball, Punjab boys and girls gave an excellent performance to clinch the titles. In the under-17 category, Punjab cagers proved their supremacy over Madhya Pradesh 64-52 while in the girls’ section, hosts recorded a convincing win over Delhi 62-29 to clinch the title.

In the boys’ section, Haryana while Maharasthra in the girls’ section finished third. In the matches to decide third positions, Haryana lads trounced Maharashtra 65-26 and Maharashtra eves beat Karnataka 54-39.

Ms Tejinder Kaur, Principal Secretary, Education, Punjab gave away prizes to the winners. Mr R. Venkatratnam, Special Secretary, Education, Punjab, along with Mr Sahdu Singh Randhwa, DPI, Mr Jagtar Singh Khatra, DPI, Mr Ashok Sachdeva, Deputy Director, Mr Kuldeep Singh Dhillon, chief organiser, Mr Yash Pal Mehra, DEO, Mr Sohan Singh Pannu, AEO, Principal Bachhittar Singh, Mr Sukhdev Lal Khullar, Mr Tarsem Chadn Patran, Mr Rupinder Singh Gill, Mr Kammikar Singh, Mr Gurvinder Singh Kila Raipur, Mr Dalvinder Singh Minhas and Mr Makhan Singh, were among other prominent officials who attended the prize-distribution function. 

City players bag 13 medals in kickboxing
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, January 23
A 15-member Ludhiana team which took part in the inaugural Punjab State Kickboxing Championship held at Sangrur from January 20 to 22 returned with a rich haul of 13 medals including four gold.

According to Mr Surinder Sehra, honorary secretary, Ludhiana District Kickboxing Association (LDKA), players made the city proud by finishing among position holders in this meet. The medal winners are Gold: Vidhu Anand, Mandeep Singh, Kanika Kataria and Rajni; Silver: Puru Mittal, Padam Bali, Tarun Sharma, Umesh Kumar and Parveen; Bronze: Dishu Diwan, Harjeet Singh, Ravinder Singh and Tajinder Kaur.

Mr Mohinder Kumar Chopra, president, LDKA, who provided a kit containing uniform, head guards and teeth guards to all the players when they left for Sangrur congratulated the boys and girls for bringing laurels to the city and wished them more success in future tournaments.

Cricket meet begins today
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, January 23
Eight teams, PSEB from Patiala, Rana Club, Sports Club and BBF XI from Ludhiana, Sports Club from Amritsar, FC Sondhi Club from Jalandhar, Mohali Cricket Association XI of Mohali and JK XI from Jammu will take part in the first Shaheed Ramesh Chander Memorial Cricket Tournament to be held here on Daresi ground from January 24 to 31.

According to Mr Dalip Kumar, chief organiser of the Shaheed Ramesh Chander Memorial Welfare Society, 30 overs each side matches will be played in this week-long tournament. The inaugural match will be played on January 24 between Sports Club, Ludhiana, and FC Sondhi Club of Jalandhar.