Chandigarh, February 20
An emergency meeting of the executive body of the Joint Action Committee, Government Teachers Union, UT, was today called to discuss its long- pending demands.

During the meeting, the members expressed concern over the leak of Hindi question paper of class VIII.

The GTU has already submitted to the Registrar a detailed note on the “mismanagement” in Annual Middle Standard Examination being conducted by the Education Department, such as non-payment of remuneration to the supervisory staff, head examiners and sub-examiners.

The executive body demanded an inquiry into the incident. The members expressed surprise that the District Education Officer had no role to play in the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan and AMSE-2006 and important assignments were being given to retired employees of the department.

A general body meeting of the executive body has been called for March 2 to discuss other demands like promotion of UT cadre to teachers pending for the past 15 years, release of year-wise seniority list, reversion of principals and review of ACR performa.

Chandigarh, February 20
The DAV College Teachers Union today welcomed the decision of the Punjab Government and Vice-Chancellors of the universities in Punjab to implement the rules and regulations of the university calendars and the Security of Service Act wherein the nominees of the universities concerned and the Director Public Instruction will be included in the selection panels.

Professor Anil Sarwal, president of the union, also urged the government to implement the rules regarding the deduction of provident fund on total salary as per the university calendar and also to implement the Pension-cum-Gratuity Act.

Meanwhile, the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union has hailed the Punjab Government’s decision to deny minority status to the DAV institutions. The members have stressed that the DAV Management Committee should comply with the decision and that the Punjab Government should clear 
all appointments which have been made before this decision.

Chandigarh, February 20
The Class X students of Air Force School, 3 BRD, A.F. Station, were today given a warm farewell. A number of events were organised as part of the farewell function. These included songs, dances and games. A thumping Bhangra performance was enjoyed by everyone. Later, session were given memorabilia by the school principal Kiran Datta who wished them success in all their future endeavours. T.S. Seshadri and Shobita Ahuja were adjudged as Master A.F.S 3BRD and Miss A.F.S. 3 BRD.

At St Xavier’s Senior Secondary School, Sector 44 too a prayer meet and good luck party was organised for the Class X students for the forthcoming board examinations. A number of cultural events were organised on the occasion. The management also adjudged Ankit Tomar of Class X as the Best Student (academics). A farewell party was organised for Class XII students in which Loveleen Pannu was declared the best outgoing student in commerce and Shalini Thakur in the science stream.

A farewell party “Alvida” was organised for class XII students of DAV Senior Public School, Surajpur. The function started with a “hawan” followed by a variety of songs, dances, ghazals and skits by Class XI students. At the end of the programme Shikha Thakur was declared Miss DAV and Pankaj, Master DAV.

Chandigarh, February 20
Government College for Girls, Sector 42, in association with the Department of Science and Technology, Chandigarh Administration, today hosted a symposium on “Role of biotechnology in the present scenario”.

As many as 100 delegates participated in the deliberations. Prof Akhtar Mehmood, Dean, Faculty of Science, PU, presided over the function.

In his inaugural address, Prof Mehmood emphasised on the role of biotechnology in everyday life. Prof R.C. Sobti of the Department of Biotechnology gave a presentation referring to the global biotech market and genome project.

Dr S. Singh from IMTECH, Chandigarh, gave a presentation with reference to pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and the oil industry. Also present was Dr Lalit Bhardwaj from the CSIO, Chandigarh, who spoke on Bionanotechnology with respect to DNA, Nanowire, Biomems, Biomolecular motors and stem cell. The programme concluded with a skit by college students.

Mohali, February 20
The lighting of the lamp ceremony of the fifth batch of Fortis School of Nursing was held at Fortis Hospital here today.

Mrs Mohini Daljeet Singh, president, A W W A, Western Command, was the chief guest.

The ceremony started with “vandana”, followed by lighting of the ceremonial lamp by the chief guest. As two teachers of the school held candles in their hands in front of the portrait of legendary Florence Nightingale, the main event of the day began.

Students appeared on stage in pairs and lit candles. The students took an oath to serve ailing humanity, keeping the needs of patients first and foremost in mind. The students sang the school song and a cultural programme was held.

Mr Shivinder Mohan Singh, managing director, Fortis Healthcare, Mr Ashish Bhatia, COO, Fortis Hospital, Mohali and Amritsar, Dr Gurbir Singh, Medical Superintendent, Fortis Hospital, and other senior officials attended the function.

Dera Bassi, February 20
The Hero Mindmine, a noted call centre firm, organised a seminar at the Sri Sukhmani Institute of Engineering and Technology, to prepare final year students for campus placement interviews.

The Hero Mindmine team deliberated on, among other things, the importance of communication skills and gave useful tips for the preparing for interviews. The importance of confidence and accurate body language, frequently asked questions and overcoming common mistakes were the topics discussed.

Prof Avtar Singh, chairman, appreciated the efforts of the Training and Placement Cell in taking keen interest to regularly update the knowledge of the students.

Lieut-Col N.S. Julka, Training and Placement Officer, informed that experts from the industry and academia were regularly invited to share their experiences with a view develop students’ personalities.

Chandigarh, February 20
City-based film producer Sunil Babbar’s documentary film on meditation titled “Yatra”-has been selected for screening in BYOFF’2006 Film Festival to be held in Puri.

Mr Babbar, an internationally acclaimed film producer is the recipient of the “Best Foreign Film Award” for his Indian English feature film “ANTS”. He won this award at the ‘Yellowstone International Film Festival-2002’ in Montana, USA, besides being awarded as the “Producer of the Year Award-2002” at the same festival.

“Yatra” — the film that will be screened at Puri— is a documentary film on Meditation and is based on ‘Prekshadhyan’, an ancient Jain technique for meditation. It was after an intense research of years that Acharya Mahapragya (recipient of prestigious ‘National Sadbhavna Purskar-2005’) evolved a set of rules to meditate. This was named Prekshadhyan. The film is based on this technique and was produced in the year 2005. The duration of this Hindi language film is 30 minutes in which Acharya Mahapragya also features.

BYOFF’2006 is an annual International film festival held during February every year on the beaches of Puri. This year the festival is being organised from February 21 to February 25.

According to Mr Babbar, this film festival is not merely a festival for showcasing films only but it also invites and encourages artists from other fields like music, theatre, painting and photography to participate and show their works to the film fraternity from India as well as the other parts of world.

The film has been written by Ms Bharati Babbar, cinematographed by Manjit Singh, edited by Dillip B.Behera. Sound is by Sameer, music by N.R.Pawan and Prabhu , the theme song has been sung by Rajani Jain and is presented by P.C Singla.

Chandigarh, February 20
The Art and Act Academy staged “Kanyadaan” by playwright Vijay Tendulkar on the second day of the Theatre Fest-2006 at the Tagore Theatre today.

The play depicted different ideological perceptions on the issue of caste system. The play was radical in content and approach, but the theme has a little relevance in the contemporary social setup.

Despite stiff resistance from his wife and son, dedicated socialist MLA Yadunath Devi Lalikar, in a daring gesture gets her graduate daughter, jyoti, married to Arun Anthavale, a Dalit boy of her choice. Young Jyoti to ascertain the anguish and dislike Arun has been nursing for people belonging to upper castes.

In his subconscious mind, he has cultivated a grouse against them for subjugating the downtrodden. He gives vent to his frustration by tormenting his upper caste wife.

The play structured in the ambience of political and social environment, effectively juxtaposed the diverse and social ethics by persons brought up in different classes. Young Anmol Bharat portraying Mrs Seva was impressive while the director Rajinder Sharma, Gaurav, Rajiv Kaushal and Drishti Choudhry were convincing in their roles. Another play “Chief Minister” will be staged tomorrow at the same time and venue.

Chandigarh, February 20
The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), the cultural arm of the Ministry of External Affairs, has decided to widen its cultural network. Under an ambitious project to take the performing arts to the masses, the ICCR has decided to extend the "Horizons" series to provide a platform to the upcoming artistes.

A decision to this effect was taken at the governing body meeting of the ICCR held under the chairmanship of Dr Karan Singh where various issues concerning the promotion of Indian performing arts in and outside the country were deliberated upon, Mr MM Sharma, Regional Director (Northern India), told The Tribune here today.

In fact,the ICCR had already been collaborating with like- minded bodies, including the state governments, the North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC) and the Pracheen Kala Kendra, Chandigarh, for the promotion of the performing arts.

Mr Sharma, who was the brain behind the new initiative aimed at taking the performing arts to the rural and semi-urban areas, informed that there were over 10,000 artistes empanelled with the ICCR. Since, the council cannot send all artistes abroad for performance as only top artistes and dance troupes were invited by the Indian missions abroad, the "Horizons" series was started as an alternative to provide a platform to the budding artistes so that they do not feel neglected.

The extension of the "Horizons" series would go a long way in popularising the traditional music and performing arts in the region. In fact, the extension of the council's activities would be beneficial in two ways.

One, it would prove to be economical as the artistes would not have to travel to the headquarters. Second, it would widen the reach of the ICCR to the "unrepresentated areas" giving a fillip to art and the artistes, Mr Sharma hoped.

It may be recalled that the Northern Region of the ICCR comprised the states of Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, besides Chandigarh, and this area was a virtual treasure trove of the artiste talent.

The Northern Region had already organised at least seven programmes in the past about seven months and all the programme had been a success. This portends well for the expansion of the network of the ICCR , which boasts of some of the top artistes and dance troupes on its panel, observers felt.