Gurminderjit is Miss Farewell
Our Correspondent

Doraha, March 22
Students of BA II arranged a farewell party for their seniors at Guru Nanak National College, Doraha, today. In a programme, collectively conducted by girls of BA Part II and III, various items were presented to entertain the guests of the occasion. The students presented various songs, skits, choreography, modelling shows etc.

Play titled “Hai Canada”, written by Prof Balwant Singh Pangali and directed by Prof Sompal Heera, was also presented. The play was based on the theme of craze among the Indian girls and their parents to marry them in foreign lands and the ultimate exploitation suffered by them at the hands of their bridegrooms.

Bibi Bhagwant Kaur, president, of the college managing committee, Prof B.S. Pangali, general secretary, Mr Jaswant Singh Gill, director of the college, and Prof J.S. Grewal (retd) were present on the occasion.

Gurminderjit Kaur was declared Miss Farewell, Sapinderjit Kaur was Miss Well-dressed and Satparkash was Miss Beautiful Smile. The parting speech was delivered by a student of the outgoing class.

From Schools and Colleges
Farewell at Small Wonders 
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 22
Kids of Small Wonders Nursery School had a farewell party here today. The school was decorated with balloons and frills. Games were arranged for the kids. There was pick and win game on one table and match the colour on the other table. To create confidence in the children, every child was awarded a gift. After playing games, children danced merrily on the latest numbers.

The children, dressed up in colourful and attractive costumes, presented fashion parade. School Principal and staff wished kids good luck for their happy and prosperous future.

Function at Chanda Mama: The annual function of Chanda Mama and Lovely Lotus children was held here today on the Chanda Mama campus.

Dr K. S. Gill and Mrs Surinder Gill, eminent educationists, were the chief guests. The special feature of the function was the compering of the show by the kids themselves. The children danced to the tunes of ''Bajre da sitta veh asan'', and ''Nach baliye''.

Gurmat Samagam: The second annual "Gurmat Samagam" of the Guru Angad Dev Educational and Welfare Council was held at Guru Angad Dev Complex, Ludhiana. The spiritual discourse of Baba Sewa Singh Ji, Khadur Sahib, was well absorbed. He appreciated the work and the service being rendered by the council.

He also pointed out the nobel cause being undertaken by the council in the uplift of the poor Sikilgars children in education and health.

Mr Shingar Singh, Mr Malkiat Singh, Mr Harkishan Singh, Mr Gurdev Singh also appreciated the council's work and assured all help to it. Ragi Bhai Waryam Singh and Satnam Singh enthralled the audience with kirtan. Mr Sukhdev Singh honoured the distinguished participants.

St. Xavier: St. Xavier Playway School celebrated its annual day here today. The outgoing students presented a colourful entertainment programme that included Punjabi dance, an action song titled ''Carrot Song'' etc.

Twentyfive children participated in the fancy-dress competition posing as pilot, soldier, cartoon character, etc. All participating kids were awarded prizes by Sushil Raju Thapar, Councillor, Municipal Corporation.

Counselling: Career Academy had invited Mr Negi Rajneesh from Kota for career counselling here today at the premises of the academy in Sarabha Nagar. Negi said there were hundreds of careers for students of classes X to XII irrespective of percentage it received.

The faculty of the academy asked the parents and students to bring photocopies of the marksheets at the seminar to be held tomorrow in the academy so that by analysing and psychological counselling, the future careers of the students could be chosen. The seminar will begin at 4.15 pm and will last till 6.15pm.

Dr Asdhir joins SD College: Kamla Lohtia SD College, Ludhiana, today got another shot in the arm when eminent commerce and management scholar and vice- president of the Punjab Commerce and Management Association, Dr Vijay Asdhir, joined as the Principal of the college. Dr Vijay Asdhir had retired as Head, Department of Commerce, SCD Government College, Ludhiana.

Inter-College Quiz: The ISTE chapter of Guru Nanak Institute of Management & Technology (GNIMT), Gujjarkhan Complex, organised an inter-college debate on the topics, Indian legal system needs to be revamped and Middle class is the mall class.

Of the 10 teams, the winners were Ricky Mahendru and Simarjeet Kaur of GNIMT while Vishal and Manpreet of GGNIMT bagged the second position and Saloni Gupta and Parul Bhandari of GNIMT were placed at the third position.

Ms Mukta Gogia of TCY and Ms Gurinder Kaur and Ms Geetanjali Syal of GNKCW were the judges.

Boys prefer Home Science
Our Correspondent

Mandi Ahmedgarh, March 22
Against the explicit instruction of the Punjab School Education Board ,a large number of male students appeared for the Home Science (theory) papers of class X and Class XII.

The sights outside examination centres here and surrounding areas revealed that the number of boys appearing for Home Science was much higher than that of girls. Interestingly, instructions inscribed on the packet containing the question papers ,showed that the paper was meant for girls only.

At an examination centre here, of 12 students enrolled for the subject, 9 were boys.

Sukhwant Singh of Rajgarh village said he had opted for the subject as he wanted to go hotel management.

Avtar Singh and Tejpal Singh of Gopalpur said they had taken up home science as subject as it was more scoring than other subjects.

"It was my teacher who filled Home Science in my examination form,"claimed Jagdeep Singh of Gopalpur.

COURTS

Videocon consumer harassed, company penalised
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 22
A leading TV manufacturing company, Videocon, has been ordered to pay a sum of Rs 5,000 as compensation to an aggrieved consumer. The order was passed by Mr A.S. Narula, President, Mr Daljit Singh Bakshi and Ms Pooja Dewan, members of the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum. The complaint was filed by Mr Chander Shekhar Kaushal of Urban Estate, Phase-II, Dugri.

However, the forum dismissed the complaint filed against M/s Bansal Teleshop, near the CMC Hospital, Ludhiana.

The complainant had submitted that he had purchased Bazooka model of Videocon TV under a money-back scheme of the company through M/s Bansal Teleshop. He was issued a fixed deposit receipt of Rs 14,990 payable on April 27, 2004.

As per terms, he submitted the receipt duly discharged under the registered cover to the Bombay office of the company vide a letter dated April 20, 2004. Many attractive offers were made to him to purchase other products of the company, but he refused. He demanded the payment of the agreed sum of Rs 14,990.

The complainant alleged that he was harassed a lot. The company started indulging in mal trade practices and asked him for irrelevant information and documents in order to delay or not to release the payment at all.

After scrutinising the evidence on record, the forum held that there was no explanation forthcoming as to why the payment of the FDR amount had been delayed by the company.

Though the amount was paid later on, the consumer had to make repeated requests for the refund. It was a clear-cut case of deficiency in service rendered by the company that entitled the consumer for compensation, observed the forum.

102 pension cases settled

Ludhiana, March 22
As many as 102cases were settled at a Pension Lok Adalat held at Circuit House here today.Mr Nand Lal, Accountant General (A&E), Punjab and UT Chandigarh, presided . The AG's team comprised Deputy Accountants General, three Senior Accounts Officer, four Assistant Accounts Officer and four dealing officials of the Pension wing. He said a grievance redress cell was working in his office.

A booklet “ Model Guidelines for Preparation of a Pension Case”, prepared by the office of the A.G (A &E) Punjab, was also distributed amongst the pension sanctioning authorities/ DDOs at the Pension Adalat. OC

HEALTH

A ray of hope for arthritis patients
Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, March 22
The joint replacement surgery would soon become a thing of past for a majority of patients of osteoarthritis if the new tissue-engineering technique succeeds in bringing the promised relief for various kinds of knee problems.

Using 'Cytotron', a new device conceived and developed at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM) and the Centre for Advanced Research and Development (CARD) at Bangalore, around 300 patients of arthritis have been successfully treated as a part of the Phase II trials till date.

Addressing a news conference to mark the installation of ‘Cytotron’ at the Sibia Medical Centre here for the benefit of patients from the entire Northern Zone, the brain behind the revolutionary technique — Dr R.V. Kumar, Director and Chief Scientific Officer of CARD — informed that the patients taken for clinical trials at Bangalore had severe pain and great limitation of movements coupled with swelling of the knee joints.

All conventional treatment methods had proved unsuccessful, leaving knee replacement surgery as the only alternative available to them.

"After treatment with the Cytotron, almost all patients reported no joint pain and they could walk normally for a distance of 1 to 5 km without discomfort and also climb stairs without help.

“Most patients had a remarkable range of motion and could even sit cross-legged and squat on floors which they could not do earlier,” he said.

Another advantage of the technique was that knee joints treated by the method were less likely to dislocate (improved stability), would last longer and the treatment could always be repeated if needed, Dr Kumar added.

Dr Kumar, who holds the world patent for this technology and equipment, said the results of the Phase I trial had been published in the Journal of the Indian Society of Aerospace Medicine, besides the leading national and international media.

In addition to visible improvement in the patients with knee problems, the growth of knee cartilage had also been documented on X-ray and MRI tests, he said.

Veg food richer than non-veg: Dr Lunia
Mahesh Sharma

Mandi Ahmedgarh, March 22
Vegetarian provisions provide all constituents of a balanced diet and are cheaper than those provided by non-vegetarian food, claimed Dr Kusum Lunia, author of “Shakaaahar; Saravshreshath Aahar”, a book that fetched her Dr Nemi Chand Memorial Award, founded by The Bhagwan Mahavir Foundation, Chennai.

Dr Lunia had come here to seek the blessings of Acharya Mahapragya.

The book had been selected as the best Hindi Book on vegetarianism. The award consists of a citation and a cash prize of Rs 51,000.

A Doctorate in Jainology and Comparative Religion and Art of Living, Dr Lunia held that vegetarianism was physiologically, economically and socially superior to non-vegetarianism.

Talking to Ludhiana Tribune at the local MGMN Senior Secondary School, Dr Lunia claimed that besides being cheaper, vegetarian food was easily digestible.

Referring to conclusions made during a study conducted by her, Dr Lunia claimed that soya bean provided protein at the rate of 2 paisa per gram in comparison to 14 paisa per gram in egg.

Pulses and wheat provided the ingredient at the rate of 3 and 4 paisa per gram. Soya bean normally provided calories 18 times cheaper than those provided by eggs, whereas it was available 10 times cheaper in pulses and wheat.

Dr Lunia said studies had revealed that a majority of criminals had committed crimes after taking non-vegetarian food and some addiction.

“Perusal of records at various police stations and jails revealed that a majority of accused and convicts were non-vegetarian and they had committed crime after consuming flesh and drinks,” maintained Dr Lunia adding that vegetarianism would help preserve environment also.

She said religious activities like meditation and fasting helped one adopt vegetarianism.

Besides winning a number of individual prizes in swimming, teaching and culture, Dr Lunia and husband Dhanpat Singh Lunia had been adjudged best couple of Delhi for the past seven years.

She attributes her success to her husband who manages Gyanshala at Delhi.

54 tubectomy operations performed
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 22
Fifty four tubectomy operations were performed at a family welfare camp organised at Dr B.L. Kapoor Memorial Hospital here today. According to Dr Waheguru Pal Singh, Medical Superintendent of the hospital, this was the third family welfare camp held so far this year.

Earlier, in similar camps held on February 21 and March 9, the hospital had carried out 91 tubectomy operations with the active cooperation from the Civil Surgeon, Dr Rajinder Kaur.

He said a cash incentive of Rs 150 was paid to each person undergoing such operation while the motivators were also awarded.

Free lunch was also served by the hospital to all operative cases, their attendants and motivators.

Dr Singh informed that the hospital would continue to contribute to the national family welfare programme through such camps from time to time and next operation camp would be held on March 27.

SPORTS

Sports meet at RIMT institute
Our Correspondent

Mandi Gobindgarh, March 22
The second annual athletics meet of RIMT Institute of Engineering and Technology started on the college grounds here today. The chief guest was Arjuna awardee and former Olympian Ramandeep Singh Grewal. He encouraged students to get actively involved in sports and appreciated the institute on giving importance to sports.

The meet started with a march past by students which was followed by torch lighting and unfurling of the flag.

In the first event of 800-metre race for men, Bhugel Singh, Vishal Rampal and Prem Sagar, stood first, second and third.

BJS Dental College

Ludhiana: On the penultimate day of the annual sports meet at the Baba Jaswant Singh Dental College and Hospital here today, Harsimran Waraich scored an easy win in straight sets 21-11 and 21-15 over Dr Kamaljeet Singh in the men’s section of the table tennis competition while in the women’s section, Priyanka got the better of Chahat to wrap up the top honours.

In the doubles (women), Shruti and Chahat registered victory against Priyanka and Pallavi. In chess (women), Shveta Sharma proved her mettle to pip Dr Nikunj Oberoi and in the men’s section, Munish Batra overcame Aashish Kaura.

In throwball (women), IInd year players prevailed upon interns 15-10 while in cricket, final-year students beat first year XI by 11 runs. In reply to final year XI’s total of 123 runs, the first year XI’s innings folded at 112 runs.