Chandigarh, July 15
Panjab University today came on a par with most international educational institutions with the Department of Computer Science putting the campus on “Gigabit Ethernet Technology”, which offers high performance and congestion-free connections for a campus-wide network.

The network was inaugurated by the Vice-Chancellor, Dr K.N Pathak, at the Computer Centre, Department of Computer Science and Applications, this morning. The network is capable of providing high throughput of 1000 mbps instead of the currently available 155 mbps. This will facilitate a better and faster connectivity between various departments of the university.

Prof R.K. Singla of the Department of Computer Science and Applications said the new network was in place and it would be able to support connectivity up to 2 Km from the central location which was the need of the campus due to development of South Campus in Sector 25.

After inauguration of main components at the computer centre, the WiFi facility was accessed at the PU Guest House. Dr Tankeshwar Kumar, Director, Computer Centre said now guests visiting PU would be able to access the Internet on their laptops and other computers. The WiFi facility has also been extended to the Department of Computer Science and Applications and Boys Hostel No. 3.

With the start of this technology at the campus, all hostels shall be provided Internet connections and the WiFi facility in due course of time for which work is already in progress.

All new and left-out buildings where the Internet facility was not available at present, would also be provided the facility shortly, Dr Tankeshwar said.

Chandigarh, July 15
Ashu Kumar Jain, a resident of Mohali, has achieved fourth rank in the PCS (Judicial) Examination, the result of which was declared recently. A practising advocate at the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Chandigarh, he is a post-graduate in management from Punjabi University, Patiala, and LLB from Panjab University, Chandigarh.

Interestingly, Ashu had stood second in the HCS (Judicial) Examination, 2006, conducted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently. The son of retired PCS officer R.K. Jain, he had served as Excise and Taxation Officer in Punjab for more than two years. But he lost his job when the government cancelled all appointments made during the 1998 PCS batch.

Another local resident, Puneet Sehgal, has stood 13th in the merit list. He did his civil engineering in 2001 and thereafter did law from Panjab University in 2004. He is also a practising advocate in Punjab and Haryana High Court. Puneet had secured 11th rank in HCS (Judicial) examination.

Chandigarh, July 15
Around 40,000 students appeared for the BEd entrance test today across various centres in the city and Punjab. The exam was conducted by Panjab University.

Students came from as far off as Shimla, Solan, Mandi and Kurukshetra to take the exam. Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Minhas Sharma from Solan said the exam was easy and on expected lines. Candidates and their parents, however, cribbed about the postponement of the test earlier by PU. “It is a harassment to study and then not be sure of the date of examination,” said Gurdeep Kaur from Sector 34.

Besides Chandigarh, the entrance test was also conducted among other places at SAS Nagar, Ropar, Ferozpore, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Bathinda, Abohar, Hoshiarpur and Fatehgarh Sahib.

This is the second time that PU is conducting the entrance test for all colleges of education in Punjab and the city. The result of the entrance test is expected to be declared within a week, while counselling is scheduled for August 3. Last year, there were 114 colleges of education and about 14,600 students got admission to those.

The entrance exam was conducted today after much confusion and delay. Earlier, the BEd entrance test was to be conducted on July 8 but due to the PMT paper leak case, the date for this entrance was postponed to July 15.

Chandigarh, July 15
Out of the 229 students called, 207 students were admitted today according to the centralised admissions going on at the GMSSS-23 for admissions to Class XI.

Of the 207 students admitted, 26 students were admitted in the reserve category while 181 got admission under the general category.

Though science and commerce stream seats in all schools have already got filled but some seats in humanities are still lying vacant in nine of the city schools.

These schools include GMSSS-47, GGSSS-20 B, GGSS-23, GSSS-7, GSSS-45, GSS-Dhanas, GSSS-38 W, GSSS-Karsan, and GSSS Manimajra Model Town.

Besides this, there are also a few seats vacant in the vocational stream under the general category.

These courses include trades like ophthalmic technology, structure and fabrication, steno (Hindi), fashion designing, health care and beauty culture, textile design. 

Mohali, July 15
Diverse colours of India were reflected in the dance competition organised at the kindergarden section of Doon International School here yesterday. The spirits of east, west, north and south got united and the age-old traditions were brought forth. The contest was held at the newly constructed auditorium on the school premises.

Eesha Khaira and Gurnoor bagged the first and the second place while Sehaj, Tanudeep and Divjit shared the third place in the pre-nursery section. Aarushi Gulati and Parnika stood first while Parneet Gill, Arnav Gupta and Simarjeet came second in the nursery section.

In the LKG section, Ratika, Deepkhushi and Diljeev bagged the first place. Tarunbir, Sahibjeet, Sukhmilan, Harsh and Jasmeet came second in their respective classes.

Palak, Dhariya Handa, Kashish, Brahamjot and Suhani came first in the UKG section while Diya, Pritika, Ellnaz, Sahibbir, Aakriti, Pranav and Gurnoor Cheema came second.

Ms M.K. Mann, education director of the school, said such dance competitions would help students to work together and overcome inhibitions and gain confidence. 

Chandigarh, July 15
Nuances of languages — as tools for national integration — came under a sharp focus at the Government Museum auditorium in Sector 10 today. In the line of fire was “regionalism”, which languages had come to promoted over the years, in the absence of a comprehensive national language policy.

The most compelling of all cases in this respect was made by Dr Naresh, the vocal Chairman of Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi who demanded a quadri-lingual formula in place of the existing tri-lingual one. He said Hindi, English and Urdu should be taught compulsorily, along with the mother tongue. He also said the difference between language and literature needed to be ascertained.

The expert, however, found little support from his friend Rajendra Awasthi, the illustrious Hindi litterateur who said we had a long way to go before adjusting to three languages, what to talk of four. The writer, who has 60 books to his credit, took the discussion away from mainstream languages and lauded the role of folk languages instead. Somewhere in the midst of this discussion the focus of the two-day national seminar on “inter-action between Indian languages” was lost, before being relocated in the rhetoric of Dr Naresh.

For his part, Rajendra Awasthi, the long-time editor of Kadambari and now secretary-general of Authors Guild of India, stuck to his point that no drastic changes were needed in the current structure of Indian languages. Widely interested in other matters, he talked of the institution which has recently been formed with the objective of helping Indian writers reclaim their royalty from Europe, especially UK. “Unclaimed royalty of Indian authors is lying in Europe. It’s our priority to recover the same and use it to promote talent in Hindi literature in case no one comes to claim it,” he said.

On languages, Rajendra Awasthi said there was too much conflict of interest in the realm of Indian languages. “We must realise the worth of each language and take it from there. Even Hindi would have remained a poor language had it not assimilated rich phrases and expressions from languages like Urdu, Persian and a host of folk languages. I am pained to see fragments in the body of Indian languages. There are so many groups — progressives, moderates and so on…”

Dr Naresh for his part seemed convinced with the worth of quadri-lingual formula, which he has even advocated to the Prime Minister of India through a recent representation. “Languages have become tools for achieving petty political ends. They are being used to promote regionalism. Today we hear of people raising slogans of provincialism like “Telegu Desam”, “Sohna des Punjab ne saiyo”, “Des Mahaan Des Haryana” and many more. If Haryana and Punjab is “des”, then whose country is India?” Dr Naresh asks.

He suggests the implementation of a four-language formula where English, Hindi and Urdu are made cultural languages of India and their teaching is made compulsory along with the mother tongue. Besides that, Dr Naresh also called for the establishment of a translation cell at the central level. “Such a cell should publish the best literature in each language on a yearly basis and make the same available to public,” he said.

Also present on the occasion was Prof J.S. Puar, former VC, Punjabi University, Patiala.

“Though every musical tradition expresses its innate glory by its own symbolism but with the creative blending of a few diverse musical forms, new genres of music have emerged, ensuing affinities among music lovers the world over,” observed Ms Marie Cecile and Ms Aurelie Fery, professors of music at the University of Marseille, France. The duo of accomplished flutists is in city to perform at the Pracheen Kala Kendra concert tomorrow and for the child cancer patients in New Delhi later.

Marie Cecile (28) is a trained and established pianist who opted for playing flute for its entrancing melodic strains and its sound, very close to human voice as such capable of expressing the gamut of emotions. Without any family musical legacy she emerged as the national winner in chamber music and the lead musician in the Banda De Santiago ensemble. Her counterpart, Ms Aurelie Fery (29), coming from a noted musical family is studying medicine besides teaching music. Both had performed in symphony groups and also given solo performances at international music festivals in Paris, Italy, Spain, Cuba and other countries.

Talking to The Tribune Marie maintained that the Indian music had been regarded as the ethnic music with its rigid code of conduct but with the renaissance caused by the worldwide concerts by music wizards like Pandit Ravi Shanker, Hari Parsad, Vilayat Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, Pandit Bhim Sain Joshi and many others, the western music world woke up to a new enterprising experiment with Indian music and also yoga, claimed Marie.

Like many others they too pay reverence to Lord Ganesha, Lord Krishna and their day starts with yoga ‘prayanam’ before the practice session on the Traversa flute. ‘Besides our own compositions and country music we play the compositions immortalised by Telemann, Beethovan, Mozart and others, they said.