AGRICULTURE

Use modern techniques in farming: experts
Our Correspondent

Amloh, August 3
It is necessary to make proper use of fertilisers, pesticides and to manage seed of high yielding verities to cut down cultivation costs for profitable farming. These views were expressed by experts of Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) to the media today after their visit of different plots of paddy of progressive farmer Balbir Singh Jaria at Dharamgarh village, near here.

Dr Yadwinder Singh, Professor, Soil Science, Dr Suring Singh Kukkal, Associate Professor, Soil Science, and Dr Harmanjit Singh Dhadli, Assistant Professor, Soil Science, of PAU emphasised for judicious use of fertilisers on the bases of Soil Test Report.

A demonstration was given on the use of Tenceometer, an instrument which indicates the requirement of water in the paddy plots. Another instrument “Leaf Colour CHART” (LCC) contains six colours, each colour matches with the leaf of the crop indicates the requirement of fertilisers.

In reply to a query of suicides, the experts suggested that the advance loans of farmers should be used for the agriculture purposes only and they should look after the crops personally instead of solely depending upon farm labour.

On the controversy of crop diversification, the experts opined that the water level was going down after each paddy crop which would become a challenge for the coming generation and would hike the inputs in farming due to deeper bores of tube wells. In the same way the LCC saves 80 per cent wastage of nitrogen of urea in the air, the excessive use of which causes many diseases to the crops.

Mr Jaria thanked the experts for their valuable suggestions and appealed the farmers to follow the path shown by the PAU.

Students develop home security system
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, August 3
To make residents aware about their home security system, students of Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College here have prepared a system through which the user can be informed about anybody making an attempt to enter the house.

The system, GSM-based home security, has been made by four final-year students of electronics and communication engineering. It has been selected by Bharti Limited for their future product.

The students — Mohit Sharma, Harmanpreet Singh, Davinder Paul and Sanjeev Sharma — under the guidance of Prof Munish Rattan worked on this system for more than four months.

Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, Prof Rattan said the system would alert the user on his cell phone if anybody made an attempt to enter the house. It could informed the user even if he is thousand of miles away from his house. The system would not only detect the intruder but also send his photograph to the user via MMS.

“To make the system foolproof, a warning SMS will also be sent to the user along with MMS if the intruder hides the camera on the door with his hands. The system is expected to keep a check on robberies as the intruder will have no access or knowledge of the system installed and hence will be unable to tamper with it. The cost of this system would be around Rs 1,000,” said Prof Rattan.

Prof Kanwaljit Singh, Head of the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, said the system was specifically meant for flats where the most common house-breaking was done through the door. He appreciated the efforts of the students. 

Shalini wins poster-making contest
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, August 3
Shalini, a post graduate student of the Nursing College of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), won the first prize in a poster-making competition organised for nursing students by the Inner Wheel Club of Ludhiana. The contest was held to mark the World Breast Feeding Week at Dumra Auditorium here today.

Ramandeep Kaur and Navdeep, both B.Sc (Nursing) students, won the second and third prize, respectively in the competition, which evoked huge response from the students.

Dr B.K Jain, Professor and Head, Department of Paediatrics at DMCH released two posters.

The entries in the competition were adjudged by members of the club, including Ms Namrata Sighania, president and Ms Kitty Bakshi, secretary.

From Schools
KVM team enters final round of quiz
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, August 3
The dynamic duo of Kundan Vidya Mandir — Vibushit Kaul and Lokesh Anand — brought laurels to the school by reaching the finals of the HT Pace in Quizitive Quiz Contest by winning the first prize at the district level and by winning the first prize at regional level in Chandigarh yesterday.

After winning the district level competition held at BCM School, Shastri Nagar, on August 1, the team was given a direct entry in the regional level. The team went to Chandigarh on August 2 and won the regional level competition too. Now the two boys will proceed for the final round that would be held at Talkatora Gardens in Delhi soon. The famous quiz master Mr Siddharth Basu will conduct the final round of the quiz in Delhi.

Painting contest

A drawing and painting competition was held for junior and senior classes at Everest Public Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana on Thursday. Different topics were given to the students who showcased their skills and vied with one another to draw better pictures.

In the painting competition, landscape painting was the chief attraction and entries were appreciated.

The results are as follows: Junior section: Parneet — first (Nursery); Suksham — second (LKG); Love Preet — third (UKG).

Senior section: Sancha — first (Class IX); Amandeep Singh — second (Class IX); Inderjeet Singh — third (Class X).

Contest

Inspired by Bhai Sahib Jasbir Singh Khalsa (Khanna wale) Sukrit in co-operation with Guru Nanak Trust (Manchester) UK has started organising Sukhmani Sahib Kanth competitions for school students. The final round for Ludhiana students will be held on August 6 at 8 a.m. at Gurdwara Sukhmani Sahib Phase II, Urban Estate.

Teej celebrated

Bhartiya Vidya Mandir, Kitchlu Nagar, organised a function to celebrate Teej. Different folk songs and folk dances were performed by students on the occasion. Tiny tots enjoyed on swings. Students planted saplings on the school campus. Competitions for different classes were organised. Students of Classes I and II participated in greeting card-making competition. For classed III to IV folk songs and folk dance competitions were held. Students of classes VI-XII participated in mehndi and rangoli making, salad decoration and flower competition also. As many as 120 students bagged prizes.

HEALTH

OCT big help in diagnosis of eye disorders
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, August 3
The Ludhiana Ophthalmological Society (LOS) organised a CME programme here last evening which focused on the application of ‘optical coherence tomography’ (OCT) in the early diagnosis of retinal disorders and detection of prognosis of glaucoma.

Dr Amod Gupta and his colleagues, Dr Vaishali Gupta and Dr Sushmita Kaushik from PGIMER, Chandigarh, were the guest faculty at the CME and the interactive session that followed the programme.

Dr Gupta elaborated on the ever-increasing applications of OCT, and its implication on the understanding of many common diseases. He provided a brief overview of the common retinal, macular disease and demonstrated the utility of OCT in the diagnosis management, as well as follow-up.

He explained that OCT was one of the most important and latest adjunct tools for the diagnosis, assessment and management of retinal diseases in the eye. It had also emerged as a valid tool for the assessment of retinal nerve fibre layer, optic disc evolution in pre-parametric glaucoma. At the same time, the role of OCT in neuro-ophthalmological disorders was also being realised in a big way.

The speakers at the CME maintained that OCT provided a higher level of diagnostic insight, a significant contribution to therapeutic confidence across a broad spectrum of ophthalmic diseases. Using near-infrared frequency light, stratus OCT revealed an in vivo cross-sectional view with an axial of 10um, and quantitative analysis of the retinal layer.

Dr Gupta said that besides providing a powerful new perspective on some of the most common eye diseases like post-cataract complications, age macular diseases, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma (kala motia), the OCT added depth to diagnostic skills, provided real time non-invasive history of live tissue.

SPORTS

Saraswati school kickboxers excel in national meet 
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, August 3
Students of Saraswati Modren School, Rajpura road, here gave a fine performance winning two medals while three of them secured ranking positions in the 18th National Kickboxing Championship held at Kanyakumari last week. They were accorded a warm welcome at the local railway station today.

Players from 22 states from across the country took part in this meet. Vidhu Anand clinched a gold medal while Dishu Dewan won a silver medal. Padam Bali secured the fifth position, Manav Puri got the sixth position and Puru Mittal finished at the 7th place in different weight categories.

Shambhu Sagar, sports in charge of the school, was declared the best coach while Prem Chand Sharma who accompanied the Punjab squad as manager was honoured by the organisers at Kanyakumari.

Ms Neelambra Sharma, Headmistress, and Ms Vinod Verma, Deputy Headmistress, of the school congratulated the students for bringing laurels to the school.

Hockey trials on August 5, 7
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, August 3
Ludhiana District Hockey Association will conduct trials to select the Ludhiana teams (u-14 and u-19 years) here on the Punjab Agricultural University campus grounds on August 5 and 7, according to Mr H.S. Bhullar, honorary secretary of the association.

Aspiring boys (u-14 years) have been asked to attend the trials on August 5 at 4 pm while those u-19 years have been advised to appear on August 7 at 4 pm at the same venue. The selected players will represent Ludhiana in the forthcoming Punjab State Sub Junior Hockey Champion-ship to be held from August 13 to 16 and the Punjab Junior Hockey Champion-ship slated to be held from August 17 to 20 at Bhaini Sahib, Ludhiana.

Interested players have been advised to bring with them their age proof certificates.