EDUCATION

Polytechnic, ITI students to go on strike tomorrow
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 29
Several students of government polytechnics and ITIs in the district will boycott their classes on October 31 to protest against the callous attitude of the state government. They allege that the government has meted out a step- motherly treatment to them.

Talking about their demands, Mr Pawel, district president, Punjab Students Union (Shaheed Randhawa), said the pass-out students of ITIs and government polytechnics had a bleak future. ‘‘We are not being given employment by the government. We have been forced to take such an extreme step because nothing has been done for our welfare. Instead of giving us employment assurance, the state government is planning to hand over everything to private owners’’, he alleged.

The students further alleged that the government was increasing the fees. They demanded that there should be set norms of fee structure for all private technical education colleges. ‘‘We are being victimised at the hands of the state government. The government is planning to privatise government polytechnics and ITIs. We will struggle against this step,’’ said another student.

The students also demanded that seats for Central Industrial Training (CITs) courses be increased. There were total 13 polytechnics and 91 ITIs in the state where hundreds of students were being given education. They felt that the proposed privatisation decision would ruin their careers.

Aided colleges’ teachers to protest on Nov 8
Our Correspondent

Doraha, October 29
Teachers of aided colleges of Punjab and Chandigarh will go on a mass casual leave and stage a protest in Chandigarh on November 8. The executive committee of their union will also court arrest on that day.

In a press note, Dr Kuldip Singh, area secretary of the union, Panjab University, Mr R.S. Brar, former president, PCCTU, Ms Parkash Verma, women convener, Panjab University, and Mr Manjit Komal, district president, PCCTU, said this would force the Punjab Government to implement their long-pending and already approved demand of the pension-cum-gratuity scheme for the teachers of aided colleges.

Dr Kuldip Singh said, “We are really fed up with the false assurances given by every government-in-position from time to time. Thousands of rallies, dharnas and protest marches, pleading and demanding the actual implementation of the scheme, have only fallen on deaf ears.

“This final resort of ours in this direction shall force the government to wake from its slumber and give a peep into the real concerns of the teaching community too. We wish to bring home this fact for the government that a teacher if denied economic security after retirement shall be able to produce only frustrated individuals who would shun the teaching line and look forward to other traits.”

He has requested the teachers of all aided colleges to follow the directive of the union and pressurise the government to an extent that the demand was rightly implemented.

He said the leadership of non-teaching employees’ union would also join the march.

The other demands of the union were lifting of ban on recruitment, HRA for rural colleges, relaxation of condition of refresher courses, stagnation increments, research degree increments, release of arrears, parity for DPE’s and librarians, release of full grants under 95 per cent salary deficit grant-in-aid scheme, etc.

34th annual convention of GGSSC concludes
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 29
The three-day annual convention of the Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle (GGSSC) concluded here today. It was going on at Guru Ram Das Academy and was presided over by Avtar Singh Makkar, president, Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee.

It was a grand day for the GGSSC as it was awarded the ISO 9001-9002 certificate by the United Kingdom Accreditation Society (UKAS). That makes the study circle to the first social organisation to receive this certificate.

The concluding day started with the recitation of the Gurbani and was followed by an astounding Sikh martial art show. The national team of martial arts from Amritsar performed an amazing gatka.

Mr Charan Kamal Singh, chief organiser of GGSSC, made a presentation of the past year’s activities of the circle and also laid down the activities scheduled to be held this year in different directorates.

A special edition of the magazine, Sada Virsa, Sada Gaurav, was released today. It deals in detail about the different vocational courses and their importance. A souvenir of the organisation was also released by Raja Singh of Texla Television.

Maharashtra received the Best State Award, while Ferozepore, Muktsar and Bathinda were declared the Best Zones of Punjab.

Yesterday, a panel discussion on the topic current scenario and its effect on youth was held. Former MLA Bir Devinder Singh steered the discussion that revolved around peer pressure, drugs etc.

CULTURE

Govt urged to develop Urdu in Punjab
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 29
The annual mushaira, organised by the Navrang Literary Society under the presidentship of poet Janab Naami Naadri, was held at Punjabi Bhavan here last night. As per tradition, the mushaira commenced with the lighting of “shama” by Vir Jagan Nath Jain, chairman of Mahavir International. He also recited a few couplets on “shama”.

Famous poet Janab Mahendra Prataap Chand, awarded with the Saayar-E-Sukhan title, Dr Mohammad Rafi, secretary of the Urdu Academy of Punjab, were special guests. They asked the poets present at the mushaira to work for the improvement of Indian unity and to strengthen the social structure of the country.

They threw light on the projects being launched by the academy.

Dr Kewal Dheer, Urdu Language Adviser of the Bhasha Vibhag, Punjab, appealed to the government to take steps for the development of Urdu language in the state. Poets from across the country, Arsh Sebbai, Mahendra Pratap Chaand, Sardar Paanchi, Nafash Ambalvi, Punam Kaushar, Manohar Vijay, Naveen Azam, D.K. Sachdeva, Dr Sultan Anjum, Chaman Lal Shukla, Sagar Sialkoti and Hasan Qaiser, participated in the mushaira.