Ludhiana, December 5
Late blight has severely affected potato crop in several districts of Punjab. There are pockets where this problem has assumed serious dimensions, particularly in Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr, Jalandhar, Ropar, Kapurthala and Amritsar. The incidence varies from 20 to 90 per cent.

The potato plants hit by late blight.

Plant pathologist, PAU, S.K. Mann said today that the worst-hit varieties of potato are Kufri Chandramukhi and Kufri Pukhraj. The crop that has escaped the attack of blight because of high temperature is the one that was sown in the beginning of September and harvested in mid-November. South-western districts like Bathinda, Ferozepore and Faridkot have so far remained free from the disease.

“The present cloudy and humid weather is very favourable for further spread of the disease,” she added. To check further spread of the disease, the farmers should take following precautions:

1. Where the disease has not yet appeared, farmers should go in for preventive spray of Indofil M-45 or Kavach or Antracol @ 700 g/acre and repeat at weekly intervals.

2. Where fields have started showing apparent disease symptoms, give one or two applications of Ridomil MZ or Curzate M-8 @ 700g per acre followed by one or two applications of Indofil M-45 or Antracol or Kavach.

3) Do not use tank mixtures of metalaxyl and mancozeb as it will lead to reduced efficacy. Repeat the spray if it has been washed down by the rain.

Pathologists have also suggested that tubers from infected fields should not be kept for use as seed. The next crop of potato should not be sown in the affected fields as it will help in preventing further loss from this disease.

In the last season (2005-06) blight had appeared late in the season i.e. in February-March and had significantly damaged the seed crop. The pathologists are of the opinion that the infested seed from that season sown in the current season has initiated the attack of the disease and favourable weather conditions, low temperature, high humidity, aggravated it.

In fact, the pathologists first noticed the attack of late blight in early November at Kartarpur, Pattar Kalan in Jalandhar and Phuglana and Pur Hiran in Hoshiarpur.

Ms Mann pointed out that several farmers do not follow PAU recommended spray schedules to check this disease. Quite often they spray only after the disease was well spread and wrongly conclude that fungicide sprayed did not check it effectively.

Another common phenomenon that has come to the notice of the PAU pathologists is that farmers also make their own combinations of metalaxyl and mancozeb that sometimes leads to sub-lethal doses and hence, are unable to control the disease. It has also been observed that farmers do not use the recommended doses of fungicide per acre.

Ludhiana December 5
A general body meeting of the PAU Researchers’ Association was held here yesterday. The meeting was presided over by Mr Harmeet Singh Gill. Members of the association said despite the state contributing considerably to the Central food grain pool, the economic condition of the farmer in state was not very good.

For improving the economic condition of farmers, there was an urgent need to boost overall agricultural production in the state, which was possible by making farmers aware of the technological advancements in the field of agriculture.

Mr Manjinder Singh, secretary of the association, said the state government should pay attention to the condition of farmers and take services of agricultural professionals to bring technological advancement to the doorstep of farmers.

Mr Gurwinder Singh Brar, joint secretary, said the association would conduct seminars and discussions among experts and farmers. For this purpose, agricultural experts in various fields would be invited, he added.

EDUCATION

VC opens  placement cell for vet students
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 5
The Vice-Chancellor, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Mr D.S. Bains, today inaugurated the placement cell in the College of Veterinary Sciences. The cell would work for the placement of graduating and postgraduate veterinary students.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Bains emphasised the importance of the placement cell in the newly created veterinary university.

The cell has been well equipped to cater to the needs of the students to search for job positions. The placement cell will create a database of the alumni of the college, who have been differently placed, besides searching job opportunities for the students in government and private sector, including pharmaceuticals, dairy cooperatives, milk factories, banks and stud breeding farms.

Dr S.K. Jand, Dean, Postgraduate Studies, GADVASU, said that attempts will be made to arrange informative seminars for the students to make them aware about the opportunities abroad and how to prepare for the qualifying examinations.

The officer incharge of the placement cell, Dr. S Prabhakar, said that it will provide tailormade information to the students for their placements. The placement cell will also conduct training lectures for veterinary graduates who are aspiring to appear in NAVLE, veterinary license examination to settle abroad. The placement cell will also provide guidance to the students for establishment of their own entrepreneurs such as pet clinics, poultry farms, feed, dairy, meat processing units.

Dr M.K. Chatli and Dr Ravi Kumar are the newly appointed  members of the placement cell.

An MOU has already been signed by GADVASU with University of Saskatchewan, Canada, for a collaborative student and staff exchange programme. 

Mandi Ahmedgarh, December 5
Showing concern over the declining level of understanding of the fundamentals of English, Hindi, and Punjabi, Mr Bhagwant Singh Saraon, Punjabi scholar, called upon students to focus their attention on learning the basics of lingo, including grammar.

Addressing a gathering of students and teachers at a seminar held at Shanti Tara College here today, Mr Saraon pointed out that the fundamentals of the language had been ignored at the school and college level of teaching. “Unfortunately the subject teachers had been concentrating on dictating volumes of matter to their students and emphasised little on ensuring precise use of grammar in Punjabi and other languages,” he explained.

Elaborating on the development and history of Punjabi, he cited examples to illustrate genesis of various words and their use in various situations. Students asked questions about the subject during the interaction session.

Mr Charan Preet Dua, organiser of the event, and Mr Ajay Batra, Principal, spoke on the occasion. 

Ludhiana, December 5
Guru Nanak International Public School bagged the overall trophy at the Ludhiana Sahodya School Complex Inter-school English Declamation contest held here today.

As many as 26 contestants from various schools affiliated to the CBSE participated in the contest.

The students spoke on various topics ranging from female foeticide, women empowerment, waning moral values to reservation strategy and corporal punishment.

While Guru Nanak Public School students were the first runners up, Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, BRS Nagar, were declared second runners up.

Parampreet Singh of Guru nanak Public School, Komal Kiran of GNI Public School, and Sidhhant Srivastava of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School were declared first, second and third in individual categories. Consolation prizes went to Yashika Dogra of Green land Senior Secondary School, Gaurav Jhamb of BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School and Krishna Sood of GNI Public School.

Ludhiana, December 5
Dr B.S. Shah, Professor in the Department of Pathology at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, and another city-based surgeon, Dr Anurag Goswami, were felicitated for being elected to the two of three seats of Punjab Medical Council for which elections were held last week.

The DMC Teachers Association has hailed the victory of Dr Balbir Singh Shah, who polled the highest number of votes (2852) in his favour. Dr N.S. Khaira, president of the association, while congratulating Dr Shah, reiterated that it was important to have self-regulatory mechanism in place to maintain high standards of healthcare for one and all. Dr S. Uppal, secretary, DMCTA, emphasised that a strong democratic process always strengthened the organisation and paved the way for achieving the desired objective.

Ludhiana, December 5
Ms Malkiat Kaur, Headmistress of Government Girls High School, Ramgarh, was given the award of honour by Gen S.F. Rodrigues, Governor, Punjab, and the lady Governor at the 58th annual general meeting of the Punjab state branch of the Indian Red Cross Society at Chandigarh.

Ms Malkiat Kaur received the honour in recognition of her services for promoting activities of the Red Cross Society. Her role in maintaining the junior wing of the society in the school, holding blood donation and medical check-up camps, along with distribution of free uniforms, note books and stationery among the needy students, got special mention in the recommendation made by the district Red Cross Society.