AGRICULTURE

PAU all for horticulture
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 7
Ahead of the horticultural officers' workshop on December 21-22, a meeting of state-level university extension specialists and scientists was held at the Farmers Service Centre today. Director of Research B.S.Dhillon presided while the Director of Extension Education steered the proceedings.

Dr Dhillon said fruits and vegetables were poised to play a crucial role in the diversification of agriculture to strengthen the economic base of the farmers. This could only happen if the area under fruits and vegetables was further increased.

This was the right time to make vegetable cultivation a self-employment vocation. To add impetus to this, it was imperative on the part of participants to undergo training courses organised at the PAU and study literature on the cultivation of fruits and vegetables.

The PAU brought out package of practices in Punjabi and English. The endeavour was to ensure these recommendations reached policy makers as well as farmers.

For promoting fruit and vegetable cultivation, it was important that university scientists should also step out of the campus and interact with the farmers.

Without live contact between the scientists and extension workers, agriculture based on university recommendations would not yield desired results, he added.

Dr S.S.Gill said recommendations on agronomic practices would be published in a book form by the Centre for Communication, Languages and Culture. The revised package of practices on fruits and vegetables would contain information on insecticides, pesticides and weedicides and their safe use, antidotes and information on organic farming of vegetables. "State agricultural economy can only be strengthened by undertaking cultivation of fruits and vegetables in a big way," he said.

In future, the package of practices for kharif crops would contain a leaf colour chart to enable farmers to compare the crop colour with the chart before the application of fertilisers. This was being done to ensure the optimum fertilisation of paddy. The package on vegetables would also contain information on the production of foundation and hybrid seed of vegetables and details about the technology involved. 

Blend traditional methods with precision farming, says Mehra
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 7
In order to face emerging challenges in the agricultural sector, it is imperative to blend traditional farming methods with precision farming. This statement was made by Dr Sat Paul Mehra, Additional Director of Extension Education, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), while addressing the state level gathering of the PAU Kisan Club.

Dr Mehra appreciated the role of the club members in dissemination of the latest agricultural technology to farmers all over the state. He called for value addition and proper marketing of agricultural produce.

Mr Tara Singh, former personal secretary to the vice-chancellor, was honoured by the club for his distinguished services. Mr Mohinder Singh Grewal, a member of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, and Mr Pavittar Pal Singh Pangli, President of the Kisan Club applauded Mr Tara Singh’s contribution to the university, as well as to the farming community. 

Swine breeding has economic scope
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 7
The Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension, College of Veterinary Science, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU),organised a seminar on swine breeding here yesterday.

Dr P.K Mathur, Chief Geneticist from the Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement delivered a talk on swine production in Canada and various breeding strategies. Dr Mathur emphasised that breeding was a core issue in the piggery industry and the Canadians were successful as they are focusing on breeding. He said they would like to work closely with institutions and farmers in India.

Canada was exporting 50 per cent of the pork produced in the country and exporting it to 100 countries. Dr Mathur said the Canadian export was need-based and they exported the pork to the countries according to their needs like the Japanese like more marble meat and Russians like fatty type. He was optimistic about working with India and especially Punjab as a large number of people were adopting this profession.

Dr O.S. Parmar,Director, Extension Education, said in Punjab the pig population was decreasing and now there were around 29,000 pigs in the state, which, about two decades ago, were around one lakh and it needed a push.

He emphasised that pig-rearing could be adopted as there was good scope of making money from pig farming and it was also the viable alternative for diversification in agriculture. He advocated that due to increasing response of the people, the processing plant would come up soon and then the pig farming could be really successful.Dr Parmar said “We need to collaborate with the foreign companies".

Stop step-motherly treatment, say teachers of aided schools
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 7
For the second day in a row, teachers of aided schools met under the leadership of Mr O. P. Arora, the Principal of NM Jain School, Bharat Nagar Chowk, to protest against the step-motherly treatment being meted out to them by the government, here ,today. Mr Arora said that the government was not giving teachers of aided schools their due. The agitating teachers blocked traffic near Bharat Nagar Chowk, for several hours, bringing it to a grinding halt.

Mr S. C. Malhotra, Principal, SAN Jain School, demanded that the pension of teachers who have retired in 2003 should be given to them. He also called for the removal of the ban on recruitment of new teachers . “The ban has caused degradation of the education system as there are no new teachers to replace those who have retired”, he said.

Another school principal, Ms Kanwal Jeet Kaur Kalsi demanded a raise in the medical allowance, from Rs 250 to Rs 350.

The angry teachers marched to the mini secretariat and burnt the effigy of the Finance Minister, Mr Singla, there.

Stimulating lecture on environment issues
Our Correspondent

Khanna, December 7
A.S College, Khanna,as part of its diamond jubilee celebrations, organised a UGC-sponsored seminar on "Global Environment Issues, related policies and their impact" in the college Hall today.

Mr P. Ram, Principal Secretary, Department of Technical Education, Punjab, was the chief guest.

On this occasion, Mr P. Ram gave details of the social organisations involved in making the country pollution-free.

Dr H.S Rose,ex-chairperson, Department of Zoology, Punjabi University, Patiala, being the resourceperson gave an impressive and stimulating lecture and made the audience aware how the common man was responsible for degrading the environment.

People from different walks of life participated in this seminar.The president, college managing committee, Mr Yoginder Sharma, central secretary Ashok Sharma and college secretary Sanjeev Dhamija were also present.

PIFT students get industrial knowledge
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 7
A special two-day industry programme was organized by the management of Pinnacle Institute of Fashion Technology (PIFT), for its students of fashion and KDT-Knitwear design, here, today. It was held to familiarise the students with the systems, working culture and latest developments in production techniques of the industry. The exclusive industry programme took place at two venues: Petit Fashions, a prominent export house, and Thakural Traders, an international house of knitted winter clothing.

The programme gave an insight into the working of the fashion industry, the latest trends, and helped the students to develop further their portfolios for the industry. There was a professional exchange of views between the students and the sales team regarding various aspects of their profession.

Rajbir, Robin win fresher titles

Ludhiana, December 7
To welcome the new batch of students of College of Nursing at DMCH, a freshers' function was organised at Dumra Auditorium here today. Dr Daljit Singh, Principal of DMCH, extended a welcome to all faculty members, guests and students. A lamp- lighting ceremony was performed by the chief guest.

The participating freshers entertained the audience. Besides various dance items on Punjabi numbers, Rajasthani and Hindi film songs, a choreography was also organised on the theme of interaction between seniors and juniors.

The main attraction of the programme was the fashion show-cum-Miss and Mister Fresher contest in which more than 40 freshers participated.

Ms Rajbir Kaur was declared Miss Fresher while the title for Mister Fresher was bagged by Mr Robin Sharma. Ms Sandeep Kaur and Ms Shivdeep were adjudged the first and the second runners-up. Ms Ramandeep Brar won the title of Miss Catwalk as Ms Sanahdeep was declared Miss Smile. OC

From Schools and Colleges
Students participate in ‘Aao bune’ knitting contest
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, December 7
Vardhman Spinning and General Mills Ltd organised Aao Bune Knitting contest at Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Sarabha Nagar, here today. The contest was organised on the spot and went on for 1 hour. The students competed under 5 categories. During the contest, students knitted beautiful patterns, miniatures, purses and bags.

The craft teachers, Ms Parminder Toor and Ms Jyoti, selected 3 best patterns from each category. The school-level winners will compete at the zonal level where 10 best patterns from each category will be selected. At the final stage, 3 state-level entries will be selected and awarded a cash prize of Rs 5,100, Rs 3,100 and Rs 2,100 respectively.

Inter-school activity week: An inter-school activities week for nursery kids started today in Jain Public Senior Secondary School. Children from different play way schools participated in story telling competitions. The students narrated stories with expressions . All participants were awarded for their good performance.

Workshop: The internal quality management cell of Government College for Women organised a workshop on 'Total Quality Awareness' at Government College for Women, here today. Mr Manish Prasad from Abhishek Industries was the resourceperson.

The main topics of discussion were 'Basic Concepts of Quality Management' and 'People's Involvement in Managing the change'. The topics like problem solving, process technology, methodology, perpetual involvement, Kaizen Philosophy and principles of house-keeping were also elaborated. The session was interactive and informative.

Honour: Another feather was added to the cap of Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, when Mr Parminder Singh, working as Assistant Professor in Computer Science Engineering and the IT Department presented his research paper in an international conference held at Spain

The paper was about development of speech synthesis system for the Punjabi Language. The paper titled 'Text To Speech Synthesis System for Punjabi Language' was specially appreciated in the International Conference on Multi-disciplinary Information Sciences and technologies held at Merida, Spain.

HEALTH

Apollo opens vaccination clinic for kids
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, December 7
The Apollo Clinic here has started a Well Baby Clinic for the vaccination of children. The clinic will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Giving this information here today, Dr Vineet Arora, consultant paediatrician at Apollo Clinic, said children deserved good health, happiness and a disease-free life.

"It is important to maintain your child's immunisation record and get various vaccinations at the proper age. Proper immunisation can protect children from a number of diseases like measles, mumps, chickenpox, pneumonia, typhoid, diphtheria and Hepatitis B.

The measles vaccine is given at 9 months of age, followed by a second dose which is given as an MMR vaccine at 15 months of age.

"Children over the age of 12 months who have not had chickenpox should be vaccinated against this disease. Teenagers who have not had chickenpox should also get themselves vaccinated," he said.

Terming Hepatitis A as the single largest cause of jaundice in children, he said it was caused by Hepatitis A virus and was prevalent in places with poor hygiene. The most common source of infection was contaminated water or food, especially raw or poorly cooked food. The vaccination provided protection for at least 20 years and this vaccine could be given to children after the age of 1 year.

Parents should ensure the vaccination of all children above the age of three years against typhoid and repeat the vaccination after every three years. If untreated, the condition might lead to a variety of complications like intestinal haemorrhage, perforation and multi-system involvement.