Chandigarh, December 21
Teachers in the private colleges in the city struck work today leading to disruption in the schedule of the December exams being held at these colleges.

Students reached the college this morning prepared to sit for the test but were told that the test had been postponed. Since the strike is likely to continue, most colleges have rescheduled the dates of the examinations that are to take place from tomorrow onwards.

Members of the GGDSD College Teachers Union held a dharna outside the college campus against the non-implementation of the pension scheme by the Punjab Government.

Mr Rakesh Mehta, president of the union, expressed anguish over the non-fulfilment of the promise made by the Punjab Chief Minister. Due to strike, the tests, scheduled to be held on December 21, 22, 23 and 24 have been postponed to January 2, 3, 4 and 5, 2007, respectively.

Members of the DAV College Teachers Union began the indefinite strike today and held a rally on the college campus. Mr R.K. Anand, secretary of the union, said the college managements were exploiting the students and teachers and were not giving the teachers their due rights like pension, gratuity, etc.

He demanded that a bursar be appointed in the college.

Chandigarh, December 21
Reacting strongly to the statement made by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh regarding denial of pension to the government-aided school teachers, the agitating teachers today re-launched their agitation and courted arrested in Sector 17.

Members of the Punjab State Aided School Teachers and other Employees Union stated that they were forced to intensify their struggle with the backtracking of the state government. Taking a strong note of the CM’s statement appearing in a section of the media that not only the pension could not be given to the aided school staff, but the state government was also contemplating to stop the 95 per cent grant which these schools were getting since December 1, 1967. The president of the union, Mr Gurcharan Singh Chahal, stated that they would not be cowed down by the threats of the CM.

Sharing the further plan of action of the union, Mr Chahal asserted that instead of courting arrests in Chandigarh they would protest against the CM in various parts of the state and hold rallies and dharnas in a peaceful manner.

He said two protests rallies would be held on December 22 at Chattar Singh Park, Ludhiana, and on December 23 at Nehru Garden, Jalandhar. They would also hold a meeting of executive at Ludhiana tomorrow. Meanwhile, 214 teachers, including 47 women, courted arrest after holding a rally outside the office of the Director, Public Instructions (DPI), Punjab. They were, however, later released by the magistrate. 

Chandigarh, December 21
There is an urgent need for the development of the Indian Social Science Citation Index and preparing the ranking order of social scientists in the country.

This was stated by Dr Shailendra Kumar from Delhi University while delivering a lecture on the second day of the workshop-cum-symposium on “Role of information technology in the advancement of social science research” being held at the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID).

Dr Shailendra Kumar was speaking on “Metrics of social science information on Internet” and “Resource sharing and networking of social science information resources” followed by a practical exercise on measuring of journal outputs in social sciences.

Participants took keen interest and calculated various parameters for measuring the impact of social science journals as Dr Shailendra Kumar highlighted various media of information and their components that can be used for evaluating research programmes in India.

He was of the view that resource sharing in the form of consortium will help Indian institutions in exchange of information and in saving national resources to provide facilities in other areas of information network development. 

Chandigarh, December 21
Dr R.K. Kohli, Professor and Coordinator of the Centre for Environment and Vocational Studies, Panjab University, has been appointed Adjunct Professor for a period of two years at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

During the tenure of the professorship, Dr Kohli is expected to serve as an overseas adviser for research in plant sciences and promote overall development of garden scientific research and personnel training in the XTBG. He is also expected to deliver a series of lectures at the XTBG.

The XTBG, with an area of 900 hectares, has over 10,000 species of tropical plants well preserved in “34 living collections”. It has staff strength of 260, conducts research and awards PhD degrees. It has accomplished 698 research projects. Recently, seeds of bio-diesel plant jatropha after exposure to outer space have been sent to the XTBG for research.

This rare honour for PU is the outcome of the research contributions of Dr Kohli’s group on ecological impact of introduced trees and invasive alien weeds. He is trying to understand as to how plants pollute the environment for neighbouring vegetation by releasing chemical substances into their surroundings.

His work on exploiting such property of plants in managing weeds in place of using synthetic herbicides has been acclaimed the world over. He is a strong proponent of ecological approach to weed management.

Apart from completing many research projects for the Central and state governments, some of his work is of direct relevance to society. He prepared digital information with pictures of medicinal plants of Haryana for popularising the ethnic knowledge of medicinal wealth.

Mohali, December 21
Christmas festivities took on a different flavour at the Dell International Services here when a little child from SOS Children's Village at Rajpura, near Chandigarh, launched the Dell Wishing Tree-2006, a special program aimed at reaching out to less-privileged children. It was a poignant moment when little Nancy cut the ribbon around the tastefully decorated Christmas tree. She was assisted by Ms Monisha Mathur, wife of Vivek Mathur, Director, Dell, Mohali site, who presided over the function.

Under the program, Dell employees in Mohali sponsored Christmas gifts for more than 300 children in the age group of 5 to 15 years.

The Dell amphitheatre buzzed with excitement and laughter. Traditional Christmas carols sung by the children added to the gaiety. The evening culminated with the lighting-up of a 15 feet tall Christmas tree bedecked with ornaments and twinkling lights.

Mr. Vivek Mathur said Dell was committed to making a difference to children through its community outreach programmes in cities where the company has a presence.

Chandigarh, December 21
The District and Sessions Judge, Chandigarh, today began hearing the application of five of the accused booked under the Immoral Trafficking Act in the J and K sex scandal. The accused had moved an application stating that those accused under the Immoral Trafficking Act should be tried by a lower court.

They had also sought that their case should be tried by Chief Judicial Magistrate, Chandigarh, instead of the Chief Judicial Magistrate at a Srinagar court.

Meanwhile, the BSF DIG K.C Pandhi and the former Assistant Advocate General Anil Sethi, moved application seeking complete set of statement of the victims recorded by the investigating agency.

Chandigarh, December 21
As a part of the ongoing annual SJOBA Winter Fest, 2006, a musical play “Carry on heaven” was staged yesterday at St John’s High School, Sector 26.

Theatre lovers in the city were taken in by surprise when the performing group, including some well known names of the small screen and films like Vihang Nayak, Vijoo Khote, Kishore Pradhan, Priyanka Khimani presented another untitled production right before the scheduled play. The actual play was thus pushed back by an hour.

Perhaps, not troubled by the uncalled presentation, the audience still enjoyed every bit of the satirical skit based on those anxious to go abroad in a bid to get married.

Coming back to “Carry on heaven”, the musical comedy was a spoof on the current state of Indian politics. In the play ‘Yumraj’, the God of death, decides to see a man of the 21st century. His clever courtier smartly gets a minister of the Indian Government. What follows is complete laughter, riot, with the minister eying the ultimate throne, the king of God’s throne.

Adding more punch to the rib tickler was the parody songs in between the play to describe the hilarious situations such as a political qawwali, that finally came as a solution to all problems. Leaving no stone unturned, they even made references to the present day parties.

Giving a face-off to the English theatre, this one and a half-hour-long play definitely had the audience glued to their seats throughout the presentation.

Chandigarh, December 21
The vitality and vigour of the folklore of Ghana was brought alive by versatile artists of the Accra-based National Dance Company at the Makhan Shah Lobana Foundation Auditorium here yesterday. The cultural bonanza organised by the Chandigarh branch of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations ( ICCR), featured fourteen celebrated musicians and dancers of Ghana including the ensemble directors Grace Diabatey and David Amoo. The captivating programme was steeped in the diverse folk traditions of Ghana.

The artists' very first appearance enlivened the show as they approached the stage dancing and singing through the hall from among the audience. It was a ceremonial dance of the Ashanti region of Ghana that is performed to express reverence and loyalty to the seniors in families and society.

After a musical interlude on a one- stringed instrument-'Gonje', lady dancers lured and teased lads in a scintillating dance number called the 'Atsea. Artists displayed verve, virility and grace in executing dances Bamaya, Takai Tora and the vibrant Kpalongo. The audience relished the 'Sikyi' dance sequences which depicted the flirtatious character of men and women before the ensemble concluded with the grand 'Solma', a story-telling dance. Music emanating from various 'drum' instruments captivated the audience.

Talking to the Chandigarh Tribune, the stage director, David Amoo disclosed that the National Dance Company, since its inception, has given 40 international performances despite a paucity of funds. He became emotional while sharing the fact that their tour to India was sponsored by benevolent Indian residents in Ghana.

Holding Indian cultural values and musical arts in high esteem, Amoo added Indian films and actors are a craze in Ghana.

"A gloom pervaded Accra when Raj Kapur passed away", he said.