Chandigarh, March 19
Chandigarh today became a pioneer in cyber security in the country with the launching of the Cyber Security Research Centre that will function from Punjab Engineering College. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed between NASSCOM, the UT Department of Information Technology and Punjab Engineering College for its running.

Speaking on the occasion Kiran Karnik, president of the NASSCOM, said "cyber crime could be the biggest crime of future and we need to take guard immediately. As more and more banking is going online you could lose your hard earned cash because of hacking. Virtual bombs could blow up your networks. These are only a serious repercussions which can occur due to hacking. Using window programmes and downloading programmes without rights are small offences", Karnik said.

The NASSCOM director said "the research centre was a landmark, not just in the country but in the world, in trying to get the academics close to industry. There are millions of computer users in the country who will soon be billions. Data pertaining to lives people particularly in terms of health, banks and even their personal data on government files which can be accessed or tampered can cause irreversible damage. It is better to create a guard now instead of looking for solutions when the problem arises", he said.

He said the NASSCOM was trying for an extension in the Software Technology Parks of India scheme, the time limit for which was 2009.

Mr N.Saravade, director, Cyber Securities and Compliance at NASSCOM, said "in the past three months India had added 1.8 crore mobile telephones which was equal to the total in the past 50 years. The figures are very revealing on the amount of data we would likely handle in future. We are on verge of information explosion."

Gen S.F.Rodrigues(retd), Governor of Punjab and the UT Administrator, called for a collective and concerted effort for expanding research and infrastructural development programmes in IT Sector, through short and long term planning processes to meet the emerging global challenges. Mr Vijay Gupta, director, Punjab Engineering College, gave a presentation on the vision, objectives, research, human resource empowerment and outreach programmes.

Mr S.K.Sandhu, secretary, IT, briefed the gathering about how a small idea which came up during the e-revolution conference in 2006 had transformed into a reality.

Chandigarh, March 19
The annual prize distribution function of GGDSD College, Sector 32, was held on the college premises today. Haryana Governor Dr A.R. Kidwai was the chief guest.

College managing committee’s general secretary Anirudh Joshi welcomed the guests, while Principal Dr A.C. Vaid read out the annual report of the college.

He highlighted the achievements of the college, its faculty and students during the 2006-07 session and elaborated the vision of the college for the future.

Addressing students, Dr Kidwai exhorted youth to associated themselves with the vast areas of development and apply their knowledge and expertise to solving problems ahead of them.

He urged them to embody hard work, initiative and skill without forgetting values.

Congratulating the winners, he appealed them to maintain high aspirations along with espousing austerity and humility in their life.

He also lauded the college for providing quality education.

As many as 940 prizes for outstanding achievement in academics, sports and extracurricular activities were awarded to students.

The college gave away 34 rolls of honour, 17 college colour, 19 medals, 231 certificates of distinction and 639 certificates of merit to students with commendable performances in various fields.

Some of the top achievers were Anil Kumar, Shalini, Manish, Avirbhav Verma, Kanika Verma, Harleen, Aditya Bhaskar, Kanak Sharma, Kanika Batra, Simmi Goyal, Ishleen Kaur, Manisha Sharma.

Mohali, March 19
A faculty development programme on the latest trends in management education began at the Gian Jyoti Institute for Management and Technology (GJIMT), here, today.

The two-week long development programme is being sponsored by the All-India Council for Technical Education. Hundreds of faculty members of the GJIMT from various cities, including Ambala, Yamunanagar, Kharar, Ropar, Chandigarh and Mohali, attended the programme.

Dr Prem Kumar, director, Aurbindo College of Business, Ludhiana, pondered over the need to upgrade the curriculum and modules of management studies in order to keep pace with the latest in management studies. Dr Vidu Mohan, former chairperson of the psychology department, Panjab University, dwelled upon the role of effective communication skills in the management. Dr Girish Jaiswal, a management expert, spoke on the role of management education in the present business scenario.

GJIMT chairman J.S. Bedi, said with rapid developments taking place in the field of management, it is absolutely essential to stay abreast of the latest in the field.

Mohali, March 19
A local court today remanded Sunil Kumar, former teacher of Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 22, his servant Satish and servant’s wife Manju, all accused of abducting two students of the school, in two-day police custody.

According to sources, prosecution pleaded for police remand of the three as they were to be interrogated in connection with the abduction case.

One of the abducted girls, Nisha from Naya Gaon, is expected to be interrogated by the police for more leads into the case, the sources added. The three were arrested from Uttarakhand along with the two girls.

Chandigarh, March 19
Dr Naresh, chairman of the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi and a renowned scholar, is on a literary hunt. He is looking for Hindi literature written in Persian script. The ‘hunt’, as he calls it, began less than a year ago and has already yielded him a cache of rare books of the late 19th century penned by authors who chose to write works of Hindi literature in Persian script.

“We are not sure if this rare breed of littérateurs knew the Devnagri script or not. But chances are they did not. Even in post-Mughal India Urdu was the main working language and more people knew how to write Persian than Devnagri,” he said.

The most well-known of such works is the ‘Satyarth Prakash’ which was penned by SwamiDayanand in Persian and was later transcribed into Devnagri.

Working on a major research project for the University Grants Commission (UGC), Dr Naresh has already discovered some other such works. These include 19th century works ‘Meghmaala’ by Rikhiram Verma, ‘Ram Mala’ and ‘Dahine haath ka Shankh’ by Ghulam Hussain and ‘Ramayan’ by Chandu Lal. “Other than these there is 20th century poetry of Vishnu and works of Kunwar Ram Singh, a poet from Meham, Haryana, who is still alive,” he said.

In a country that has been a melting pot of cultures, such works are not easy to find. Dr Naresh found that works have also not been consciously preserved. “It is just a matter of chance if one finds a work like this. But I have listed certain places where chances of locating such works are more. Deras, old temples for example,” he said.

Dr Naresh will be visiting Pakistan next week to look for such works across the border, which were left, locked in temples and religious deras during Partition.

Dr Naresh who held the Bhai Veer Singh chair at Panjab University for many years is adept in Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi. He believes that the number of persons who can read and write Urdu is steadily decreasing and among scholars also there are not many left who have complete command of the two languages. “It is essential to locate these works as soon as is possible so that these can be transcribed in Hindi and made available for reading and researching,” he feels.