Amritsar, June 22
Varun Kumar, son of class IV employee, only dreamt of getting admission in a professional course but lack of educational resources was always a binding. He could have made it without a fuss if he had been living in any major town or city in the country. He lives in Banga township in the border belt of Tarn Taran district where education takes a back seat.

But taking everything into consideration, he cracked the AIEEE examination and was able to get admission in the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology.

And he has every reason to thank the Delhi-based Gyan Sewa Trust which has become a boon for these rural students of the district. The trust through its Khadoor Sahib centre provides guidance to regional students free of cost which helps them get admission in professional courses.

The success story does not end here. Several students of this Khadoor Sahib centre have cracked the CET examination to get admission in professional courses. Those include Tejinder Jit Singh (rank 1315), Sukhdeep Singh (2500), Harjot Singh (3884), Jagroop Kaur (3963), Inderjit Singh (4000), Harsimranjit Singh (6449) and Prabhpreet Kaur Saini.

Baba Sewa Singh, head of kar sewa Dera Khadoor Sahib, helps the trust in its mission.

Khadoor Sahib provides building and infrastructure to the students.

Baba Sewa Singh talking to Amritsar Plus said the trust in its first year had shown good results and now it had a plan to bring more rural students under the project in the coming years.

The trust’s main endeavour was to check this disparity and provide equal access to all the disadvantaged sections to enable them to compete with those who had excellent educational resources and to make their place in the world, he added.

Terming education as the most powerful tool, he said everyone needed to keep pace with the fast-moving world.

He said the trust as part of the pilot project for the first year had started two coaching centres in remote villages in Punjab - one at Talewal (Sangrur) and the other at Khadoor Sahib (Tarn Taran). He said that these rural students who earlier had been choosing ordinary streams like BA and BSc were awakened by the Gyan Sewa Trust, a Delhi-based trust, to enable them to qualify for medical and engineering seats.

It is pertinent to mention here that with a noble mission to offer as good an education in the countryside as available in cities, some Delhi-based Punjabis, including Patwant Singh, an eminent journalist, H.S. Phoolka, Dr G.S. Grewal, Dr Raghbir Singh Basi and Avtar Singh Dhindsa had launched Gyan Sewa Trust in at least 100 villages of Punjab.

As part of the pilot project for the first year, two coaching centres have already been set up at Talewal village and Khadoor Sahib. Every weekend, subject experts from Delhi teach students of classes XI and XII and train local teachers.

The trust organised a 23-day crash course for the rural area students. As many as 36 students were imparted coaching in the course by experts. The trust arranged these experts from Delhi on its own expenses and provided free coaching to the students.

Baba Sewa Singh said Punjab, which at one stage used to rank number two in the literacy level, was now relegated to the seventh place in India. He further said amongst the children of the age group of 6-14, the next generation, the literacy level in Punjab was just 59 per cent, which was below the average literacy level (65 per cent) of India and stood at number 23.

He said the situation was alarming and the decline in the literacy level needed to be checked and immediate steps had to be taken to improve the situation.

Amritsar, June 22
Various social and non-governmental organisations have urged the state government and the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) for re-shifting of the Guru Ram Das Hospital from Vallah to its old building near Gurdwara Shaheedan.

In memorandums to the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, SGPC chief Avtar Singh, Punjab AG Hardev Singh Mattewal and various leaders of the government, the Amritsar Vikas Manch has urged them to re-locate the hospital as the people of Tarn Taran and nearby areas were facing problems in getting the treatment as the hospital is Vallah, which is around 8 kms from Amritsar.

The memorandum was signed among others by AVM chief Harbhajan Singh Gill, Bhupinder Singh Sandhu, president of National Punjabi Heritage Foundation, Bikramjit Singh, former chief of Khalsa College Teachers Union and sarpanches of various villages of Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts.

Notably, the SGPC had temporarily shifted the hospital from Shaheedan to Vallah in view of the inspection by a team of the Medical Council of India around three months ago. Also the new hospital had state-of-the-art machinery which was 
lying unused.

Bhupinder Singh Sandhu said he has urged the CM to take personal initiative to relocate the hospital as thousands of people would benefit from it. “The worst-hit are critical patients. It now takes more time to reach the hospital which can prove fatal in some cases,” he added.

The chemists who were running shops near the old building of the hospital claim that their sales have gone down considerably. “If the hospital is not re-located immediately, we would have no option but to close down our shops,” said a chemist, alleging that some vested interests in the SGPC have lobbied for shifting of the hospital. The chemist shops are charging exorbitant rates from patients who don’t have much option, he added.

A large number of patients and their attendants, from remote areas of the twin districts, first come to the Shaheedan area as they are not aware that the hospital has been shifted. “It wastes a lot of time and also adds up to the financial burden,” rued a man, who had to rush his patient to Vallah from the old hospital building. 

Amritsar, June 22
“The national movement of freedom struggle was the war for self-respect for all Indians. For Bhagat Singh, the principles were dearer than his life and in real sense, he was a man of crisis.”

These observations were made by a former professor of PAU, Ludhiana, and nephew of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Prof Jagmohan Singh, while addressing the teachers participating in the general orientation course being organised by the Academic Staff College of Guru Nanak Dev University.

Tracing the history of freedom movement, Prof Jagmohan Singh spoke on the historical, social and political conditions of the British regime in India. “Irrespective of religion, there was a war of self-respect at that time and there was only one goal for all of us to achieve the freedom.”

He said when Lord Macaulay visited Delhi, he remarked that the education being imparted in the madrasas of Delhi was better than the education being provided by the European universities. As a result of which the Britishers were compelled to formulate a new education policy so that a “dependent class” may be created to work for them.

Talking about Bhagat Singh’s vision and ideology and its relevance in the present era, Prof Jagmohan Singh said Shaheed Bhagat Singh was a man of crises. Moreover, he was a man of principles and he had a great influence of his father Kishan Singh and uncle Ajit Singh.

The former professor of Punjab Agricultural University gave details about the great contribution of Bhagat Singh’s family towards freedom struggle.

Prof Jagmohan Singh also talked about the contribution of Satguru Baba Ram Singh in the national movement.

Prof Jagmohan Singh said the government should give more attention to provide education, health facilities and to create more employment opportunities with the help and support of the World Bank to change the quality of life of the citizens.

Amritsar, June 22
As many as 240 students of the 2008 batch of various courses of the Guru Nanak Dev University, have been selected by Multinational Companies before the completion of their formal studies. These students would be paid packages ranging from rupees 2.95 lakh to 4.00 lakh per annum.

Companies like Infosys selected 95 students, TCS (64), Accenture (34), WIPRO (26), Parro System (15) and Aviva Global Connect (6) students before the completion of their final year studies. These students would join their duties by June 2008.

He said 515 students of the 2007 batch have been placed through campus recruitments. More placement interviews scheduled are by Neogen on June 29, Satyam on June 27, I-flex on July 2, M-Doc on July 4, L&T on July 6, Tata Elexy on July 9, HCL on July 11, Fi-Software on July 15, Supient on July 14, CSE on July 16, Keen on July 18, Infogain on July 20, Tech Mahindra on July 24, Cognizent on July 26. These companies would visit the University before July 31.

Amritsar, June 22
Guru Nanak Dev University has invited applications for job oriented courses for un-employed women at its regional campus and Shaheed Ram Singh Pathania Memorial College, Niari, in Gurdaspur district.

Prof Subhash Chandar, director and head of the department of adult continuing education and extension, has said application forms for these courses are available on the GND varsity regional campus and Niari College in Gurdaspur and can be submitted by June 29 at the same venue.

Prof Chandar said a one-year self-employment certificate course in dress designing, cutting and tailoring being run at SRSPM College, Niari, would now be open for class X pass female candidates.

The interviews for admission to this course would be held on July 11 at 10 am.

He said forms for admission to courses on the regional campus, Gurdaspur, could be deposited till June 29. The interview for the same would be held on July 9 at 10 am at the same venue.

Amritsar, June 22
The district unit of the Communists Party of India (CPI) has submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner demanding restoration of the bus service from Jandiala Guru.

In the memorandum, the CPI leaders said the late night bus service, which was stopped during the militancy days, should be restored for the convenience of the late night commuters.

“The drain on the Amritsar roadside has been emitting foul smell, thereby creating a lot of problems for the residents. Due to non-availability of sewerage in some parts of the city the residents have dug bores in their houses and the sewage is put under the ground, which is making the groundwater unfit for drinking,” stated the memorandum.

The CPI also demanded construction of a mini secretariat meant for district offices at. Meanwhile, the DC assured the party of an appropriate action.