Jalandhar, December 27
Get ready to usher in the New Year dancing to the rhythm of Salsa and Latino beats or live band, watching the Russian dance or performances of Bollywood artistes and enjoying a special cuisine in the city hotels and clubs. The choice is yours

The city hotels have made elaborate arrangements to treat their guests for the New Year party. The operational manager of Maya Hotel, Manoj, said Salsa-Latino music would be played on the gala evening with professional dance troupes performing for the select audience. The food too would be special as it would be a fusion cuisine with tandoori items finished in Chinese or continental style, he disclosed. Some Peshawari dishes would also be laid out during the extravaganza, the staff pointed out adding that there would be couple games and free gifts for the winners of lucky coupons.

A Russian dancer will regale the audience at Radisson Hotel on the New Year eve. Though the entry comes for whopping Rs 3,500 per couple, everything including drinks, snacks and buffet dinner will be on the house.

There will be two separate venues for the party in the hotel, including the one at the discotheque there. Arun Kaul, general manager, said, “The dinner will be an assortment of elaborate international cuisine, including the Thai food and Chinese recipes. The kabab factory and coffee shop will also have special food items for the guests”.

But one of the most happening events will be at newly opened Club Cabana. The event, “Cabana Fireball-2007,” is scheduled for December 29 with performances by Bollywood artiste Preeti Jhangiani of “Mohabatein” fame. MTV VJ Raageshwari will also be performing on the same nite. Gaurav Gulati, manager, said the entry would be strictly restricted to the 1,132 members.

The DJ party at Hotel President is restricted only for the couples who are members. “There will be no stags allowed, except for those accompanying a couple,” said manager Pradeep Pillay.

Hotel Kamal Palace has decided to do away with any special party for the New Year eve. “We, of course, will entertain our guests in the restaurant. There will be no dance party as law and order maintenance becomes a problem,” said a manager.

Jalandhar, December 27
The year 2007 will be remembered for the changes in the academic sphere. These include the change of guard in some city colleges, innumerable foreign tie-ups at school and college levels, opening of new educational institutes, a weeklong stir by the staff of Punjab Technical University (PTU) and appointment of new registrar.

Change in guard: P. P. Sharma retired as the principal of HMV College after a long innings. The charge went to J Kackria, an alumnus and a staff member of the same college. Satish Sharma, principal of DAV College, shifted to DAV College, Jagraon and unionist V. K. Tewari took over.

Registrar’s post at PTU was taken over by PCS officer and former deputy director of local bodies, Sarojini Gautam Sharda, replacing Dr M. S. Grewal.

The year was eventful year for PTU as its Caparo School of Excellence for Manufacturing and Material Technology enrolled its first batch in August this year. The management of Innocent Hearts School also launched Innocent Hearts College of Education.

Protests mar campuses: Mayor World School management also had to face wrath of the parents for a while as the school got affiliation somewhat late.

Neeraj Bhargava joined as the new principal here after G. Bindra left the job. Eklavya School also managed to get affiliation this year.

PTU was yet again in news for a weeklong protest by the non-teaching staff that demanded regularisation of the posts. The normal functioning at the campus remained held up for few days.

The managements of Lyallpur Khalsa College and DAV College were also up in arms against Guru Nanak Dev University this year. They alleged that their courses in MBA and MCA that received a good response were scrapped without valid reasons to do so.

The noose around government schools tightened this year with the taking over of Krishan Kumar as director general of schools. The officer has been laying stress on improving midday meals. A state-level sports day for disabled children from government schools was held for the first time under his supervision at Government Sports and Arts College. 

Jalandhar, December 27
Till a few months ago, the Government Elementary School at Basti Peer Dad had a dingy building. The road outside the school was in bad shape. There was a huge garbage dump near the gates, making the entry uninviting. But things have changed ever since an NGO started evening classes for the children of labourers in the same building.

The dump has been lifted. The road has been re-carpeted and the rooms have been whitewashed, thanks to the initiatives of the Citizen’s Welfare and Protection Council, which has been running the classes for 50 children of under-privileged families under the National Child Labour Project since the last five months. While the government school run in the daytime by the district education department has just one teacher for all five classes, the evening school is better equipped. There are four staff members taking classes for three hours from 3 pm onwards. There are lot many activities for them which comprise dance, drama and art and craft, to name a few.

The evening school also has a series of special classes, including those by the teachers from other private schools and officers from the employment office here. There are art classes on all Saturdays, the day when the students make it to the school without fail.

Two teachers from Cambridge International School, Shweta and Meena, teach painting, calligraphy, origami, paper cutting and other crafts to the children.

The children, all of whom have their parents working as labourers, say they wait through the day to make it to the school. Siblings Rahul (9), Kajal (10) and Pooja (13) are in the same school. While Rahul and Kajal had never been to school earlier, Pooja had dropped school after class III, as her parents shifted from Ludhiana to Jalandhar hunting for work.

“Pooja will be prepared to work hard for she has to complete her class V syllabus before she attains the age of 14”, said Anoop Watts, general secretary of the council. He explains, “We cannot take children of age more than 14 years and she has to be shifted to a regular school in class VI by next year”.

Eight-year-old Manvinder is also showing very good performance. “A good learner, he has crammed the multiplication tables up to eight, besides learning to write three languages,” said his teachers Nirmal and Ajay. Santosh, another teacher, pointed out that Pardeep, a student of the school had made it to the under-14 wrestling championship at the state level.

Jalandhar, December 27
The department of biotechnology from Lyallpur Khalsa College is organising a 12-day workshop on “Basic techniques in recombinant DNA technology.” Head of the department Dr Arun Dev Sharma said the workshop would focus on myriad of different techniques used in molecular manipulation of DNA and RNA.

Students of Innocent Hearts School present a patriotic song at the annual prize distribution function in Jalandhar. — Photo by S.S. Chopra

Speaking on the applications of DNA, Dhiraj Vyas, lecturer from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Jammu, said the first practical application of recombinant DNA technology was production of human insulin in cultured bacteria. “Since then, over 100 human proteins with medical applications have been expressed in bacteria and technology has been extended to yeast, filamentous fungi, animal and plant cells, and transgenic animals and plants.

Agriculture has reaped the greatest benefits of the technology as a number of transgenic crops are sown around the world”, he said.

Annual day

Students of Apeejay School perform a dance at their annual function in Jalandhar.

Apeejay School, Rama Mandi, celebrated the sixth annual day. An exhibition titled “The first war of independence” was put up. The celebrations were based on the glorious achievements of great Indians and all sung and unsung heroes who sacrificed their lives were remembered in the programme titled “Azadi ki chingari.”

Kids dressed up as Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Mangal Pandey, Rani Laxmi Bai, Dr Ambedkar, Swami Vivekanand and Swami Dayanand as they performed a live show.

Seminars held

A seminar and paper presentation on commerce was held at ICFAI National College. Gurjot Kaur of the Apeejay College of Fine Arts presented a paper on “Plastic money - its present and future.” A paper on “Outsourcing - its rationale and types” was presented by Pooja Gaba, HoD from commerce department of Trinity College.

The department of commerce of Kanya Maha Vidyalya organised a seminar on “Avenues available after graduation in commerce.” Managers from the Trinity Centre of Learning enlightened the students about preparing for various competitive examination for doing MBA.

Debate organised

State Public School, Nakodar, organised a debate in which teams from 15 leading schools participated. The topic of the debate was “Media is creating hype and frenzy in society.” The overall trophy and cash prize of Rs 5,100 went to Apeejay School.

The MGN, BCM, Ludhiana, and State Public School, Nakodar, teams were declared the first runners up. Individual prizes went to Gurbani of Apeejay, Parajeet of Guru Nanak Public School and Prabhjot of State Public School.

An exhibition “Vasundhara Vaibhav,” which was organised at Police DAV Public School in Jalandhar.

Exhibition on earth

An exhibition “Vasundhara Vaibhav” was organised at Police DAV Public School. The exhibition was inaugurated by MP Naresh Gujral. Pre-primary wing students displayed the beauty of earth through a vast spectrum of greenery, flowers, fruits and forests. Prize distribution function was presided over by Punjab DGP N.P.S. Aulakh.

Nitish Tops

Nitish Jain of the Lovely Institute of Technology has stood third in computer science and engineering, fourth semester, examination, conducted by Punjab Technical University. He has scored 85.8 per cent marks in the overall merit list of the university.

Army selections

Two students of the DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology have been selected to join the defence forces. Akhil Mahajan, final year student of electronics and communication engineering, has been selected by the army under the university entry scheme. The army had conducted the preliminary rounds of interview in DAVIET while the final selection was done by the Service Selection Board (SSB).

Abhishek Mahajan, first year student of B.Tech, electronics and communication engineering, of the DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology got selected in the National Defence of Academy (NDA).

Extension lecture

The planning forum of Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya organised an extension lecture on the topic “Determinants of economic growth.” Dr S.S. Johal, former vice-chairman, Punjab Planning Board, was the key speaker.

He spoke on the importance of quality education for promotion of meaningful development.

Annual functions

A prize distribution and cultural programme was held at Seth Hukum Chand SD Public School, Kapurthala Road. Students presented recitals of school prayer and “Saraswati Vandana.” A colourful panorama of plays, dance and music was also presented. Ballet, Tibetan dance and dandiya were performed by senior classes.An annual cultural and prize distribution function was held at Innocent Hearts School. The annual report was presented with glimpses of achievements of students in the previous session. The chief guest was Punjabi singer Manmohan Waris.

The prize distribution function of Shree Parvati Jain Co-Ed Senior Secondary School, Shree Mahavir Jain Senior Secondary Model Schol and Shree Rajmati Jain Girls’ High School was held on the premises of Shree Parvati Jain School on Saturday. Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Virender Jain was the chief guest.

Mobile repair

A training programme on mobile repair was inaugurated at RUDSET Institute. Assistant general manager of Canara Bank S.N. Munshi was the chief guest.

Director of the institute Amarjit Singh Chhina said 38 youths were participating in the month-long training programme.

Athletic meet

The annual athletic meet of Lyallpur Khalsa Collegiate Senior Secondary School was held recently. Students participated in 100m, 200m, 400m, sack, three-leg and spoon races, shot put and long jump competitions. Teachers participated in musical chairs and 100m race. Jasmeet stood first in 100m race among girls while Gurpreet Singh was the fastest runner in the same race among boys.

Badminton tourney

The second open Punjab state badminton championship was organised on the campus of St Soldier, Lidhran, by the Punjab State Badminton Association.

The women team of Jalandhar bagged the winning trophy. Patiala team lost by 29-15, 29-20.

In men’s category, Amritsar team bagged the trophy. Jalandhar lost by 29-28 and 29-27. Neha of St Soldier College, Jalandhar, and Sarabjit Singh of Amritsar were declared the stars of tournament.