The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Himachal Pradesh Edition

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

Preeti Jhangiani and Rageshwari were in the city to perform.

Star power triggers celebrations
Jalandhar, December 29
Bollywood actress Preeti Jhangiani and vocalist Rageshwari today jived up the city for the New Year bash with their performance at the newly-opened Club Cabana here this evening. Preeti made her entry on the stage with her performance on ‘Sayian re sayian re’ as she went on with the number ‘Sajnan de waari waari’.

Soul Stirrer
Jalandhar, December 29
He is the man who took santoor from the confines of Kashmir valley to all over the country and abroad. The maestro, who has become synonymous with melody, is also credited with single-handedly making the stringed instrument an essential part of classical genre. In city, to cast a mesmerising spell on audience with his soulful notes, one of the doyens of classical music, Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma, while talking to The Tribune revealed his burning passion for santoor. The legend is slated to perform at Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan after almost 50 years.

Santoor legend Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma performs at Harballabh after 50 years

The Christian community held a candle march, appealing for peace in Orissa — from where incidents of attacks on churches are being reported — in Jalandhar on Saturday. Addressing the community members, Bishop Anil Couto termed the incidents unfortunate. Father Franco, spokesman for diocese, in a release issued to the press, said peace prayers will be held from December 30 to January 6. He said a demonstration would also be held outside the DC office on January 4. —Photo by S.S. Chopra

517 complaints of human trafficking in district
Hoshiarpur, December 29
As many as 93 cases of duping innocent persons of lakhs of rupees, in the name of sending them or their wards abroad, by the so called travel agents have been registered up to 30th November of this calendar year in the district.

Missing man’s body recovered
Hoshiarpur, December 29
The body of Raj Kumar, resident of Mohalla Prahlad Nagar, was recovered at a shop in the Industrial Area of Jalandhar road here on Friday evening.

‘Spl focus on rural area devp’
Batala, December 29
Punjab chief parliamentary secretary Jagdish Sawhney distributed cheques of grants among sarpanchs of villages of the Batala constituency at a function here today.

	It will rain jobs on teachers, says Badal ‘14,000 new recruitments to fill vacant posts’ Amarjit Thind Tribune News Service Tibba (Kapurthala), December 29 The state government would soon recruit 14,000 teachers to fill up the vacant posts in schools so that the students could avail quality education. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal stated this after laying the foundation stone of the first Adarsh School here today. For the first time, 1,000 English teachers would also be recruited so that students from the rural areas too could study and excel in the subject. The British Council has also agreed to conduct a joint programme with the education department, to improve the teaching skills of English language teachers in the state, he disclosed. Referring to the Adarsh School scheme, Badal said one school in each constituency of Punjab would be set up to provide free quality education to the poor and meritorious students. At present, nine Adarsh Schools are running successfully in the state with an intake capacity of 4,000 students. Seeing the utility of the scheme, the centre was also contemplating to adopt this scheme for setting up at least one Adarsh School in each of the 6,000 blocks of the country, he pointed out. The CM said many leading business houses had agreed for the setting up of about 100 such schools in collaboration with the state government. “The total private investment in these ventures would be over Rs 300 crore”, he added. Badal said the state government had made a provision of Rs 75 crore for this scheme in the current annual plan. Education minister Dr Upinderjit Kaur said the government had started implementing its unique educational programme in a phased manner. Under this project, the existing infrastructure of about 351 government rural senior secondary schools would be upgraded with ultra-modern science laboratories and computers, besides, providing furniture and new buildings, she informed. On the recruitment of teachers, she said the appointees would be in their place before the commencement of next academic session, to ensure the smooth functioning of the schools, especially in the rural areas. The appointment would strictly be made on merit basis and they would be posted only in those schools which were facing an acute shortage of teachers. She further added that the state government had embarked upon another ambitious programme to open skill development centers throughout the state to impart technical training to the youth to improve their chances of employability.
	Up In Arms Suspension protest: Teachers flay govt, disrupt traffic Our Correspondent Nawanshahr, December 29 As part of a state-wide call to protest against the suspension of nine teachers by the state government, activists of various teachers unions under the aegis of School bachao, shikhiya bachao manch, blocked traffic for about an hour here at the Chandigarh Chowk, Banga and at Pojewal on the Garhshanker- Anandpur Sahib road on Saturday. The teachers are on a warpath to protest against the holding of training seminars during winter vacations, by boycotting these workshops, at their respective centres, for the past one week. The teachers condemned the government for steps like suspending nine teachers belonging to Amritsar and Mohali districts, telephonic orders directing the centre in-charges and resource persons not to let the agitating teachers mark their attendance and the move to issue notices to the teachers boycotting seminars among others. Bhupinder Singh Warraich, Narinder Singh Urapur, state and district president, respectively, president of Democratic Teachers Front, Sri Ram Chaudhary, Bikram jit Singh, Jatinder Kaur, Kiranjit Kaur, Venus Ghataron (ETT Teachers Union), Desh Raj Naurad (SC/BC Teachers Union), Krishan Kumar (Government Teachers Union) Balbir Singh Bains, senior vice-president, Punjab State General Category Welfare Federation, Rana Ran Singh, Joginder Singh, Charan Dass, Ajmer Sidhu, Shiv Kumar Vashisht, Iqbal Singh, among others, addressed the dharna. They reiterated their resolve to intensify the stir if the state government did not revoke the suspension of the teachers and withdraw its alleged wrong education policies. Resource persons deputed at the seminar centres also expressed their resentment over the decision of the higher authorities not to pay them despite the fact that they have been regular in carrying out their duties.
	Decision on 3 new SEZs in Punjab on Jan 2 Tribune News Service Mohali, December 29 The union government’s Board of Approvals is meeting on January 2 to consider three fresh proposals worth over Rs 1,000 crore for setting up of special economic zones (SEZ) in Punjab. The Punjab government has already approved these proposals and their case has been forwarded to the Department of Industries and Commerce for final approval. While two of these SEZs are going to come up in Mohali, another has been planned for Ludhiana. An information technology-specific SEZ is being set up in Mohali on 57.89 hectares. The entire land has been arranged by the company, which proposes to invest Rs 205 crore in the project. The Punjab government has approved another IT-specific SEZ called Sukhm Infrastructure Private Limited. Spread over 16.86 hectares, the company proposes to invest Rs 745 crore in the zone. Both these companies expect to employ 10,000 persons. Malhotra land developers private limited propose to set up an SEZ in Ludhiana on 121.41 hectares. The proposed investment in the project is Rs 213 crore and expected to employ 12,000 persons.
	Welcome 2008 Star power triggers celebrations Deepkamal Kaur/TNS Jalandhar, December 29 Bollywood actress Preeti Jhangiani and vocalist Rageshwari today jived up the city for the New Year bash with their performance at the newly-opened Club Cabana here this evening. Preeti made her entry on the stage with her performance on ‘Sayian re sayian re’ as she went on with the number ‘Sajnan de waari waari’. Rageshwari began with her ‘Jugni’. But it was somewhat adapted. She explains, “This one is written by my father, who is a lyricist and a singer”. She introduces her co-singer and dad Tirlok Singh Loomba on the stage and gives the gist of the song’s lyric, “It’s about two sisters, who get separated at the time of partition. One of them is brought up in Punjab and the other one goes to Pakistan. They meet each other after decades and recall their childhood memories”. Together the father-daughter duo sang Loomba’s self-composed ‘Sajri Rayn’. Rageshwari also sang ‘Shakira’ as she said, “I am told that there are a lot of NRIs sitting around”. She made everyone dance as she began ‘O shava’ and ‘Duniya’. Earlier, talking to mediapersons, she said she was preparing to launch her new album which would be released in mid-2008. The songs are aimed at promoting secularism. She said she was also preparing for anchoring a show on 9XM.
	Soul Stirrer Jyotika Sood Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 29 He is the man who took santoor from the confines of Kashmir valley to all over the country and abroad. The maestro, who has become synonymous with melody, is also credited with single-handedly making the stringed instrument an essential part of classical genre. In city, to cast a mesmerising spell on audience with his soulful notes, one of the doyens of classical music, Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma, while talking to The Tribune revealed his burning passion for santoor. The legend is slated to perform at Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan after almost 50 years. “When I started playing the santoor, a Kashmiri folk instrument, it was a very new concept for the audience. They were curious and wanted to know more about it. Making it popular among masses was the real challenge. I had to experiment and modify my playing style. It feels really good to see that the santoor has found a permanent place among the Indian classical instruments,” says the melody man. Sharma says nothing gives him more satisfaction than an audience which is in sync with the artists and understands what he is playing. “There are two types of listeners, one who just enjoy the performance and the other who understand it. And if an artiste finds even one percent of audience who can understand him, it’s more than enough for the former. These people are the real award for an artiste,” he adds The musician dismisses the musical contests being aired on TV channels as a marketing strategy of broadcasters and telecom companies. “These competitions have judges, but the winners are chosen through public voting. I don’t understand the need of having judges then. In fact, these contests are promoting regionalism,” says the genius. Describing the ‘Guru-shishya parampara’ as the best way of passing talent from one generation to another, Pandit Sharma said, “ It takes years for a teacher to prepare his disciple. And one day, the latter performs better than his mentor.” A recipient of various awards, including Padmashree in 1991 and Padma Vibhushan in 2001, the legend feels the music should be dynamic. However, we cannot afford to forget the age-old traditions of classical music, he says.
	517 complaints of human trafficking in district Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, December 29 As many as 93 cases of duping innocent persons of lakhs of rupees, in the name of sending them or their wards abroad, by the so called travel agents have been registered up to 30th November of this calendar year in the district. According to police sources, as many as 182 travel agents, including some couples and women were involved in these cases. Seventy-onehuman traffickers were arrested during this period. Sources said 517 complaints received by the economic cell of the district police, against human traffickers, had been disposed of and the money they had duped people of (Rs 3,40,09,700) was released to the complainants. Instructions had been given to all the station house officers of police stations in the district to take effective steps for arresting those travel agents who were evading their arrests so far. Look out circular of all the travel agents, who had succeeded to leave the country, had been sent to all airports in the country.
	Missing man’s body recovered Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, December 29 The body of Raj Kumar, resident of Mohalla Prahlad Nagar, was recovered at a shop in the Industrial Area of Jalandhar road here on Friday evening. According to police sources, Raj Kumar, who was working as a lathe mechanic at the industrial area complex, was missing since 25th December. His family members lodged a complaint about this at the Model Town police station. During the investigation, police checked the shop where he was working and found it locked. Police broke open the lock of the shutter and recovered his body from the shop. After taking it in its custody the police sent the dead body to the civil hospital for postmortem. A case has been registered.