Hoshiarpur, March 9
“To completely erase the stigma of female foeticide from the Indian society, social awareness among the people is required. Besides, social security of the women should be taken care of by the government which would definitely put an end to female foeticide.”

This was stated by Dr Lila Saini, a well known social activist, while talking to this correspondent on the occasion of International Women's Day here on Friday.

She said forgetting Indian ancient culture, moral values and adoption of the Western culture had encouraged incidents of female foeticide.

“A strong feeling prevails among majority of the people, that daughters are liabilities. Such notions should be done away with by educating people about the ill effects of female foeticide. Female foeticide has created an imbalance between the male and female population,” she said.

Dr Saini pointed out that girls were worshipped during Navratras or other sacred festivals and ceremonies in the India. It is an irony that on one hand a Kanya (girl) is worshipped and on the other, many of the worshippers themselves commit female foeticide.

She emphasised the need for some lucrative incentives which should be given by the government to the girls to make them self-sufficient, which could encourage their parents to not consider them just liabilities.

Holding seminars on female foeticide by various government agencies and NGOs is not a solution to the problem, she pointed.

Hoshiarpur, March 9
A dense fog in this part of the region claimed lives of two brothers when their motorcycle rammed into a parked tipper truck (No. PB-07D- 7177) near Chiton village, 15 km from here, on Saturday night.

According to the police sources, Maninder Singh (20) and Palwinder Singh (18) of Thapal village, were going towards Jallowal village on their motorcycle when, due to dense fog, their motorcycle rammed into a parked tipper truck seriously wounding both of them.

Both were admitted to civil hospital, Hoshiarpur.

They were shifted to DMC, Ludhiana under critical condition where they succumbed to their injuries at about 1 am.

Bodies of both the brothers were brought to the civil hospital on Sunday and were handed over to their family for cremation after postmortem.

A case has been registered against the tipper truck driver in this connection.

Hoshairpur, March 9
Around 350 farmers from 14 neighbouring villages gathered on the premises of ABC Paper Limited, Saila Khurd, 32 km from here on Saturday to express their concern to the higher management regarding the non-availability of enough treated water for irrigation, despite repeated requests and several visits to the mill's water distribution department.

During the meeting, farmers also exchanged their experiences and methods employed to make proper use of water to derive maximum benefit. According to farmers, treated water provides benefits in terms of increased productivity and locally grown crops are used not only for their own consumption but also for trading in the market.

Some farmers also requested the mill management to extend the water distribution pipelines to meet their demand. Farmers of Nariala and Saila Khurd also extended their thanks for Rs 12 lakh granted by the mill management for providing drinking water facilities.

The farmers also submitted their applications for treated water. The mill management provided on-the-spot registration facility for the farmers to include their requirement in the water distribution schedule.

The mill management assured the farmers to make the treated water distribution system more effective and also requested the farmers to follow the mill's water distribution schedule so that all farmers could get treated effluent on rotation basis. 

Amritsar, March 9
There is need for making laws, besides strictly implementing them, to stop the misuse of advertising by manufactures to lure in the gullible consumers.

Noted consumer columnist Pushpa Girima stated this while addressing the staff and students of DAV College of Education for Women, on the district level Consumers Day here on Sunday.

Pushpa said the producers were also responsible for denigrating the social and moral values of the society through advertisements for their monetary benefits.

Speaking on the occasion, Kahan Singh Pannu, deputy commissioner, said Amritsar consumer forum was trying to protect the rights of the consumers. He said the forum had taken up 182 cases during the previous year and compensations have been awarded to about 23 consumers.

He said about 94 more such cases have also been decided in favour of the consumers at the primary level. He said there was need to create awareness among the masses so that they can be stopped from purchasing products with lesser quality.

Nawanshahr, March 9
In order to equip the teachers with the latest know-how in the teaching-learning process, the Kirpal Sagar Academy orgnised a three-day orientation workshop.

Eminent educationists delivered valuable tips to teachers for developing various skills.

The experts opined that was imperative for teachers to strike a balance between inculcating moral values among students and prepare them for global challenges.

As many as 60 teachers attended the brain-storming sessions during the workshop yesterday.

The inaugural session was presided over by director, Youth Welfare, Panjab University, Chandigarh. He also delivered a lecture on 'personality development and communication skills". Dr Rajiv Sharma from Modi College, Patiala, delivered a lecture on teaching ethics. Dr Amit Kouts, principal of MGN College of Education, Jalandhar, while speaking on education technology said in the pesent era of rapid strides in information technology, the new concept of interactive teaching is replacing the traditional classroom lessons. Prof Jasmer Singh from Chandigarh delivered lecture on phonetics and Dr Augustin Isaac, director, DPS, Jalandhar spoke on how to inculcate English speaking habit among students.

The workshop was convened by Rajesh Chandel, vice-principal of the Academy and the concluding session was presides over by chariman Dr Karamjit Singh. He distributed participation certificates among the teachers.