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For govt schools, it’s back to basics
Jalandhar, July 9
The Punjab education department, which is under fire for poor results and dismal quality of education in government schools, has now come up with a novel plan to set the things right. In association with national-level NGO Pratham, it has launched a project, “Parho Punjab”, wherein government teachers would be trained to improve the education standards at the primary level.

Looking Ahead
New industrial policy in 2 months, says Kalia
Jalandhar, July 9
The Punjab government is likely to declare the industrial policy within the next two months. The policy would be prepared after going through a report of the United National Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), claimed Punjab minister for industries and commerce Manoranjan Kalia.

Driver booked for ‘raping’ NRI woman
Hoshiarpur, July 9
Police on Tuesday evening booked a person for allegedly raping and looting an NRI woman of Pakhowal.

Dismissed cop nabbed
Jalandhar, July 9
The local police arrested a dismissed Punjab Police employee for his involvement in cases of robbery and snatching here on Wednesday afternoon.

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	For govt schools, it’s back to basics Deepkamal Kaur/TNS Jalandhar, July 9 The Punjab education department, which is under fire for poor results and dismal quality of education in government schools, has now come up with a novel plan to set the things right. In association with national-level NGO Pratham, it has launched a project, “Parho Punjab”, wherein government teachers would be trained to improve the education standards at the primary level and ensure that all the students who pass out of class V are well-versed in the languages and basic mathematical and scientific concepts. The coordinators of the NGO are already on the job, revealed director-general school education Krishan Kumar while talking to The Tribune. “It has been found that almost all schools in the state have now sufficient infrastructure, but they lag in terms of content and learning material. The new project would work on an innovative methodology which will help in identifying students who are weak in writing words, sentences, mathematics and science,” he said. The NGO volunteers would visit schools and help teachers identify such students as would get special focus along with easy-to-learn material with pictorial depiction of objects around them. This way they would be easily able to relate to them and grasp the basic concepts, said Kumar. The DGSE said the first five years of the Sarv Siksha Abhiyan campaign had been utilised to provide the mandatory infrastructure. “Now the next few years would go into improving the quality of education,” he said, adding that many students of classes VI onwards were failing in science, mathematics and English owing to poor knowledge of basic concepts. The teachers, however, do not seem to be fully convinced with the project. “Earlier too an NGO Sakharta had been enrolled for improving the literacy rate. The results looked good on papers only. The new project is most likely to meet the same fate. How can a handful of volunteers train qualified and experienced teachers?,” they argue. But the DGSE maintained that the project, if accomplished diligently, would definitely produce results.
	Looking Ahead New industrial policy in 2 months, says Kalia Tribune News Service Jalandhar, July 9 The Punjab government is likely to declare the industrial policy within the next two months. The policy would be prepared after going through a report of the United National Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), claimed Punjab minister for industries and commerce Manoranjan Kalia. The minister was in the city for disbursing subsidy worth Rs 35.62 crore among 372 industrial units located in rural areas. Talking to The Tribune, the minister said the UNIDO had some time back submitted a comprehensive report on the scope of industrial growth in Punjab. The department would go through the report and frame a policy after evaluating some suitable factors in the interest of the state and the industrialists, he said. He said the government would adopt a consultative approach to frame and implement a policy for the promotion of industry and trade. Three development boards had already been constituted for the development of large, medium and small-scale industries. When asked about the hike in power tariff by the state government and the BJP’s stand on it, the minister said the issue would be taken up at the party’s core committee meeting to he held shortly. Kalia claimed that steps were being taken to improve infrastructure like roads, sanitation and water supply in different industrial focal points. Infrastructure in the district industries centres was also being upgraded to make them efficient in providing information about latest technology and marketing avenues for micro, small and medium industries. The facility would be introduced in the Ludhiana DIC, he revealed. The minister claimed the SAD-BJP government had taken a step to distribute Rs 100 crore annually to clear a backlog of sanctioned cases of subsidy. The government had distributed Rs 100 crore each in 2006-07 and same amount is being distributed in 2007-08.
	Driver booked for ‘raping’ NRI woman Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, July 9 Police on Tuesday evening booked a person for allegedly raping and looting an NRI woman of Pakhowal. Jaswinder Singh of Helarn village (Garhshankar) was under sections 376, 420, 381 and 406 of the IPC. The NRI woman, in her complaint, alleged that on March 14 Jaswinder, who was her driver at that time, raped her in her house and decamped with 8.600 UK pounds, 5 tolas gold ornaments and Rs 22 lakh cash. The NRI woman had made the complaint after four months of the occurrence of the crime. According to the SHO of the NRI police station Harpal Singh, the preliminary investigation in the case revealed that the address of the accused was incorrect. “We are conducting raids to nab him,” he added.
	Dismissed cop nabbed Tribune News Service Jalandhar, July 9 The local police arrested a dismissed Punjab Police employee for his involvement in cases of robbery and snatching here on Wednesday afternoon. The suspect, Surinder Pal, a resident of Barindpur village in Kapurthala, was nabbed from near the Sutlej Market by the cops posted at bus stand police post on the complaint of Jagdeep Singh, a resident of Jalandhar Cantonment area. According to the police, the dismissed cop had snatched a mobile phone and purse containing Rs 2,000 from Jagdeep Singh two days ago. He was also wanted in about six other such cases of robbery and snatching, the police said.
	BSM backs UPA on nuke deal Bipin Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Jalandhar, July 9 Considering the Indo-US nuclear deal the ‘need of the hour’, the Bahujan Samaj Morcha (BSM) extended its support to the UPA government. The decision was taken by the morcha at a meeting chaired by morcha chief Satnam Singh Kainth, here on Wednesday. Talking to The Tribune, Kainth, a former member of the parliament, claimed that the nuclear deal is for the benefit of the common man but certain political parties, including the NDA, have been making it an ‘issue’ for their vested interests. He claimed that the BSM had decided to support the UPA after contemplating over the issue for a long time. Coming heavily on the coalition government in Punjab, Kainth said the state government failed at almost every front during the period of one year of its regime. The Atta-Dal and Adarsh School schemes, launched by the present government, were just eyewash for the poor public. The worst affected is the education sector as top brass educationists including vice-chancellors of certain universities in the state were harassed beyond tolerance. The block samiti, zila parishad and municipal council elections, held in the state recently, saw the downfall of the democratic set up. Talking on violence, rigging and atrocities on Dalits during the recent elections, Kainth alleged that the law and order situation had deteriorated in the state. Moreover, the governance in the state had worsened to such a great extent that bureaucrats had become ‘yes men’ of the political leaders. Kainth revealed that the BSM would launch statewide protests against the state government from July 26 onwards.
	Angry Voices Youth’s murder: Irate villagers protest, block traffic Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, July 9 The alleged murder of a youth by owners of a tent house triggered protest in Saila Khurd village here on Tuesday. Mukhtiar Singh, father of the deceased, Lakhbir Singh, said his son had left his job at the tent house few days ago. On Tuesday owners of the tent house came at his residence at 4 pm and took Lakhbir with them. After around two hours, he found the body of his son lying in front of his house. He suspected that his son was killed by the duo. Lakhbir, who was married three years ago, has one-and-a-half-year-old daughter. The villagers, led by BSP chief of Punjab Avtar Singh Karimpuri and district vice-president of DCC Kulwinder Bittu, placed the body in front of the Saila Khurd police post and blocked traffic for more than an hour. They also got closed all the shops in the area, demanding registration of a case against the accused. It was only after police booked the tent-house owners Happy and Raju the protesters lifted the blockade.