Amritsar, August 4
In a major initiative, various kar sewa sects and the district administration have joined hands to enhance the green cover of the holy city by planting tree saplings in vacant areas.

During the plantation drive, the administration has planned to plant around 10 lakh saplings as compared to two lakh planted last year and it has sought help of kar sewa sects and other religious bodies.

A meeting was held here in which, besides Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu, representatives of various sects, including Sant Baba Bhoriwale, Baba Jagtar Singh, Baba Dya Singh Sur Singhwale, Beer Baba Budha Sahib, Gurdwara Dal Baba Bidhi Chand, Gurdwara Guru Ki Ber Sahib Mattewal, Gurdwara Satlani Sahib, Gurdwara Baba Bakala, Gurdwara Khadoor Sahib and Gurdwara Santokhsar participated.

Pannu said the administration had approached about 20 religious institutions and deras. He pointed out that religious bodies had always played a great role in the conservation of environment as a number of green belts came around every religious institutions.

The representatives of the sects assured Pannu of every kind of help in their effort. Apart from planting saplings in their respective deras and religious institutions, they agreed to undertake a massive plantation in suitable stretches of land.

The DC said the government had provided Rs 5 crore for the project which included planting saplings, ensuring continuous care of trees for five years, installing tree guards, regular watering and proper maintenance. He appealed to the public to bring the temperature down by a degree or two. Saplings of jamun, amaltas, sarru, pipal, bohar, neem and many herbal and ornamental trees are being provided by the Forest Department, he added.

Amritsar, August 4
Setting up an example, the Pingalwara Society - a house of destitute, old age, disabled and mentally retarded persons - established a sewerage water treatment plant at its Manawala branch which was inaugurated today as part of its celebrations to observe the 17th death anniversary of its founder Bhagat Puran Singh.

The plant would be helpful for treating sewerage water of the Pingalwara, which would be reused for agricultural and gardening purposes. It is pertinent to mention here that the Manawala branch complex consists of six acres of agricultural land besides a garden in one acre land.

Established at a cost of Rs 18-20 lakh, on an average the plant would treat one-lakh liter sewerage water which would first be stored and then used for irrigation purposes.

The main advantage of using this treated water for irrigation is that it is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, beneficial for the fertility of land and hence would require no chemical fertilizers.

Talking to The Tribune, Darshan Singh Bawa, honorary administrator, informed that during monsoons when water is not required for irrigation purposes, it would help in water recharging of the earth.

He said this would also help the nearby villages which could use water for irrigation purposes.

Bawa said for setting up the treatment plant, Mandeep Singh and Jagdish Singh Pannu, administrative engineer and engineer, respectively, of TIE & T Patiala, BHG consultants had played a key role. He said the consultancy had also provided free labour services to the Pingalwara. Mandeep Singh said the running cost of the treatment plant was around Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 per month in the form of electricity bills. He said usually people, after establishing the plant, do not use it due to its exorbitant running cost.

However, Pingalwara, which is dedicated to environmental purposes, runs these plants without any second thought. He said this would also check environmental degradation with toxic sewerage water.

In the manner of a slang, teachers call the session of table marking as harvest season. They vie with each other and the universities, too, encourage them to do so in evaluating maximum number of answer sheets so as to earn the credit of declaring results at the earliest, unmindful of the creeping in of number of discrepancies in the process.

Forty is the minimum number of answer sheets required to be marked but many feel proud of making centuries. In such a struggle of competitive earnings, you could hardly find a person like him who marked just 130 answer books in one week and then desired to be relieved of the job. “Why so Prof Mohan Singh? There is lot of work to be done,” pleaded a senior university official. Very humbly, Prof Mohan Singh answered, “I wanted to work this much only as the amount I get is sufficient for me to purchase a new pair of shoes.”

“Why cut more than what you can chew” is the simple philosophy of the simple man, who loves to quote Thoreau on the useless superfluity of possessions in life. Surely you find him austere in everything, but not in case of books.

Prof Mohan Singh has an elegant taste for books and swan-like discretion in sifting the worthy little out of the tremendous trash. Ask him anything under the moon and he will ask you to “wait a minute” and come back with proper source to satisfy your query. Custodian of rare reservoirs of knowledge - call him a bibliophile - he keeps the books so meticulously placed that he can pick the particular without any fumbling about.

Born in Burma, Prof Mohan Singh had to migrate back to his native soil and become an “ardent” resident of the house where he loves to live till the last, despite the fact that most of his near and dear ones are rolling in luxury in distant lands. He loves to remember them and relates emotional tales of the youth-time fun and frolics with them.

Always prominent among his peers, capable and competent to capture peaks of prestigious placements, he has remained at ease with perennial pursuit of knowledge. His love for Khalsa College, his alma mater, has always remained the sustainer of his hale and hearty youthfulness, though at present in septuagenarian years.

Just by chance, I got hold of a book lying outside an examination hall. It was written by Prof Mohan Singh. From the back cover, I could find out that he has written about a dozen books for the learning of English language - a down-to-earth approach for young learners. Without losing time, I went to Hall Bazaar and purchased all books written by him. I shuffle through the books and try to peep into the unfathomable depths of knowledge of the person who has never craved for any reward or recognition. Unmindful of any appreciation even, he keeps himself awfully busy in service of the people of Amritsar.

— J.S. Jogi

Interview with Sanjeev Kumar, principal of GND DAV Public School located in the rural area of Bhikiwind

Amritsar, August 4
The DAV Educational Trust recently appointed Sanjeev Kumar as Principal of Guru Nanak Dev DAV Public School, Bhikhiwind, which is one of the earliest schools opened in the rural area in 1992. Initiating with 180 students, its strength has risen to staggering 1,700.

In an interview to Amritsar Plus, he delved on public education in the rural areas. Excerpts from the interview:

Q: How does the school achieve its goal of imparting education and that too in English medium?

Principal: The stress is to provide education at par with urban public schools so that the students need not travel to the city schools. Impressive rise in the strength of students proves amount of success achieved.

Q: Inhabitants of rural areas lack exposure as compared to urban counterparts. What are steps being taken to address the matter?

Principal: Certainly there is a difference between rural and urban areas. In order to fill the chasm between rural and urban students, stress is given to improve their personality by holding English speaking classes. For the purpose, the school library subscribes excellent journals and periodicals besides books of various subjects. A state-of-the-art computer laboratory gives an edge to the institution in the area. Gaurav Chopra, who studied from primary till matriculation in the school, secured 57th position in CBSE PMT and Punjab PMT this year.

Q: What about extra curricular activities?

Principal: The school has teachers in painting, drama, music and other extra curricular activities. My school was the first to introduce these hobby classes in the region. Response not only from students but also from parents was extremely encouraging.

Q: Rural areas of the holy city have produced notable players for the state and the country. What are plans to harness this talent?

Principal: The school has ample grounds to offer to students for sports. Though a physical education teacher is there, I will hire coaches for hockey, football, volleyball, basketball, gymnastics and yoga from this session.

Q: How did you attract students?

Principal: Initially the intake of students was slow. I visited adjoining villages of Khemkaran, Khalra, Patti, Jhabhal, Amarkot and others. I also convened meeting with local Panchayats and insisted upon the villagers to send their wards to the English medium school. For the first time ever, we were able to attract the children from Patti.

Q: Any problem finding qualified teachers?

Principal: Earlier, it was a problem. But since we have hiked the starting salary, qualified teachers have come calling.

Q: Does the school have schemes to assist students from economically weaker section?

Principal: I introduced full fee concession for fatherless/motherless children and also decided to grant scholarships for the deserving candidates for the first time.

Amritsar, August 4
Stepping up the campaign against genetically modified (GM) foods, the Kheti Virasat Mission (KVM), supported by the Mission Aagaaz and Amritsar Vikas Manch, held nukkar nataks at various parts of the city to spread awareness against GM foods.

Teams of theatre artistes staged plays at Pingalwara, Company Bagh and the posh Lawrence Road area.

In an open letter to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the KVM said the SAD’s coalition partner BJP had already expressed its views against GM crops and states like Kerala and Uttarakhand had exercised their constitutional right to remain GM food-free. Babbar, president, Mission Aagaaz, said as the Chief Minister should disallow the GM food and its farming as the state could not afford another hazardous technology to become part of its food chain. He said common man as well as eminent scientists had expressed their strong concern and reservation against the use of the irreversible and imprecise technology in food and agriculture. He said majority of the countries all over the world had already voted against allowing the technology. While, India seemed to be giving its go-ahead for the first GM food crop in the form of Bt Brinjal, which was unsafe for human consumption.

Daljeet Singh Kohli of the Amritsar Vikas Manch said as per the Constitution of India, agriculture and health were state subjects and the Chief Minister had the responsibility towards the protection of the health of the citizens of the state. — TNS

Attari, August 4
The Punjab government has decided to hold a state-level function in Amritsar on August 17 to commemorate the martyrdom day of Shaheed Madan Lal Dhingra.

Minister for Health and Family Welfare Laxmi Kanta Chawla stated this while presiding over a meeting of senior officials of the district administration at Circuit House here yesterday.

Chawla said declamation contests in schools, shaheedi yaadgar march by school students passing through the main roads of the city to Jallianwala Bagh and blood donation camps by youths and various social organisations and NGOs would be organised.

The minister said the programme would be organised at Guru Nanak Auditorium, near the bus stand, on August 17 in which freedom fighters and members of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) from various parts of Punjab would participate. Mayor Shwet Malik, Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu, Additional Deputy Commissioner Paramjit Singh and District Education Officer (Secondary) Neelam Bhagat attended the meeting.

Amritsar, August 4
The admission counselling for M.Tech (urban planning) and master in planning (infrastructure) courses run by Guru Nanak Dev University have been postponed. Earlier, this counselling was scheduled to be held on August 6.

Ashwani Luthra, Head of the Guru Ram Das School of Planning, said the fresh dates for the course would be notified later. — TNS