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Surprising career options to the fore among youth
Parking woes at Golden Temple, Rajasansi airport
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Study At GND University
Use of domestic gas for commercial purposes
Amritsar a potential haven for tourist guides
International wrestling meet from tomorrow
Agriculture service centres to be opened in villages
High quality research need of the day: VC
Seminar on farming and suicides on Nov 21
‘Vermicomposing can turn municipal waste into manure’
Cancer awareness rally enters 3rd day
Benefits under Central schemes not reaching people: Bittu
Youth Festival
Seminar on Guru Nanak bani
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Surprising career options to the fore among youth
Amritsar, November 6 The prevailing trend among boys has baffled career counsellors, including Usha Albuquerque and Nidhi Prasad, who feel that students should go in for newer, enhanced and even better-paying options that are available nowadays. Over 210 students of Spring Dale Senior School had access to career counselling at special sessions organised by the school in collaboration with Career Smart to enable them to plan for their future. Giving a presentation on this occasion, Albuquerque said that despite so many advanced and well-paying options available, it was surprising to see boys opting for conventional careers. “The new courses available nowadays are not only innovative, but also of shorter duration than the conventional ones and equally challenging and even better paying,” said Albuquerque. She maintained that what was more surprising was that the students whom she had interviewed did not want to opt for new courses though they were intellectually fully equipped to do so. “Many of the students exhibited outstanding ability for mathematics and science. However, still the boys were wary of opting for contemporary streams,” she said. Usha attributed this to lack of awareness about the new career opportunities and urged the schools to hold regular career counselling sessions to help their students keep themselves abreast with the latest in career trends. Nidhi Prasad said that glamour and money were the main factors around which girls had centred their choices, while boys were only concerned with getting a fat pay cheque which triggered their choice for conventional streams. “Teaching is a big no-no for girls who feel that there is no money in it, and most of them are opting either for openings in the aviation industry or IT and MBA due to the glamour and money involved in these fields,” she said. She added that a few of the girls had also showed a penchant for courses in human genetics and robotics. “But as far as boys are concerned virtually all of them expressed a desire to go in for medical and non-medical courses, which is really surprising,” she averred. Kirat Sandhu, Director, Spring Dale Educational Society, said, “Our aim of holding counselling seminars is to help our students chart out their future by providing career guidance to them.”
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Parking woes at Golden Temple, Rajasansi airport
Amritsar, November 6 A Tribune team visited both places to have a look at the parking facilities. If you are lucky enough to reach the designated parking place on your visit to the Golden Temple without having a scratch on your vehicle, then wait, the multistorey parking lot, specifically demarcated for visitors to the Golden temple, is there for this. With a view to provide convenience to the thousands of pilgrims, travelling by car, to pay visit to the holy shrine, this three-storey parking lot was created by demolishing the Town Hall School building, the first educational institute established by the British in the holy city, so that they should not face problems in parking their vehicles. But it was not to be. While entering this multistorey parking, which incidentally is a Centre Government-funded multi-crore project to decongest the area around the Golden temple, loads of efforts would be needed to find an appropriate safe place for your vehicle. The dark dingy approach, with stink and dirt on every level of this three-storey horror spot would be enough to describe the ground realities of the hollow claims of government for planned and regular growth. The haphazard car parked over there would not let you feel relaxed while parking your vehicle. But hold on! Get yourself prepared for another shock. The most horrendous act would be to get your vehicle out. The direction markings on the walls of the ramp passage, supposed to be meant for going out of the parking area, are just opposite. The “dictatorial” and authoritative attitude of the contractor and his men cuts a sorry state of affairs. When asked about this lapse, the attendant, present there retorted, “What do you have to do with the wall when your vehicle needs just a ramp to go down, do not waste our time by indulging in such talks,” he said before getting busy in collecting parking fees from other visitors. Though the prescribed rate list for car parking says “Rs 10 for first six hours, Rs 25 uptil 12 hours and Rs 40 for 24 hours”, but the contractor charges Rs 40 from the visitors, irrespective of the time span. The experience was no better at the Amritsar international airport, also known as Rajasansi International Airport. Parking the vehicle here too was no less than a Herculean task. Though the government speaks aloud about projecting it as state-of-the-art international airport, yet it stands nowhere in terms of basic facilities, like parking is neglected here too. No thought has ever been spared by the authorities about providing shade for the waiting drivers. The fee has been reduced from Rs 120 to 60 now, but the people boarding a flight or landing here, prefer to ask their drivers to stay outside the premises of the airport.
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Study At GND University
Amritsar, November 6 “The exposure here is too vibrant,” expressed Okongo, while describing India as an opportune destination for studies. “It generates more job avenues back home,” he said. Richard Nyangosi, another Kenyan, who is pursuing doctorate in finance in Faculty of Economics and Business, pointed out that the city was different from other areas of the country he had visited in connection with his research or family programmes and social gathering. Richard did his masters from Bundelkhand University and was enrolled for PhD at Guru Nanak Dev University in 2004. About the cause of choosing Guru Nanak Dev University, Richard said his relatives inspired him to join this university as it had well-organised system of education. He said after completing his education he would like to return to his country for serving his nation, besides becoming an academic and socio ambassador of the university. About the food habits, they said initially they had problem in eating spicy food but now they had developed taste and they could not help craving for “paranthas with a lot of makkhan”. They said they relished on spicy foods of the holy city for which it was famous the world-over. However, they observed that the city had changed culturally very fast over the past few years, probably due to a boom in cable and electronic media. Echoing the same sentiments, Ramesh, a resident of Kathmandu (Nepal) pursuing his MBA course, said they were getting full help from their classmates and friends. There are four students, including a girl, from Nepal studying MBA under the silver jubilee scholarship programme, 2008-10, sponsored by the International Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). The other students are Rani Gupta from Kathmandu, Askhilesh Yadav and Dipendra Gupta from Birganj (Nepal). About their aim after completing the education, Rani said they wanted to serve their country. However, she pointed out they would like to have at least two years’ experience in India. Guru Nanak Dev University has 12 students of foreign origin in different courses. These are from Nepal, Kenya, the USA and Canada.
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Use of domestic gas for commercial purposes
Amritsar, November 6 Consequently, it has led to a shortage or inadequately filled LPG cylinders for genuine domestic consumers, thereby defeating norms under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act 1955. Another reason for this menace is the vast difference between commercial and domestic rates applicable to LPG cylinders. While a domestic cylinder costs Rs 340, the commercial one costs above Rs 1,000. The lucrative negotiation between the supplier and event management agents cannot be ruled out. Cocking a snook at policy, this practice becomes prominent during the marriage season and even repeated raids by the administration or even oil companies hardly yields any results. But if officials are to be believed, stern efforts are now being initiated to curb this menace. While admitting that this practice is against the norms of the Essential Commodities Act, Anjuman Bhaskar, District Food and Supplies Controller said the administration is getting tough with the wrong doers. “The violators would be dealt with sternly now. We have passed instructions to all marriage palaces and resorts to strictly adhere to the prescribed norms and to engage LPG cylinders specified under commercial slots only. Violators can be booked under relevant sections and even an imprisonment from three months to seven years can be awarded to them, if proved guilty. An Indian Oil Corporation official opined that the administration should ask commercial establishments, including hotels and marriage palaces, to disclose their consumption pattern. “A data base should be created to check from time to time and one family one connection policy should be strictly adhered to,” he said.
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Amritsar a potential haven for tourist guides
Amritsar, November 6 Popularity of the Punjabi cuisine, portrayal of its lush green fields in Bollywood flicks are drawing tourists, pilgrims and devotees not only from the country but also from across the world to the religious capital of Sikhs. Earlier, terrorism had marred the prospects of tourism in the city. At present the absence of a well-defined policy on guides and non-availability of formal education to groom professionals has left several lacunae in the profession. Now, there are roughly 12 guides in the city. Each earns Rs 600 and above. Their main clients are foreign nationals and NRIs, said guide Gurinder Singh Johal. Unlike states like Rajasthan and Maharashtra, the state government has no provision to issue licences to bona fide guides. However, the Punjab Tourism Department, for the first time, had held an eight-day camp to train nearly 10 guides from the state at Chandigarh last year. Undoubtedly, tourist guiding as a profession, is at a nascent stage not only in the city but also in the state. In order to tap the potential of the growing hospitality industry, quality guides are of paramount significance. Apart from Amritsar, Patiala, Kapurthala, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur have potential for tourism. Luckily, out of these districts, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Kapurthala are located at a relatively short distance from here. Dearth of language guides
Tourists from France, Italy, Israel and Spain arrive hre in large numbers. However, almost none of the guides are proficient in French, Italian, Hebrew and Spanish languages. These groups of tourists, thus, go relatively unattended. In the absence of quality communication they mostly rely on travel books. Guides needed
Elaborate knowledge of the local culture, religion and history of the city is something that a majority of the guides of the city lack. Johal accepted that guides active in the vocation were woefully unequipped with knowledge in these subjects. Needs to harness potential of historic sites
The stay of tourists in the city is limited to hours as after visiting the Golden Temple and Jallianwala Bagh they have hardly any site of repute on the list to visit as their sojourn at the Attari-Wagah joint check post is possible only when they decide to extend their stay till late evening or night. Guides are of the view that the state government and the district administration must work together to develop tourist sites to harness the potential to its maximum. They are of the view that the heritage village must be set up at the earliest while farm tourism could be another option to add in the itinerary of tourists. They said hardly any thought has been spared for the ancient Ram Tirth Temple, believed to be the ashram (hermitage) of sage Valmiki. Johal said the government could intiate a fair on the lines of Surajkund in Haryana, Pushkar in Rajasthan and Ladakh fair in Jammu and Kashmir at the place. Besides, a heritage walk in the walled city every evening would be like opening up a page in history where akharas of mahants , temples, and traditional eat-outs could be interesting to view. Tourist sites in adjoining towns
A number of tourist sites located in nondescript areas of adjoining towns could also be included in itinerary of tourists visiting the city. World famous wetland located at Harike Pattan, 50 km from here, in Tarn Taran district could be turned into another tourist spot to view rare species of birds from Siberia in the winter, wild animals and scenic beauty of the river. Kapurthala, which is nearly 60 km from here, has marvellous palaces and structures. Some of them built on the line of French architecture. Gurdaspur district has Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak, famous Shiv Temple at Kalanaur and the village where Akbar had ascended the throne. |
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International wrestling meet from tomorrow
Amritsar, November 6 The other bouts have been planned at Tarn Taran next day from 2 pm to 4 pm. The meet is being organised by the Punjab Wrestling Association under the aegis of Olympian Kartar Singh, secretary general, Wrestling Federation of India. All the bouts would be held as per international norms. While giving details of the schedule, G.S. Dhillon said bouts would be held between the wrestlers of India, Iran and Pakistan. “Our efforts are to enthuse the interest of the youth towards this sport, which happens to be a rural sport having deep roots in India. But with glamorous show of cricket and other international games, the youth seldom takes interest in sport like wrestling,” he said. Elaborating the aim of conducting the meet, Sohan Singh, general secretary of the Gol Bagh Wrestling Stadium, said, “There is enthusiasm among the people of the area. Our efforts, through this meet, are to attract the interest of the authorities and sponsors so that a wrestling academy can be established here.”
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Agriculture service centres to be opened in villages
Amritsar, November 6 He said the farmers of Punjab invest nearly Rs 14,000 crore annually for procuring farm appliances every year, thereby incurring about Rs 1,400 crore annual interest. He said even after this kind of heavy investment, the farmers could not surely get enough returns to sustain themselves. Besides, in order to keep pace with fast changing trends and patterns of farming it was imperative to adopt new farm gadgets. Pannu stressed on the cultivation of vegetables under net house by marginal farmers. The farmers possessing couple of acres of land could earn impressive remuneration by carrying out farm activities manually. He urged the farmers to plant saplings of kikkar, neem and shade trees around their fields and near motors. Joint Director, Agriculture (Inputs), Dr Harvinder Singh Bhatti said 146.60 lakh tonnes of wheat was expected this time. He informed that the farmers would be made available five lakh quintal seeds of wheat at subsidised rates
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Producing stupendous athletes
Amritsar, November 6 Grooming players in walk and sprint, he makes it sure that no player of his commits an error which he might have committed in his active athletic career. The list of his trained players is long. His athlete Bhalinder Singh secured the gold in 10 km walk (U-18) and won a bronze medal in 20 km walk in the all India inter-university championship. Another player Attinder Pal Kaur clinched a gold medal in the 3 km walk in the junior national athletics championship and also a gold medal in the National Games of Schools. While his trained Amandeep Kaur remained champion in the open state games and school state games for five consecutive years from 2003, she also won the silver in the junior national athletics championship. She is running Sarhad-e-Punjab Sports Club where she won Rs 21,000 twice. She also created a new record in 3 km walk by covering the distance in 14 minutes and 21 seconds in the Punjab State Games held at Amritsar in 2007. Another athlete trained by Mattu, Isha Rani, won the bronze medal in 10 km walk in the junior national athletics championship. Harpreet Kaur was adjudged the best athlete in the Punjab athletics championship held at Sangrur last year and was also declared the best athlete in sprint in the inter-college athletics championship. Meanwhile, Mattu’s initiation into sports as a career was nothing short of an accident as he had coincidentally joined a summer camp for athletics at Khalsa College in 1994. He credited the athletics coach of the college Ajit Singh for grooming him during his formative years. He participated in the junior national athletics championship in Tamil Nadu in 1998 and the next year he took part in the senior inter-state athletics championship in Lucknow. He completed his bachelor in physical education (BPEd) from Nagpur University in 2000. With the inception of his coaching career in 2002, he has been working as a coach at the Prabhakar Senior Secondary School. He established the Sports Club in 2003, which has been financially supporting players, coaching players and holding summer sports camps. Mattu is also the president of the Sarhad-e-Punjab Sports Club. The club would hold the two-day sixth junior inter-school athletics championship at Guru Nanak Stadium in Gandhi Ground.
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High quality research need of the day: VC
Amritsar, November 6 These views were expressed by Prof A.S. Brar, Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University, while presiding over the SATKAL annual function 2009 at Guru Nanak Bhavan of the university here today. The function was organised by SATKAL Trust, USA, in association with the Bhai Gurdas Library, to award scholarships and honours in the field of library science. Brar said, “Our universities are undergoing a financial crunch owing to which, they cannot compete with the IITs and IIMs. We have limited financial resources to manage research and spread education. We need expensive equipment for high quality research.” He said on the other hand, foreign universities had plenty of funds. He said this was one of the reasons for our students migrating to other countries in search of better opportunities and placements. Brar that dedicated efforts of this trust would help strengthen libraries and information studies. Dr R.G. Prashar, former head of the Library and Information Science Department and Dean of Dr Hari Singh Gaur University, Sagar (MP), in his keynote address, said library services should be extended to the public after the closures of educational institutes in order to promote reading habits among masses. He said it was also a matter of concern that our libraries had a shortage of staff. He said 2 to 3 per cent of the budget had been spent on libraries which needed to be 6 to 10 per cent for their smooth conduct. While welcoming the chief guest and other delegates, Dr H.S. Chopra, Head of Bhai Gurdas Library and organising secretary of the programme, said over 200 delegates from Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Karnataka had participated. Earlier, Dr Davinder Kaur, President. SATKAL Trust, said this year’s women librarian award was given to Kalpana Das Gupta, former chairperson of the Working Group on Libraries, Knowledge Commission of India. Similarly, the Punjab National Librarian award went to Dr Prem Singh, Librarian, MDU, Rohtak. She said Vilas Vernekar, Librarian, Kendriya Vidyalaya, ASC (South), Bangalore, had been awarded the School Librarian award. Similarly, the Young Librarian award went to Dr Ramesh C. Gaur, Librarian and Head, Kalanidhi Division at Indira Gandi National Centre for Arts, New Delhi
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Seminar on farming and suicides on Nov 21
Amritsar, November 6 The seminar is sponsored by the Indian Society of Agriculture Economics (ISAE), Mumbai, for which grants have been issued to the organisation, said Dr T.S. Chahal, Director, IDP. Chahal pointed out that farmer suicides needed deep analysis, including its causes and solutions that had led to the cursed situation in several states of the country, especially in agriculturally advanced states like Punjab. He said the viability of farmers as a profession and source of livelihood, particularly for small and marginal farmers, had become doubtful in the countryside. Quoting some data, he said about two lakh marginal and small farmers had left farming in Punjab. He said that various scholars from different institutions, including Panjab University, Chandigarh, and Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, and Guru Nanak Dev University here would present their research papers on the subject. He alleged the Central and state governments were trying to downplay the number of suicides by farmers and there was lack of available data. He said, according to some data, 1.50 lakh farmers have committed suicide during the past 10 years. He said that various themes that would be looked into during the seminar included genesis of the problem, extent of the problem as different figures and estimates were being floated by different NGOs and other agencies, scope of problem and its impact on social, economic and political life of people, impact of the WTO on the condition of farmers, especially on the livelihood of the distressed farmers, future of marginal and small farmers in their profession, effect of loan waiver of Rs 71,000 crore by the Central government, solutions of this problem, role of the government, bankers and other departments, etc.
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‘Vermicomposing can turn municipal waste into manure’
Amritsar, November 6 Dr Garg, who was here to deliver a lecture on the concluding day of the two-day national seminar on “Environment and sustainable development” at Guru Nanak Dev University, said in order to prepare the paraphernalia, the Department of Atomic Energy and Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences, Mumbai, had given a Rs 7 crore grant for carrying out research on non-human biota (term used for plants and animals). He claimed that it was a first-of-its-kind project granted to any university in India. The research team, comprising 10 research scholars, would soon receive advanced gadgets like fluori meter for uranium monitoring, liquid scintilation counter, low gama monitoring system, atomic absorption spectro photo meter and others. He said the long-held belief that if the human race was secure from radiation then all species were out of danger had lost its relevance. The seminar was organised by the Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences under the UGC’s special assistance programme. Dr Garg also spoke on the management of different kinds of solid waste using vermitechnology. He said about 47 per cent of municipal solid waste could be converted into manure by vermicomposing. This would help do away with the unhygienic conditions and spread of diseases caused by open dumps in cities. Ramandeep (Patiala) spoke on micropropagation of aloe vera (kuar gandal), Jabrinder Singh (Kaithal) on traditional agro forestry and Priyanka (Jammu) on physicochemical properties of chara. Dr Satnam Singh Ladhar, Joint Director, Punjab State Council for Science and Technology, Chandigarh, expressed his views on the genesis and justification of environment awareness programmers. On this occasion, 90 posters on different problems of conservation and sustainability were displayed by the delegates. These posters were judged by a panel of experts for the first, second and third prizes. The special Sardar Jaswant Singh Rai memorial lecture was given by Dr A.K. Bhatnagar, Professor, Department of Botany, Delhi University, on “Impact assessment of climate change on wheat in India”. He said CO2 concentration had increased from 280 ppm to 379 ppm in 2005 which had resulted in 30 per cent decrease in the crop yield in Central and South Asia.
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Cancer awareness rally enters 3rd day
Amritsar, November 6 The rally spread awareness regarding the cancer menace and its control by early detection. Cancer Awareness Day is celebrated on November 9 all over the world. Earlier, the relay cycle rally commenced on November 4 from the border village Khalra and it would terminate at Pathankot on November 7. Col A. Acharya informed that as many as 500 cadets participated in the rally. Nearly 50 cadets in each group paddled about 30 km and then handed over the banners and placards to the next group. Col Acharya said the cadets distributed leaflets among the people enroute to spread awareness regarding cancer and its prevention by adopting a healthy lifestyle. The leaflet says regular cancer screening and physical examination of the oral cavity, throat, larynx, breast, abdomen and cervix, to detect the presence of swellings or pre-cancerous lesions, saves lives. It urges readers to pay attention to diet, ensure high fibre, low fat intake, say no to tobacco, avoid alcohol, cut down on pickled, barbecued or salt-cured foods and stop chewing paan.
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Benefits under Central schemes not reaching people: Bittu
Stating this, Ravneet Singh Bittu, MP and State Youth Congress president, alleged that the benefits of various schemes launched by the Central Government, including the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and yellow and blue cards, were not reaching the genuine beneficiaries due to the alleged connivance of various leaders of the ruling combine, low-level officials and contractors, who were pocketing these grants. Interacting with select media on the sidelines of a youth training camp organised here, he said if the government failed to improve its functioning and benefits did not percolate to genuine beneficiaries, they would come on roads and protest against the SAD-BJP government. Meanwhile, Bittu said the Youth Congress would appoint about five to six “aam aadmi ke sipahi’ in every block to look into various schemes being run in their blocks. He said these party workers would be aware of the common man besides would also have knowledge of the know how of various government schemes. They would act like social monitors in their respective blocks and areas. Answering media queries on the response to the bandh call by various Sikh organisations for the alleged delay in justice regarding the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, he said UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had already apologised for the incident. As far as providing justice to the victims was concerned, he said the matter was in court. Meanwhile, he said training camps being organised by the Youth Congress were getting huge response all over Punjab, considering the more than 80 per cent presence during these camps.
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Youth Festival
Amritsar, November 6 Principal Neera Sharma of DAV Public School said here today that the school teams won 14 prizes of which nine were golds and three silvers in 17 categories of the competition. Dr C.L. Arora, a senior member of the DAV Managing Committee, New Delhi, presented prizes to the winners. Seventeen items prepared by the school had entered the competition after their initial win at the zonal level held in Amritsar. As many as six zones participated from over 40 schools of Punjab. Apart from this, 11 items were selected for the national Mahatma Hans Raj Aryan Youth Festival to be held at Faridabad. School students proved their varied calibre in the competitions involving a variety of modes of singing, dances, in addition to presenting their prowess in acting, debates and declamations. They also showcased their artistic finesse in painting and presented their academic skills on the platform of a quiz, debates and declamations. The items that brought the golds include patriotic songs, qawwali, classical dance, ghazal and solo bhajan. Students also showed their mettle in the quiz competition, Hindi debate, Punjabi declamation and greeting card making competitions. The school teams won the second positions in three categories that included English debate and declamation, skit, folk song and classical vocal. Hargun Kaur and Jyotisha Kapoor, both singers of the national level, won special prizes of distinction, while Rishab was given special recognition and offered to sing for a music album and perform at shows in Delhi. The school’s Sufi qawwali
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Seminar on Guru Nanak bani
Amritsar, November 6 Chief Guest Bhai Jaswinder Singh, Head, Darbar Sahib, remarked that faith had power to transform science into knowledge. Guru Nanak was not a body but the spirit of knowledge who brought superstitions to an end. The hymns of Guru Nanak can bring a change in the personality of the man. IPS officer Iqbal Singh said the philosophy of Guru Nanak could bring happiness to the world. Man should give up his ego and live a life of contentment. The Sikh religion was the youngest religion in the world and had brought revolutionary changes in the social and political arenas of society. Guru Nanak, through his philosophy, talked of social justice, religious and cultural freedom for the people. Dr Daljeet Singh, Principal of Khalsa College, said the Sikh religion could guide mankind out of its misery. Dr Harbhajan Singh, Head, Department of Punjabi, reiterated that the message of Guru Nanak should be applied practically in
this world.
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Amritsar, November 6
“Yahaan mere zyada dost
hain, itne Kenya me bhi nahi hain” (I have more friends here than in Kenya), quipped Samson Okongo in almost precise Hindi accent when asked about his experience while staying here for the past nine years to pursue his research on ecology of Harike wetland with the Department of Environmental Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University.
Amritsar, November 6
Amritsar, November 6