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6,487 posts, 1.20 lakh applications
No move to ‘withdraw’ Nanakshahi calendar
Bonanza for job seekers
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Badal opens cattle fair
CM greets people on Id-ul-Zuha
Corruption widening rich-poor divide: VC
Govt ‘doing little’ to reduce debt burden
Lakhs hit as Idea goes off air
Incinerators to be bought for seized drugs
SGPC elections leave oppn gasping for breath
SGPC urged to set up Sikh panel for Haryana
House Surgeons
Class V exam issue to be taken up with CM
PSHRC moved over farmers’ arrest
Amritsar DC gets Cong support
GND varsity reader invited to ‘Parliament of religions’
Dr Balwinder Singh
CBSE workshop on exams
PSERC asked to take action against Punjab
Plea against PSEB dismissed
Rent-a-womb Case
Bharti Sehdev
HC directive on child marriage
Naxal arrested with revolver
Rs 6.35 lakh looted from bank
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6,487 posts, 1.20 lakh applications
Bathinda, November 27 The last date for the submission of applications was November 18 and appointments have to be made before November 30. Sources said these posts were for undergraduates but this time the applications had also been received from postgraduates. What has flummoxed government officials is the fact that an anganwadi worker gets a paltry honorarium of Rs 2,100 per month and despite this a large number of applications have been received. The applications were to be routed through child development project officers (CDPOs) at the district level, who have a say in the appointments. However, Rachna, an anganwari worker, said, “I failed to understand why urban women want to work in anganwadi centres in villages. We are much maligned and on many occasions we have been labelled corrupt. We are often blamed for the mismanagement of government’s rural schemes.” An official of the Social Security Department, on condition of anonymity, said, “Anganwadi workers are involved in various government schemes. Their services are used to achieve family planning targets and failure in meeting them will mean that their honorarium has been slashed.” Another official said, “Government officials often demand money to get monthly honorariums for anganwadi workers released. In some districts, CDPOs often say that there is some technical problem, as funds have not been received from the Centre. CDPOs and even sarpanches demand commissions from these women to release the honorarium.” |
No move to ‘withdraw’ Nanakshahi calendar
Amritsar, November 27 Makkar has also said that the issue of formation of a separate Sikh body for Haryana has ceased to exist as Haryana Sikh Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee(HSGPC-ad hoc) chief Jagdish Singh Jhinda had already supported him on November 25 — the day when Makkar was re-elected as the SGPC chief and was subsequently, congratulated by Jhinda immediately after the election. Meanwhile, the SGPC has decided to form a new committee comprising Sikh scholars to study the Nanakshahi calendar once again and discuss the need to introduce any fresh amendments in respect of the calendar. The Canada-based designer of the calendar, Pal Singh Purewal, was also likely to be included in the new committee of scholars. Similarly, representatives of Sikh organisations supporting or opposing the calendar would also be part of the committee, said Avtar Singh. “The calendar is not going to be withdrawn. Those who are busy spreading any such rumours need to exercise self-restraint. Even at the time of proposed discussions of Sikh scholars on the issue, the feelings and sentiments of the Panth would be taken care of. All technical and religious aspects of the calendar would be examined so that there was no dilemma on the issue, said Makkar, who also addressed a meeting of the existing 11 member-committee on the calendar. The Sikh leaders and scholars who participated in the meeting included former Akal Takht Jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti, Prof Suba Singh, Kiranjot Kaur, Dr Balwant Singh Dhillon, Dr Darshan Singh from Chandigarh, Principal Amarjit Singh, Dr Gurbachan Singh Bachan, Swarn Singh, Prof Waryam Singh, Rajinder Singh Mehta and Dalmegh Singh. |
Bonanza for job seekers
Chandigarh, November 27 The Punjab government has tied up with the Chandigarh Engineering College, Landran, to organise a mega placement festival for engineering and management students on the college campus. Other than CEC Landran, the Sri Sukhmani Institute of Engineering and Technology (SSIET), Dera Bassi, is also organising a two-day job fair in the coming days. While the Chandigarh Group of Colleges, Landran, is holding ‘Parvaaz-2009’ on November 30, the SSIET is organising the job fair on November 28-29. “The state government is taking the initiative to improving job prospects by encouraging industry giants,” said SS Sandhu, chairman of the college. He added that on-line registration had already begun and more than 3,000 students had already registered and more than 30 MNCs are participating in the placement festival. Students of 2009 and 2010 batch can also register themselves on-line (www.cgc.edu.in or www.cgcmohali.in). “The SSIET recruitment cell has already invited top companies for placement,” said Prof Avtar Singh, chairman of the college. Director Kanwaljit Kaur said eligible candidates could register at the college campus and also on-line at www.srisukhmanigroup.org. On the spot registration is also open. |
Badal opens cattle fair
Kaljharani (Bathinda), November 27 This was stated by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, while inaugurating the first regional cattle fair of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Ludhiana, at its Regional Research and Training Centre (RRTC) here today. Badal also announced two such mobile vans for the RRTC, Kaljharani, to cater to the needs of this area. Badal also said GADVASU was also going to set up a veterinary pharmacy college on the premises of its Kaljharani RRTC for which the gram Panchayat had already provided two acres. The pharmacy course would be of two years, while plus two (science) passouts would be eligible to take admission in this course, he added. Badal also gave a call to farmers to bring white revolution in the state by saying that there was a big scope in the dairy farming. He said besides selling milk, farmers might process milk for preparing milk products, like cheese, to enhance their income. He said a person could earn Rs 1.5 lakh from one acre by doing fish farming there. The Chief Minister also stated that in milk, excess urea content was found so dairy farmers should be given training on how they could produce more fodder crop by using urea in less quantity for keeping the people healthy. Regarding drinking water crisis, Badal said the government had talked to multinational companies for bringing new techniques and machines that provide pure water. He said the government had also invited these companies to come to Punjab. He said the government would also take steps to prevent the entry of effluents from factories into canals and rivers. Vice-Chancellor of GADVASU V.K. Taneja said the university had set up regional centres to share new techniques and researches with farmers, so that their income could enhance further. He said the university also wanted to provide all agriculture-related services to farmers at their doorsteps. The director, Extension Education, Dr O.S. Parmar, said the main attraction of the cattle fair was the university’s show of elite animals like crossbred cows, beetal goats, buffalloes, bulls, rabbit, pigs, goats and ornamental fish. |
CM greets people on Id-ul-Zuha
Chandigarh, November 27 In his message, Badal said, “Id-ul-Zuha evokes a feeling of brotherhood, charity and empathy for the needy and the underprivileged. Let us reaffirm our resolve to further strengthen the spirit of brotherhood, unity of cultural bonds and national integration.” Deputy Chief Minister Sukbir said on this auspicious day of commemorative sacrifice, they should rededicate themselves to uphold the principles of love, compassion and understanding and avow to live in fellowship as brothers and sisters in the true. |
Corruption widening rich-poor divide: VC
Patiala, November 27 The minister said the seminar was a timely effort in motivating prospective entrepreneurs. He said in a country like India entrepreneurs play an important role. “Small scale industries and micro enterprises are considered to be backbone of the economy in terms of employment creation,” he stated. In his presidential address, Vice-Chancellor Jaspal Singh said entrepreneurs were growth engines of the economy and should be treated on priority by the policy makers to overcome obstacles in furthering the economic growth. “Widespread corruption was playing spoilsport in catering to the basic needs of the common man and widening the rich-poor and urban-rural divide. All these elements were leading to frustration among the youth who tend to resort to social evils and malice of all kinds,” he added. Gunvir Singh, president of the CII (Punjab Chapter) said Punjab had recognised the importance of entrepreneurs in the development of the country. He further said higher per capita income of the state is on account of the entrepreneurial spirit of the Punjabis, both on farms and in factories. He stressed upon the entrepreneurial education and awareness among the rural and poor. |
Govt ‘doing little’ to reduce debt burden
Chandigarh, November 27 In a statement here, Dhillon said the state government was reeling under a colossal debt of Rs 63,000 crore and was paying an interest of Rs 700 crore per month on this debt. The Congress leader said despite this the government was launching new development schemes without taking into account whether funds were available for the same or not. “Some of these schemes are stalled at the foundation stone stage only while others remain half built,” he said. He said the SAD-BJP government was even “failing” to raise resources where possible. Even though the consumption of liquor was increasing in the state, liquor revenues were not increasing, he added. The Congress leader said this was because the government was following a policy of allotting liquor vends by draw of lots rather than following a transparent system of conducting nationally advertised auctions. He said the government had not spared even public sector undertakings like the Punjab Roadways and Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC). Influential private transports were able to prevail upon the government to ensure these corporations lost money, he added. Dhillon said even in the case of power generation, the PSEB was unable to initiate new projects for which it could not borrow money because of its debt exposure of around 10,000 crore. |
Lakhs hit as Idea goes off air
Jalandhar, November 27 Though the company claimed that there was no network for more than one hour (12 pm to 1.30 pm), the cellphones of Idea subscribers failed to ring from 10.30 am till 4.45 pm in about 10,000 towns and villages of the state operating on the highly efficient 900 Mhz GSM frequency. A spokesperson for the company claimed that the problem was due to the upgradation of networking at Mohali. Anish Roy, Chief Operating Officer of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir could not be contacted as only the customer care center was accessible. The company failed to give any prior information to its subscribers, a majority of whom suffered huge losses. The worst affected was the trader community that could not either get orders for goods on phone or confirm their delivery of commodities. |
Incinerators to be bought for seized drugs
Chandigarh, November 27 A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Anti-Narcotics Task Force that was held under the chairmanship of Additional DGP, Intelligence, Suresh Arora here yesterday in which officers from the IB, Customs and Excise, the Narcotics Control Bureau, the BSF, the Railway Police and zonal IGs participated. The meeting was informed that Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had asked the department to stop the practice of burning seized drugs in the open and assured financial support for the purchase of pollution-free incinerators. It was decided at the meeting to give a coordinated thrust to the “war on drugs” already going on in the state and launch a special campaign to arrest proclaimed offenders and absconders wanted in NDPS Act cases. |
SGPC elections leave oppn gasping for breath
Chandigarh, November 27 Though the opposition had a limited success in preventing unanimity in elections, it could not come anywhere near displacing any of the Badal Dal loyalists from any of the positions in the executive committee of the SGPC that is elected every November. While the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) has every reason to be pleased both with the appointment of Justice Harphool Singh Brar as Chief Gurdwara Election Commissioners as well as the results of the November 25 executive board elections, the Opposition comprising Shiromani Akali Dal (Longowal), Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) with the under cover support of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee has been left thinking of new strategies that it may have to adopt for the general house elections next year. Separate committee for managing historic gurdwaras in Haryana, summoning of former Jathedar of Akal Takht Ragi Darshan Singh for his alleged objectionable remarks against Guru Gobind Singh and punishment to Jagdish Singh Jhinda for an attempted forcible occupation of a historic gurdwara in Kurukshetra had been the issues before the Sikh clergy before the executive committee elections were called. In between, appointment of Justice Verma as the Chief Election Commissioner for Gurdwara elections also took the centre stage and the ruling SAD (Badal) opposed it. Justice Verma quit and the Union government relented and named Justice Brar, a Sikh, as the new Chief Election Commissioner. Elections to the general house of the SGPC are already due. Manjit Singh Calcutta, a former General Secretary of the SGPC and currently a nominated member, has challenged participation of a political party in the elections of a religious body. Hardcore supporters of former Punjab Chief Minister and now Governor of Tamil Nadu Surjit Singh Barnala are also active. They have already declared their intentions to contest the general house elections independently. They have moral support of the DSGMC chief, Paramjit Singh Sarna, and his loyalists. SAD (Amritsar) and other organisations, too, have made their intentions clear by demanding holding of elections early and contesting them against the ruling SAD (Badal). |
SGPC urged to set up Sikh panel for Haryana
Amritsar, November 27 He said a separate gurdwara management panel in Haryana could be formed only on the directions of Akal Takht.
— TNS |
250 pc hike in salary proposed
Amaninder Pal Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, November 27 Of the total 90 posts of house surgeon, only about 10 have been filled at present. Due to such a large number of vacancies, the emergency services in almost all district hospitals are in the doldrums. Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla said to deal with the shortage of house surgeons, a decision had been taken to increase their salary to Rs 20,000 per month. Chawla was here to inaugurate the newly set up 30-bedded trauma centre. She said if the Finance Department approved the proposal to enhance the salary, the Health Department would advertise the posts to recruit house surgeons. As even class IV employees are not ready to work on Rs 8,000, house surgeons were not ready to accept the job on such a meagre salary. The department would induct 212 regular doctors before March 31. One more trauma centre would be set up near Khanna, she said. Specialist and super specialist doctors should provide their services exclusively to government-owned health centres and institutions, she said. To promote other streams such as Ayurveda and homoeopathy, the government would set up a Panchkarma and Kashrsutra clinic in Mohali and would establish 10 new Yoga kendras in the state, she said. A new post of director, exclusively for homoeopathy, will also be created and an Ayurvedic medical officer and upvaidyas will also be inducted shortly. Principal Secretary of the Health Department Satish Chandra, who was also here, said the department was formulating a plan to start a special drive against breast cancer in collaboration with an NGO, Roko Cancer. Asked about the non-functional mammography machines in civil hospitals in the state, Chandra said these would be repaired soon. Four mammography machines were installed at Hoshiarpur, Patiala, Jalandhar and Bathinda but except one the other machines are out of order for the past three years. |
Class V exam issue to be taken up with CM
Jalandhar, November 27 A spokesman for NISA said the government policy was not clear with regard to the examination in the private schools. He said earlier the government schools were authorised to conduct the exam of Class V students of private schools. But this time nothing was clear in this regard. However, government schools would conduct examination of their own students. The NISA wanted that the old system should continue. NISA said it had contacted Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, Adviser to the Chief Minister this morning. Cheema had assured them that he would arrange a meeting of the association with the Chief Minister to resolve the issue. |
PSHRC moved over farmers’ arrest
Chandigarh, November 27 The complaint, filed by advocate H S Arora, takes on the PADB, the state government as well as the police chief, saying that issuing arrest warrants against the farmers was against Article 11 of the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1996. Arora maintained in his complaint that the international covenant was enforceable in India and the rights guaranteed under it were enforceable as “human rights” under the Protection of Human Rights Act also. He requested the human rights panel to direct the respondents against arresting the Punjab farmers for mere default in repayment of loans of the PADB. The chairman of the rights panel, Justice R.S. Mongia, to whom the complaint was presented, has directed the listing of the complaint. |
Amritsar DC gets Cong support
Chandigarh, November 27 DCC (Rural) president Rupinder Raj Singh ‘Lalli Majithia’ in a statement here said the Amritsar MP was continuously getting into one controversy after another and that he had needlessly created an issue over allegedly not being invited at a function during the visit of the Canadian Prime Minister to Amritsar. He said Sidhu was continuing to speak against the DC despite the fact that there was no logic in his allegations. Advising Sidhu to act in a more statesmanlike manner befitting an elected representative of Amritar, the Congress leader said efforts should be made to bring up Amritsar on the world map. The Congress leader maintained that many problems of Amritsar remained unsolved and that Sidhu should work to solve them. |
GND varsity reader invited to ‘Parliament of religions’
Amritsar, November 27 Dr Balwinder Singh will showcase the heritage of Amritsar to a number of heritage professionals who will participate in the event from across the world. He has already conducted a survey of Pakistan-based Sikh shrines. He will present his paper on “Tangible and Intangible Heritage of the Sikhs: Need for its Documentation and Conservation”. He has also been invited by the International Council on Monuments and Sites, Australia, to deliver a lecture on December 2 to its members. He has been doing work on heritage preservation for past over 20 years. |
CBSE workshop on exams
Patiala, November 27 The workshop was inaugurated by CBSE resource persons Rashmi
Vij. The Principal of Police DAV Public School, Jalandhar and Principal, DAV Public School, Sector 15, Chandigarh were also present on the occasion. As many as 50 principals and teachers from 18 different
CBSE-affiliated schools from Ambala, Nabha, Rajpura, Dera Bassi, Shimla and Patiala participated in the workshop. |
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PSERC asked to take action against Punjab
Chandigarh, November 27 In a representation to the PSERC, All India Power Engineers’ Federation chairman Padamjit Singh said subsidy of Rs 294.35 crore for October had been paid to the extent of only Rs 108.29 crore. It said the underpayment of Rs 77.7 crore for September had also not been made good by the government and advance payment of subsidy of Rs 294.35 crore for November with due date of November 1 has not been made as on November 23. He has also claimed that when quarterly advance payment provision was relaxed to monthly advance payment, there was an obligation on the government to follow the monthly advance schedule. “Since it has not been done it is requested that suo moto proceedings should be initiated against the state government.” |
Plea against PSEB dismissed
Chandigarh, November 27 Following the dismissal of an appeal against the board by Justice Nirmaljit Kaur, now it will not have to pay surcharge on the freight to the railways and may even get a refund of Rs 94 crore. The dispute before the courts was whether the board was liable to pay surcharge on the freight to the railways for period prior to July 27, 2002. The board gets coal for its three power plants at Ropar, Bathinda and Lehra Mohabbat from the coalfields in West Bengal and other places through the railways; and the railway authorities were demanding as much as Rs 500 crore for the services. Initially the matter was taken up by the HC in 2003, but was referred for arbitration with the consent of the parties. |
Rent-a-womb Case Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 27 Amritsar resident Bharti Sehdev has alleged that her child has been kidnapped by an Ambala resident, Parminder Singh Oberoi. She had initially agreed to rent her womb to Oberoi for bearing a test tube baby. The police has not yet taken any action despite registration of a kidnapping and criminal intimidation case, Bharti has further alleged. She has now moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the state of Punjab, and other respondents for thorough investigation in the case. Directions have also been sought for the recovery of her son Abhi from the "illegal detention" of Oberoi. In her petition, Bharti has asserted that she and her husband had came to know through a newspaper advertisement in November 2007 that Oberoi was interested in a test tube baby. As they were facing financial crisis, they agreed to the offer. "No amount whatsoever was fixed," it was added. Bharti claimed that she went with Oberoi to a hospital for necessary tests. It was there that Bharti came to know that she was already pregnant. As such, she promised Oberoi of help in the coming year after giving birth to her first child. Abhi was born on October 25, 2008. In 2009, Bharti and Oberoi again went to a nursing home but medical tests revealed that Oberoi was not medically fit to father a child, Bharti claimed, adding Oberoi's behaviour subsequently changed. He started pressurising the petitioner to handover the child to him, "as he did not need a test tube baby". On October 25, 2009, Oberoi kidnapped Abhi. Justice LN Mittal today fixed December 7 as the next date of hearing. |
HC directive on child marriage
Chandigarh, November 27 Directing the police to lodge a case against the relatives of a Patiala-based minor girl, Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain also declared the marriage void. Runaway couple Amninder Kaur and Gurpag Singh had moved the high court after tying the knot in October. During the course of hearing, it transpired the girl was about 16-years-old. Justice Jain ruled he had no other choice but to hold the marriage void; and also directed the state to take appropriate action by lodging a case against the ersons responsible for performing the child marriage. |
Naxal arrested with revolver
Ferozepur, November 27 Phool was arrested by the Bathinda police from the Rampura Phul court complex on November 17 and he was taken to joint interrogation centre (JIC), Amritsar, for investigating his activities in connection with the Naxalite movement. The police seized some documents from Phool which established the fact that they were in advance stage of launching armed struggle in Punjab. The police said the arrest of Harnek Singh was a serious matter and the authorities would have to work out a strategy to stop this movement from spreading its tentacles in Punjab. Sources said Harnek (25), a school dropout, was remanded to police custody when he was produced before the court here after a case under Sections 9 and 11 of the Unlawful Activities Act and Section 25 of the Arms Act was registered against him. The police also seized some literature to be used for the purpose of propagating the Naxalite movement. Sources said preliminary investigations had revealed so far that the main task of Harnek Singh was to identify unemployed youths so that they could be motivated for initiating an armed struggle in Punjab. |
Rs 6.35 lakh looted from bank Khanna, November 27 The robbers also injured the cashier and guard of the bank by hitting them with the butts of their pistols. According to sources, the incident took place at around 1.45 pm. The assailants came on three motorbikes and none of them had covered their faces, eyewitnesses stated. The area has been sealed and efforts are on to nab the culprits. Forensic experts and dog squad has also been pressed into service and descriptions of the accused has also being circulated to different police stations. |
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