R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

PUNJAB

Muktsar
19 selected in placement drive: Nineteen students of Bhai Maha Singh College of Engineering have been employed by private companies during a placement drive held at the college campus on Saturday. The companies that took part in the drive were ICICI Prudential and Intelligence Technology. Students of Computer Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and MBA departments took part in the drive, confirmed Col (Dr) DS Grewal, director principal of the college.

CHANDIGARH

Upgraded: Punjab National Bank upgraded its mid corporate branch at PNB House, Sector 17, to large corporate branch on Saturday. DK Singla, director of the bank, inaugurated the branch in its new avatar. Nagesh Pydah, executive director of the bank, was also present on the occasion.

Award for PU Prof:Prof RK Kohli, chairman, botany department, Panjab University, has been selected for the Haryana Vigyan Ratna Award for 2008-09 for his contributions in the field of science. The state government will honour him with a cash award of Rs 1 lakh, a citation and trophy at a state-level function. He is the first recipient of the award instituted by Haryana to recognise and encourage scientists.

HARYANA

KURUKSHETRA
Office-bearers elected: Dr Bhagwan Singh, Reader, Department of Geophysics, and Dr PK Sharma, Reader, Department of Chemistry, Kurukshetra University, were declared elected in the elections to the Kurukshetra University Executive Council from Lecturer and Reader Constituency held here on Friday. Dr Tejinder Sharma, Dr Rohtash Kumar, Dr Kuldeep Singh and Dr Dalip Kumar were declared elected for the university court while Dr Manjusha Tiwari was declared elected unopposed.

JAMMU & KASHMIR

JAMMU
NC youth leaders join PDP: The PDP claimed on Thursday that some youth leaders of the NC had joined the PDP. A statement issued by the PDP said Rash Pal Baloria, Gandhi Nagar zone president of the NC, and Rafiq Malik, a senior NC youth leader, joined the party. The youth leaders said they joined the PDP to fulfil the aspirations of people, as regional parties had an important role to play in the state.

Zain-ul-Abdeen wins debate: The Government College of Engineering and Technology won the Dr Jagmohan Singh Memorial Trophy in the inter-collegiate/department debate organised under the “Display Your Talent” programme at Jammu University on Thursday. The competition was organised by the Department of Students Welfare of the University. The topic of the debate was “The National Security is only a Political Issue”. Zain-ul-Abdeen Banday from Government MAM (PG) College (morning) won the first prize. Aashima Puri and Navjot Singh, both from the Government College of Engineering and Technology, won second and third prizes, respectively. Certificates of merit were awarded to Pryati Sharma from GCW, Gandhi Nagar, and Hari Lal from MAM (PG) College (evening). Rashpal, a visually impaired from MAM (PG) College (evening) was awarded a special prize.

Essay competition: The Department of Students’ Welfare, Jammu University, organised an essay writing competition here on Saturday under its ongoing ‘Display Your Talent’ event. As many as 45 students from different departments of the varsity and its affiliated colleges participated in the contest and wrote on serious subjects like global recession, role of India in regional peace building and the impact of media on youth. The results would be declared later on after the evaluation of scripts.