Jalandhar, January 14
Although population of Jalandhar is eagerly waiting for the beginning of the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), it seems that elected representative of same residents are not much interested in the project and its future services. This fact becomes evident if record pertaining to the meetings of supreme body of PIMS is to be believed.

Till date total 24 meetings of governing body of PIMS Society, which is headed by chief minister of Punjab, have been held. However, all four mayors of the Municipal Corporation Jalandhar (MCJ), from 1993 to 2009, attended only five meetings of these governing bodies. It is important to mention here that governing body of PIMS was constituted in year of 1993 and till date the office of MCJ has witnessed four different faces in the form of mayors.

Being a representative of city’s population, the Mayor of Jalandhar was taken as member of governing body of PIMS, a body deemed to develop the institute. It is again pertinent to mention here that except the Chief Minister, the Mayor is the only elected public representative, who is member of this governing body.

Mayor Rakesh Rahtore has attended just one meeting though eight meetings of governing body of PIMS have been held since August 2007 when he was elected mayor. Similarly eight meetings of governing body were held from 1997 to 2002. Interestingly, then Mayor Suresh Sehgal never attended a meeting of governing body of PIMS. Similarly, as per record, J.K. Saini, who remained Mayor of MCJ from 1991 to 1997, attended just one of the four meetings held during his tenure.

However, only exception to this ‘no-need-to-pay-attention’ phenomenon is Surinder Mahey, who in the capacity of mayor attended the meetings thrice against the total of four meetings held during his tenure.

One may expect that it might happen due to laxity in timely delivery of invitations of meetings to the mayors. However, authority of PIMS denied the same. “We used to send message to the mayor office at time. At the end, it is a will of person that whether he or she wants to attend the meeting or not. No one can force anyone”, said one senior employee of PIMS.

On the other side, Mayor Rakesh Rathore holds a different view regarding the issue. “I attended some of the meetings of the governing body. But I don’t feel that being a mayor of city I could contribute much in those meetings. Mayor had very little role to play in those meetings”, he said.

All other three mayors could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Jalandhar, January 14
In the age of playstation, Internet and idiot box, it was heartening to see children engrossed in reading books. The event was a five-day ‘Word Camp’, a workshop that concluded here last evening.

The initiative to inculcate the love for reading among the kids through the workshop came from Simran Paintal, an electronics engineer by qualification and a mother of two.

Her maiden attempt proved fruitful as the workshop saw participation of over 70 kids of classes II to X from various schools that too with the message spread through just the word of mouth.

“The whole exercise involved a lot of hard work and innovation in preparation. I along with my partner Deepa Swani devised a course for the workshop, prepared lesson plans, searched for the most suitable books for all age groups which could arouse interest, help build vocabulary and even assist in re-enforcing grammar. We planned a series of activities, worksheets and audio-visual programmes to make the event a fun-filled exercise,” she elaborated.

She divulged more details. “Divided into three age groups, the Explorers, Discoverers and Seekers read, discussed, enacted parts, debated and discovered fascinating things about the books used by the educators. The participants formed and expressed individual views, addressed their peers, played as team members and gained self-confidence through various sessions. A special segment on writing for the newspaper drew imaginative and responsible write ups”, she explained adding that the initiative was also an attempt to introduce English language and literature to school children in an effort to acquaint them with the finer nuances of English and to create a healthy interest in books beyond school text.

Deepa Swani shared her views on the experience, “It was the most gratifying experience and I hope this attempt at kindling interest in reading and a passion for books stays with these children forever. If that happens it would be the real reward.” She said that Eklavya School proved to be a good venue for it had a fairly good collection of books in the library.

The parents expressed their keenness to send their children for similar workshops more often. Nidhi Mittal, who was raised in Bengaluru, said that she had always felt that her children lacked exposure to such workshops which their cousins enjoy in metropolitan cities.

Navjot Deol, a lecturer of English at Apeejay College, echoed similar sentiments. “My daughter always wanted me to read to her instead of doing it herself. After attending the workshop, my daughter, Ambreen, has for the first time read a book all by herself without any prodding from my side. I hope the effect lingers and she develops the habit of reading regularly.”

Jalandhar, January 14
With the advent of the vitrification of the human embryo, embryologists may add a new chapter in the field of human science. This technique will make it possible that even couples who otherwise had very little hope to reproduce can bear a child.

Vitrification is a part of the process of in-vitro fertilisation. In-Vitro Fertilisation is the technique with which doctors transfer the whole reproductive mechanism of a human being into a few-centimetre-long test tube. The sperm of a man and the egg of a woman are allowed to fuse in the artificial medium and the resultant product of this fusion, which is termed as an embryo, is later transplanted in the womb of the mother.

Vitrification is a step ahead of this process as with the use of this technique, an embryo can be frozen at minus 180 degree centigrade and can be kept for years in this form.

As per the experts of this technique, vitrification is a great leap as owing to some transient abnormal internal mechanisms, some women are not able to bear a child even after in-vitro fertilisation.

“Sometimes a woman is not ready for the implantation of an embryo from an artificial medium to inside the body. We need to wait for some time until she becomes ready for implantation. At this time, this technique plays an important role, as the embryo cannot be allowed to develop at its own pace in the external environment. With Vitrification, we freeze the embryo in liquid nitrogen at minus 180 degree centigrade and cease its further development until its implantation inside the body. Age of an embryo at that time is only 48 hours,” said Dr. Sonia Kamboj, an IVF expert.

“A conventional method of slow freezing of embryo was already in use but this resulted into crystallisation and damage to the internal structure of the embryo. However, in this technique, the embryo is frozen at a 600 times than the conventional method and it allows no time for intracellular ice to form,” she added.

President of Jalandhar Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Society Dr. Kamal Gupta said this technique possesses success rate of nearly 80 per cent. With this technique, chances to bear children can be increased in couples who have been struggling with infertility for years.

Ironically, there is no visible effort from the government to make this technique available in government-run health centers. This technique costs around Rs 80,000 to one lakh, a price not affordable for lakhs of couples. 

Phagwara, January 14
The price of sugar is skyrocketing and the area under sugarcane is decreasing day by day and to increase the sugarcane production in less area, ie increase the per acre yield, is the only solution to cope up with the problem.

This was stated by Cane Commissioner, Punjab, Dr Mangal Singh Sandhu after visiting a nearby Barrapind village, near Goraya, to see the fields of a progressive farmer and cane grower Avtar Singh today.

A team, comprising Cane Commissioner Dr Mangal Singh Sandhu, Assistant Cane Development Officer Jaswant Singh and Agriculture Development Officer (Cane), Phagwara, Paramjit Singh, visited the village to see the fields of Avtar Singh, who succeeded in cutting the sugarcane crop according to the standard specifications given by the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.

The Cane Commissioner said the yield came out to 713.60 quintals per acre, which is three times more than the normal prevailing cultivation, by adopting new technique called “Single bud cultivation technique.”

Paramjit Singh, while giving the details, told mediapersons here today that the technique adopted by the farmer could save 60 per cent of water as well as 75 per cent of the seed. He said only seven to nine quintals of seed worth Rs 2,000 was required per acre, whereas presently Rs 7,500 per acre were being spent in the old traditional method.

Paramjit Singh claimed that farmers could take to inter-cropping like potato, cauliflower, pees, etc, which could increase their income. He claimed that farmers were adopting the new technique as sowing was done in 650 acres this year as compared to only 60 acres last year.

Dr Sandhu, while inspiring the farmers to adopt the new technique, said farmers could save a huge quantity of water, which was highly precious at this time, and get higher yield. The government was providing trench planters to the farmers on subsidy with the assistance of the Farmer Commission, Punjab, Chandigarh.

Dr Sandhu said the new single bud cultivation technique was also popular as “Phagwara technique”, which could be helpful to increase per acre yield.

Jalandhar, January 14
The local Ambika Modern School celebrated Lohri with great pomp and show. Bonfire was lit in the school ground where students and the school staff gathered to enjoy the festival. Students sang the customary Lohri songs and danced to the tunes of hit Punjabi numbers.

Lohri celebrations took place at the local MGN College of Education, during which students presented a cultural programme. The students congregated around a bonfire and presented colourful dances. Lohri was later distributed among the students.

The local Seth Hukum Chand S.D. Public Senior Secondary School, Sanghal Sohal, also celebrated Lohri by lighting a bonfire. Similarly, the local State Public School also celebrated Lohri in the school campus. Students were given peanuts, sugar candies and popcorns.

Lohri celebrations were held at the local Police DAV Public School where the students presented a small skit. DGP Shashi Kant Sharma was the chief guest on the occasion. A bonfire was also lit by the students.

The festival of Lohri was celebrated in the assembly ground of CT Public School with great fervour and enthusiasm. A bonfire was lit while students presented a colourful cultural programme. Students presented folk songs of Punjab and bhangra. 

Jalandhar, January 14
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Kapurthala, additional branch at Jalandhar, has directed United India Insurance Company Limited to pay Rs 89,610 to a Nakodar resident as insurance claim along with interest at the rate of Rs 8 per cent per annum.

Besides this, the forum has also asked the company to bear the cost of litigation i.e. Rs 2,000.

Sohan Singh, a resident of Ladhran village, had filed a complaint before the forum alleging that the company did not settle his accident claim.

In his complaint, Sohan Singh had claimed that he owned a Mahindra Balero, bearing registration number DL-6SN-3000. The vehicles was insured by United India Insurance Company Limited at its Nakodar office from January 25, 2007 to January 24, 2008.

His son, Baljinder Singh, possessing a valid driving licence, met with an accident while driving the vehicle on January 1, 2008. An FIR was registered in this context at Nakodar police station on the same day.

Sohan Singh asked for a claim from the company, which appointed a surveyor for the estimation of the damage. Sohan Singh visited the officer of the company to settle the claim but faced disappointment as the company refused to pay his claim. Sohan Singh then filed a case before the forum.

Hearing arguments of the counsels of both parties, Paramjit Singh and Gulshan Prashar, president and member, respectively, of the forum, held that the claim of the complainant was genuine and pronounced the order in his favour.

Jalandhar, January 14
He is a bank employee by profession but a singer at heart. Presently working with the Mithapur road branch of the UCO Bank, Anil Raj Sharma has been singing for the last over two decades.

Though none of his family members was in the music line, he was attracted to music since his childhood.

He got training in singing from Ustad Ram Prakash Puri, a former music teacher at the SD College.

Sharma already has two VCDs to his credit. Singing for the last 25 years, his first VCD “Mata Jagrate Mein Aaye”, which was released in 2000, consists of nine ‘bhents’, the VCD was prepared by KMC.

His second VCD consists of 8 religious songs on Baba Balak Nath was released by T-series in 2005.

Though he usually sings religious songs in different jagrans, he is fond of reciting ghazals.

He also participated in different music programmes, including the Rafi Nite, where he fondly sang several ghazals in his melodious voice.

Sharma also sang several songs used in different television serials. His song “Phakar Ghumda Gali De Vich” used in “Dhee Pardesan” telecast at DD Punjabi four years back was very popular. His religious songs are often telecast on Doordarshan from time to time.

Talking about his future plans, he says he is presently working on two VCDs which are likely to be released soon.

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