Jalandhar, April 6
Star kabaddi players, who attract crowds of thousands of youngster and their cheers, are products of small time muddy grounds of rural schools and kabaddi academies.Sher-e- Punjab Kabaddi Academy, Jalandhar, is one such academy, which has produced 25 most popular players of the kabaddi world. Six players of this academy are representing different countries in the ongoing World Kabaddi Cup.

While talking to The Tribune, Paramjit Pammi, who is employed as a kabaddi coach in the academy for the last 10 years, said the academy was a personal initiative of prominent kabaddi lovers, including Mangak Bhandal, Kulwinder Lachhar, Jaswinder Lachhar, Baljit Sahota, Tarlochan Singh and Avtar Tari.

“With monetary assistance form all these kabaddi lovers, who are based in the North America and European countries, academy started giving training to the budding rural players in 1999. Management of DAV College Jalandhar gave required accommodation and playground for players. In the span of 10 years, academy has produced nearly 250 kabaddi players, who are playing for different kabaddi clubs across world”, added Pammi.

Manga Mithapuria, who is household name in rural kabaddi circles and currently serving as captain of team of England, Kanwaljit Miaanwind, representing Italy as captain of Italian team, Keepa Surakhpuri and Gopi Mahal (England), Kaka Kahrimahri (India) and Lambar Duffer (Italy) were nurtured by this academy, he added.

“For the past 10 years, our team always remained champion in the inter college university championship. Every year approximately five to seven students of this academy become part of kabaddi team of Guru Nanak Dev University.

On an average, Ten students are invited every year by foreign clubs based in United States, Canada and European countries to play on foreign soils. Academy imparts training both in national and circle style format of game”, said Jaswant Virli, who is Press Secretary of academy.

The Management of academy is spending amount of approximately Rs 4,000 per month on the diet of each player. Ever year, batch of 25 players is admitted to the academy and concession is being provided by the management of DAV College, Jalandhar, to facilitate players with quality education in its educational institutes. Shortly after its inception, state sports department adopted this academy as its center.

Jalandhar, April 6
The Punjab School Education Board is all set to introduce semester system for Classes X and XII from this academic session. The system, which has been introduced on trial basis in Classes IX and XI for the past one year, has its own pro and cons.

Will the semester system, which is all work and no play, lead to Jack being a dry student who has lost the charm of youth or to his betterment? The question needs serious mulling.

Although the process of continuous evaluation is undoubtedly good, it shouldn’t be done at the cost of extra-curricular activities. “From where will we get enough time to play when we fall short of time to finish syllabus? And who says the burden is less? Hardly we are done with our first semester when we can see the second hovering like a bad dream,” commented Nikhil Verma, a student of Class X.

But educationists feel the opposite. Gurbakshish Singh Brar, retired DEO, who attended the board meeting, which voted for the semester system, said it ensured continuity in studies and divided the syllabus uniformly, giving the students a better chance to grasp the subject.

Some teachers opined that in order to ensure good results, the board should come up with a new calendar adjusting the holidays in such a way as to divide them equally between the two semesters. Otherwise, it may become difficult for teachers and students to finish syllabus in due time.

Harcharn Singh, state general secretary of the Democratic Teachers Front, said the scheme was good and should be preferably introduced in the Class VIII also. “Additional subjects like drawing, physical education, home science and agriculture should also be included,” he said, adding that teachers shouldn’t be assigned 
non-teaching duties.

Eminent educationist Dr Sucha Singh Gill opined the semester system decreased the burden of the student by dividing the syllabus into two parts. “The culture of continuous assessment makes students study round the year. Tension that comes along with the examinations is good for students,” he said.

“There are not enough teachers in schools. Teachers are then sent on non-teaching duties. Count the holidays. Examinations will be conducted twice. Then there will be internal tests. Add all the non-teaching days. When will students get sufficient time to study?” asked Gurbachan Singh, one of the parents, adding that the new system had also increased the financial burden as the annual expense had increased from about Rs 400 to Rs 650, barring miscellaneous expenses.

Jalandhar, April 6
In violation of the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, a German-returned self-styled Congress leader has allegedly been using a red light atop his vehicle in the Sultanpur Lodhi area of Kapurthala district.

Interestingly, the district police was also aware of the matter and, when contacted, Sultanpur Lodhi DSP Gurmeet Singh said he had got information

of unauthorised and illegal use of red light by the self-styled Congress leader Satwant Padda. He had already initiated an inquiry into the entire episode, 
he added.

The DSP said he had directed his subordinates to impound the vehicle. “Strict action would be taken against him if he was been found violating the rules,” he added.

Meanwhile, several eyewitnesses said Padda, who introduces himself as president of the German unit of the Indian Overseas Congress (IOC), is not only using the red light but is also violating the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act by displaying his designation on the front fender of his Safari.

Jalandhar, April 6
It seems that the newly-introduced biomass-based power generation units are one of the major reasons behind the frequent hikes in the prices of milk.A brief report by the Department of Animal Husbandry, Jalandhar, and claims made by the owners of big dairy farms, strengthen this notion.

Diversion of hay from dairies to biomass-based power generation units and sugar mills is considered as the sole reason behind the mammoth increase in the prices of hay, which eventually led to the frequent rise in milk prices.

It is pertinent to mention here that prices of hay doubled from Rs 300 to 500-550 per quintal in the past one year.

As hay constitutes the bulk of cattle diet, dairy farmers are of the opinion that frequency of hike in milk prices can only be ebbed down by restricting this diversion.

“Milk prices remained around Rs 26-27 per kg at the time when hay was available at Rs 200-250 per quintal. Though hay prices usually start increasing by the month of December, it never witnessed a price above Rs 400-450 per quintal. However, we had to purchase it even at the rate of Rs 550 per quintal this time and milk prices are up by Rs 30 per kg eventually. The day is not far when milk prices will cross the Rs 50 per kg mark,” said Amrik Singh, General Secretary, Jamsher Dairy Farmers Association.

“Hay is usually available at lower rates during the wheat harvesting season and owners of power generation units and mills are capable of purchasing it in bulk and store it for a year. On the other hand, dairy farmers, owing to limited resources, cannot store chaff for such a long period”, he added.

As per the report, there are nearly 3 lakh dairy animal in the district and each animal requires dry fodder equivalent to three per cent of its total weight. The severity of the problem can be gauged from the fact that only 40 metric tones of dry fodder is available in the district against a daily requirement of 180 metric tones.

“Jalandhar is already getting a very small volume of dry fodder from surrounding districts. With the looming threat of scarcity and increasing prices of hay, milk prices are continually rising and this may transform into a social problem”, reads the report.

Deputy Commissioner AS Pannu said he had conveyed the farmers view to the higher authorities and a reply is awaited from the authorities.

Jalandhar, April 6
The newly-implemented decision of the Punjab Education Department to distribute books in Government Schools under the supervision of the District Manager, Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), has led to utter chaos as books are yet to reach students in schools.

The authorities have declared to distribute books by April 7.

From this academic session, books published by the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) from Class I to X are being distributed by a team of PSEB, employed with the District Manager.

Earlier, the Block Education Officers (BEO) used to come and collect the books from the district office to be delivered at the respective schools under their block.

The academic session started from April 1 and the students are studying without any books.

When The Tribune team visited the district office it was found that stocks of books were lying stacked 
in a big hall and the workers were busy separating the books according to classes, while some of the workers were hurriedly loading books into 
auto rickshaws.

District Manager, PSEB, Jit Singh Cheema said the newly-implemented policy has virtually brought the process of distribution of books to halt.

“There are 1,428 schools in the district. Out of these, 988 are primary schools while 440 are upper primary schools. It is literally impossible for us to go personally to every school and distribute books”, he rued.

He added that there are approximately two lakh books lying piled up in the hall and we don’t know when this backlog would be over. “The problem is grave and there is no way out. We are trying to meet the deadline with the help of migrant labourers who even don’t know how to read and write. Many a times they end up carrying the wrong stack of books, adding to our woes”, he maintained.

Even PSEB affiliated aided schools are stuck as the local book depots have to purchase 60 per cent of the books from the district authorities.

“I have been coming daily to purchase books for the last six days but nobody is available here to clear my dues. The staff remains busy distributing books at different schools in the villages”, said a shopkeeper from the local Mai Hiran Gate.

Meanwhile, despite repeated attempts, Director General, School Education, Krishan Kumar was not available for comments. However, Assistant Director School Education, Davinder Singh said from this year onwards the staff from PSEB has been appointed to deliver the books to all the schools.

“This is the decision of the PSEB authorities and they will have to adhere to the directions”, he maintained. 

Jalandhar, April 6
It was an ideal hunting ground for them - a crowd of nearly 10,000-plus rural youths from the Doaba region.The opportunity came in handy for owners of scores of immigration companies at Guru Gobind Singh Stadium, the venue for the third day of World Kabaddi Cup matches here yesterday. 

Representatives of the firms could be seen around all the gates of the stadium and even along the stands, distributing pamphlets. A bunch of such pamphlets was reserved for almost everyone attending the event. Just as MC officials, Improvement Trust authorities, police personnel and sports organisers had been working a few days ahead of the event, the immigration company owners also seemed to have prepared well ahead for the event.

There were pamphlets with catchy offers, “Bring this pamphlet and get 30 per cent discount on IELTS coaching.”

Since the crowd and participants also included a significant number of NRIs, their families and friends, it was quite a suitable venue for promotion of all kinds of services, including air ticketing, money exchanging, work permit, student visa and visitor visa.

Jalandhar, April 6
A local court has summoned a chartered accountant (CA) and a businessman in connection with the alleged defamation of RTI activist Rajinder Bhatia.Chief Judicial Magistrate H.S. Grewal has summoned CA Jatinder Bhatia of Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar and his brother-in-law Vinod Bhatia under section 500 of the IPC on May 5. In his order pronounced on March 29, the CJM stated,

“The court finds sufficient grounds for proceeding against both the accused on perusal of the preliminary evidence adduced coupled with the specific statements made in the office of the Municipal Corporation and on further perusal of the contents thereof.”

In their complaint filed under sections 499 and 500 of the IPC, Rajinder Bhatia and Om Parkash Bhatia stated that the accused were liable for the defamatory words stated by them against the complainants and Rajinder’s mother in their statement got recorded by them in the office of the Municipal Corporation. Om Parkash Bhatia had filed an application under the RTI Act in the office of the PIO-cum-Joint Commissioner of the MC for seeking certain information in respect of dilapidated buildings.

Jalandhar, April 6
A picture is worth 1,000 words. Believing just that, the authorities working under the Sarv Sikhya Abhiyan (SSA) have come up with a picture dictionary.

The idea is to help the students of government schools understand and memorise the meaning of 900 most commonly used words in English. “It was being felt that the students of government schools lag behind in English reading and writing skills. The picture dictionary is an effort just to improve their vocabulary and help them cope with the language,” said Dr Davinder Singh, Assistant Director, Sarv Sikhya Abhiyan.

He explained the usage of the book, “Since the cost of each book is quite high, it is not possible for us to distribute free copies of the book among the students. Instead, these will be distributed among all teachers of English of classes VI to VIII. The teachers will use each page of the 149-page picture dictionary as a flash card. The cards will be circulated among the students on rotation basis. The students will keep the cards for a while and exchange it with other students after they memorise the word meanings in their previous cards.”

Since the dictionary includes some very common words, including school, home and classroom, the students of primary classes can also easily refer to it. It also includes words commonly used in conversation like SIM card, toll plaza, ultra sound, xerox and XL. The dictionary lays stress on pronunciation of words. The pronunciation of each word has been given alongside in international phonetic alphabet as well as Gurmukhi for the students fluent in Punjabi to easily comprehend. The dictionary also includes 125 words which have a silent alphabet. 

It's an affair between the lens and far off lands, remote villages, forests, glaciers, sand dunes, nature… the photography exhibition "The Nude Tree" by Nisheeth Bhatt, captures the landscape colours, nude trees and human feelings over two decades, across three continents.

"I was taking a morning walk on the outskirts of London when I came across this really beautiful tree. I was so charmed that I named the exhibition after this." He adds, "I don't know the name of the tree or anything, I just clicked it, it was so fascinating."

What's on display is the beauty of the tree minus leaves, an autumn tree in all its charm, time when its sheer structure is on full display. "I put up the exhibition now, also because this time of the year trees are shedding leaves." There's Entrapped Moon, depicting moonlight piercing through the dense branches of a barren tree. While yet another covers the interplay between sunset, autumn tree and hills. In Life, the shed leaves of the trees stand for a new generation of flowers to blossom under them.

He says, "I never thought of the theme before clicking. These have been clicked over two decades. It was an exercise in sifting out these 45 prints from over thousands."

Moving on, part of the collection is devoted to myriad human emotions; bliss, serenity, innocence, introspection, indefatigability, moksha, contentment, Then there's a section freezing the picturesque landscapes, far off places, lakes, glaciers. There's the Edinburh Castle, the Karakoram range reflecting in a pool of water, Nubra valley in Ladakh with nine different shades in the same frame, from the colours of sand to snow, a couple of aerial shots of river and roads. It's nature converted to pixels!

— Manpriya Khurana

Jalandhar, April 6
The recent declaration of a financial support of Rs 1 lakh per term to Gentleman Cadets at the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla, in Punjab, by Finance Minister Manpreet Badal has evoked encouraging response from rural students.

A good number of rural boys have turned up at the local District Sainik Welfare Office (DSWO) to attend the three-week course from April 2 under the Rural Nodal School Scheme. The scheme is a brainchild of Deputy Commissioner Ajeet Singh Pannu and Deputy Director of DSWO Lt-Col Manmohan Singh.

As many as 109 Class XII students, who just completed their board examination from government senior secondary schools of the district, have turned up for the course. And they are upbeat. “I got to know about this free NDA preparatory classes after I attended a lecture by Lt-Col Manmohan Singh at our school last year. Moreover, the announcement of Rs 1 lakh award will help us improving our financial status,” said Manish Kumar from Government Senior Secondary School, PAP Campus.

Akash Kumar, a son of a shopkeeper from Doli-Ke-Dhure, said he would have never got a chance to appear in such a prestigious examination, had his teachers not motivated him to do so. “I come from a humble background and was not aware of the NDA examination. What could be more better than joining the Army with an assurance of financial assistance from the state government,” he added.

Simranjit Singh from Government School, Bhogpur, said it was his brother who motivated him to become an Army officer. His brother is a Sepoy in the Army. My parents also motivated me to pursue a career in the Army,” he said.

Lt-Col Manmohan Singh said this time the response was better than the past two years. Students from nodal schools from Nihaluwal, Bhogpur, Ladowali Road, Jalandhar, Doli-Ke-Dhure, Phillaur, Kartarpur, Bundala and PAP Campus are undergoing training at the DSWO.

From this year the Punjab government would pay Rs 4 lakh per candidate for three terms at the NDA and one-year training at the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehran Dun. The aim is to churn out more Army officers from the state, especially from rural areas. The students would appear for the NDA examination on April 18 at Chandigarh.