Amritsar, July 2
With an aim to boost yurvedic medicinal culture, the Punjab Government has proposed to establish an ayurveda university in the state soon.Punjab Minister for Medical Education and Research Tikshan Sood disclosed this during an appointment letter-disbursal function for class IV employees organised at Government Medical College here.

“The resolution for establishing Guru Ravi Dass Ayurveda University on the Hoshiarpur-Una road in the district got a nod in the recent session of the assembly. It would be the third university in the country which would promote the ancient system of medicine,” Sood said.

The minister gave appointment letters to 361 supporting staff for various medical institutes in the state, which included 170 staff nurses, 88 class IV employees, 26 ward attendants, 44 cleaners, 22 chowkidars and 11 gardeners.

About the outsourcing process being adopted by various medical institutes in the wake of a shortage of staff, especially class IV employees, the minister said outsourcing had been avoided because of negative feedback received afterwards.

“It has been observed that when employed through agencies, the class IV staff generally become victims of exploitation by the agencies themselves. The agents ask for commission in lieu of engaging them in hospitals. So this time it’s been experimented to recruit class IV staff directly and this process would continue,” he said.

While describing enhanced infrastructure, the minister said the state government had provided Rs 148 crore to the government hospital, Amritsar, Rs 68 crore to the hospital of the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, and Rs 30 crore to Rajindra Government Hospital, Patiala, for the improvement of the existing infrastructure.

With a view to strengthening facilities at medical colleges, especially nursing and dental colleges, the government had set up over 300 nursing schools and colleges which cater to students for BSc and MSc in nursing.

“With these efforts, students belonging to Punjab now do not have to go to other states to get education in the field of medicine. Around 9,000 students at present are being taught in nursing institutes established in various pockets of the state,” he said.

Prominent among those present on the occasion were Medical Education and Research Department’s Chief Parliamentary Secretary Shital Singh, Director, Medical Education Jai Kishan, Principal Government Medical College Dr S.S. Shergill and Medical Superintendent R.P.S. Boparai.

Amritsar, July 2
The Majha region has witnessed spurt in honour killing during the last one year. As many as seven persons were killed by family members for marrying against their wishes and out of their castes.

The brutal murder of 17-year-old Amritpal Kaur reportedly by her stepfather Mehtab Singh was the third killing executed to ward off the threat of marrying out of caste in this border district.

Originally hailing from remote Vairoke village in the district, the family, which reportedly killed teenager Amritpal Kaur, has been residing in Belgium for the past over a decade.

Earlier, the bodies of a couple, hailing from Chabal, were recovered from the Gumtala drain a couple of months back. They were later identified as Pardeep Singh (25) and Kiranjot Kaur (22). The police investigation found that they were first strangled and later their bodies were thrown into the drain.

No case of honour killing was reported in the border district of Gudaspur in the past one year.

However, Tarn Taran witnessed two such cases in which four persons were killed.

So far neither any NGO nor the SGPC has taken any stock of such social aberrations. Numerous programmes on checking female foeticide and drug addiction have been launched but no specific attention was paid to discourage honour killing.

A professor of psychology from Guru Nanak Dev University, Navdeep Singh Tung, said aggression was a phenomenon not restrained to a particular caste, creed and religion. No such study was carried out there to know the reasons contributing to murder of a person in the same family for honour. A senior professor of sociology, Paramjit Singh, said man could do anything for honour and pride. However, with increase in awareness and availability of media such crimes were now being noticed. He opined that it would take a long time to change the mindset.

Amritsar, July 2
The consortium of Indian Farmers Association (IFA) yesterday announced to file a writ petition in the apex court for the implementation of the MS Swaminathan report.

The consortium, led by Satnam Singh Behru, president of the state unit, in a press release issued here stated that the UPA government had failed to implement the recommendations made by the National Commission on Farmers set up under the chairmanship of the eminent agricultural scientist.

“The economic conditions of farmers have become worst while the consecutive governments have turned a blind eye towards the problems of the peasant community in which suicides are on the rise as they fail to cope up with the rising input costs and debt trap,” said Behru.

He alleged that the government neglected the rising input costs in production while fixing the minimum support prices for crops. He said the Central and state governments had failed in dealing with issues concerning farmers.

Amritsar, July 2
The USA-based North American Punjabi Association (NAPA) has urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to direct its officials in Indian missions and embassies abroad to remove grievances of Indians in foreign countries, particularly in North America.

The association has put a question mark on the performance of the NRI Sabha, Punjab. “The sabha has proved to be a white elephant as it has largely been unable to solve the problems of NRIs. It should clear the air about its success rate,” said Dalwinder Singh Dhoot and Satnam Singh Chahal, chairman and president of the association 
in statement.

Certain officials of Indian consulates in North America were refusing passports to NRIs on frivolous grounds under the garb of certain sections of the Indian Passport Act.

“In certain cases, the refusal letters were issued even without any date or serial numbers. The Indian government should be sympathetic even towards those who have been earning and sending dollars back to their motherland even after settling on basis of asylum in these countries,” said Dhoot and Chahal.

Amritsar, July 2
To spread awareness against the social evils of female foeticide and rampant drug scourge, the Sarhad-e-Punjab Sports Club has organised a seminar at Prabhakar Senior Secondary School, Chheharta, here. The function was presided over by Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla.

Taking a dig at political leaders who never failed to organise camps for spreading awareness against rampant drug addiction but don’t think twice before distributing intoxicants and liquor during elections, the Health Minister said there was need to work at ground level to end this menace.

“Practical efforts were very less while drug addiction has hollowed our society, especially our young generation,” said Chawla, adding that the political leaders should join hands irrespective of party lines to end these evils concerning the society.

Praising the Health Department for taking various steps to control the female foeticide to some extent, she said still a lot of efforts needed to stem the problem.

Meanwhile, children of the school presented a cultural programme in which they staged a choreography against the female foeticide. The Health Minister honoured Gurinder Singh Mattu, president of the Sarhad-e-Punjab Sports Club for his efforts.

Amritsar, July 2
Small traders and shopkeepers have urged the government to create a fund for their rehabilitation in case of natural calamities, on the line of compensation being provided to farmers.

Traders made this demand during a meeting with Madan Lal Kapoor, Chairman, Small Traders Board, Punjab, here at the local Bachat Bhawan.

Answering their queries, Kapoor said the issue had already been taken up with Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal and added that it was also a part of the agenda of the next meeting with the Chief Minister.

Raising the issue of disparity in taxes as compared to the neighbouring states, traders said there were no taxes in Delhi and Himachal Pradesh on pulses while it is only 1 per cent in Rajasthan and Haryana. They sought rationalisation of taxes and to levying of only 1 per cent tax at par with adjoining states.

Kapoor said the board urged the government to reduce the tax being charged from marble traders. At present, the business community dealing with marble has to shell out more than 8 per cent tax in excess as compared to the neighbouring states.

Punjab traders are being charged 12.5 per cent tax while it is just four per cent in the adjoining states.

The board has also appealed to end the entry tax being levied from sugar traders on sugar being imported from other states.

He said the as per the Vat Act, 2005, the Vat bill is imposed on a minimum purchase of Rs 100 while small traders wanted to extend the limit to Rs 500. They also sought the starting of the single window system for licensing and refunding so that traders do not have to run from one place to other for completing these necessary formalities.

Amritsar and Tarn Taran Retail Karyana Merchant Association sought a decrease in the surety amount being taken from retail shopkeepers for registration. They said like Vat dealers, they had to deposit Rs 50,000 as surety, which should be reduced to Rs 10,000. The association also demanded representation of the association in the Sales Tax Advisory Committee. 

Tarn Taran, July 2
As many as a dozen employee organizations have demanded a probe into the assault case of Dr Shamsher Singh , Senior Medical Officer(SMO) , Primary Health Centre(PHC), Chabal, in which five persons including the husband of a lady doctor of the PHC have been booked.

Balkar Valtoha, State Finance Secretary of the Punjab Subordinate Services Federation (PSSF), Shivraj Dhillon State Leader of the Para Medical and Health Employees Action Committee and other leader in a joint press statement issued here today said that the statement of Dr Shamsher Singh given to the police on which five persons have been booked for assaulting are without facts. The leaders said rather it was Dr. Shamsher Singh who beat up the husband of one lady medical officer Dr. Nitu of the PHC who had come to the centre for some request before the SMO on June 30. The employee organizations said besides this Kulwinder Singh and Baljit Singh, leaders of the employees have been involved for their no fault as they tried to intervene in the tussle between Dr.Shamsher and Dr.Nitu’s husband.

The organisations have submitted their representation to the SSP asking for an investigation into the matter.

Tarn Taran, July 2
Suspicious over the character of his wife, a man killed her by hitting with a brick at her head in Goindwal Sahib township, 25 kms from here, early this morning. A case under section 302 of the IPC has been registered by the Goindwal police.

According to the information , the deceased has been identified as Manjit Kaur, alias Harjinder Kaur (40), while her husband has been identified as Paramjit Singh of Bhunno village in Hoshiarpur.

The deceased Manjit Kaur who was married to the accused Paramjit Singh was living at Goindwal Sahib with one Malkit Singh of village Baroti (Hoshiarpur) after leaving her husband .

Paramjit Singh along with son Gurpreet Singh had come here the last night to see his wife .It is said that he had come many times before this. Paramjit Singh ,Gurpreet Singh , Manjit Kaur and Malkit Singh slept the night here but in the early hours when his son had gone to the Gurdwara and Malkit Singh was also not present on the occasion hit his wife with a brick at her head many times as a results she died on the spot. The police arrested the accused from the spot. — OC

Amritsar, July 2
The Progressive Educational Society has extended the last date for the submission of application forms for the selection of 50 meritorious poor students who have passed Class 10 and have rural background from July 1 to July 10.

The admission will be conducted through a state-level entrance test scheduled for July 25 for Class 10+1. The main objective of this education package would be to impart quality education to underprivileged students and enable them to clear the IIT entrance test and other national-level tests to bring them to the main stream and to make them self-reliant. The students would be brushed up at ae newly established centre at Khalsa College Public School here.

Prof A.S. Brar, Vice-Chancellor of GND University and the Chairman of the Progressive Educational Society, under whose initiative the Punjab Government has sanctioned Rs 1.40 crore for the project, said due to summer vacation in the government schools, the information regarding entrance test had not reached to the targeted students.

“Now that the schools are reopening on July 1, the society has decided to extend the last date for receiving applications on the prescribed form by July 10 for the benefit of the students,” he said, adding that however, the entrance test would be held as scheduled on July 25./'

Under this project, the selected 50 meritorious poor students from rural Punjab would be provided free education along with free lodging and boarding till 10+2.

Those students who have passed matriculation from a school in Punjab or Chandigarh in 2010 with 60 per cent marks or CGPA of 6.32 (CBSE) would be eligible for the entrance test for admission to 10+1.

The other eligibility criteria would be that the parents of candidates must be residents of a village and their name should figure in the voters’ list of the village concerned or they should have the voter’s ID card. The income of parents should be less than Rs 4 lakh per annum.

The test would be based on the syllabus of Class 10 with physics and maths. Candidates will have to attempt 50 questions each from science and mathematics subjects from the matriculation syllabus of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB).

The application forms for entrance test would be available from the enquiry counter and office of the Dean, Students’ Welfare, of the university, on all working days. The form can also be downloaded from the university website, www.gndu.ac.in.

The filled application forms must reach the office of the Dean, Students’ Welfare, along with an entrance test fee of Rs 500 to be paid by a demand draft drawn in favour of the “Progressive Educational Society, Amritsar”, payable at Amritsar.

Meanwhile, the counselling for admission to remaining seats of MBA/MCA (FYIC) first year of Guru Nanak Dev University will be held on July 6 at 9 am at Maharaja Ranjit Singh Bhawan of the university. The candidates are required to carry original documents for verification.

In yet another announcement, the university would receive the online application forms for admission to certificate courses (parttime) in French, German, Japanese and Russian languages and full-time diploma courses in French and Russian up to July 12.

The eligibility to these courses is 10+2. The counselling for certificate courses in French (parttime) would be held on July 19 and 20, whereas for other parttime courses in languages like Russian, German and Japanese, the counselling would be held on July 22. For diploma (full-time) in French and Russian, the counselling would be held on July 15.