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Billy Aunty and her pet story
Some EOs, BDPOs not updating progress
Shashank- The bamboo genius
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4 hurt as LPG cylinder explodes
Young World
‘Psoriasis can be cured by Ayurvedic medicine’
Agrath - The Band
Hirapur village gets Rs 4.5-lakh grant
Crime File
Seminar on GM crops held
Bank officials, customers’ meet held
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Billy Aunty and her pet story
Jalandhar, February 8 Disha R. Das, a city resident, has been nursing stray animals since she was a 10-year-old and though she doesn’t run an organisation, her work almost equals that of one. The passion runs in the family. At the time of the Partition, when her father’s siblings were scurrying for their precious belongings to be carried to India, “what my father picked up was his two dogs and their food bowls”. She picked the first street dog as a kid at Cochin where her father S.R. Das, a retired Colonel, was posted. The family came to Jalandhar with that one and two Pomeranians. She has taken care of injured vultures, eagles, squirrels, paw-less cats, maggot-infested (who had to be injected with chloroform on regular basis by veterinary doctors), puss-oozing dogs and also a badly injured donkey that she found near her house in Jalandhar and which survived for a month even though doctors had given up on him. Over the years, she has pampered 15 to 20 street animals (not counting those which have regularly visited her or have been fed by her) of which she is currently left with six dogs Tinkerbell, Chichi, Uggoo, Chucki, Shaggy (who she brought with her from Mumbai), 17-year-old Jacki, the eldest, and a blind parrot that she calls Miss Molly. She talks about Shaggy, “I picked it up in a state that it couldn’t even straighten up. It had been living in a fishermen’s locality where he wasn’t taken care of. There was a problem with his backbone and he could hardly walk, with his hind legs dragging after him. He couldn’t even urinate. We had a catheter put up for him. At Jalandhar, doctors said he would never be able to straighten up. But he healed on himself. That dog has got a lot of spunk.” Das also had a steel rod fitted in one of Shaggy’s legs after it was fractured in an accident. As a pup, Uggoo had been adopted by a family, but she brought it back when she learnt it was not being treated well. Das’ pets grow up in a diet of pedigree, chicken rotis and broth. Shaggy is the pampered one who has a space reserved for him in her car for every time she goes out of house. “Otherwise it sulks,” she laughs. In her mid 30s, she keeps travelling to Mumbai, where her elder sister stays. In Mumbai she is called Billi Aunty. “The workers at the society, where we stayed, used to separate kittens from their mothers and threw them in the garbage to die just because the residents weren’t comfortable with them prowling around. I started rescuing them and taking the injured ones home. There was a lot of commotion. Initially people laughed at me and the society guys even wrote formal complaints to the landlords and threatened to call the cops. But I fought it out eventually. Slowly everything smoothed out.” “Since my brother-in-law is also passionate about animals, we have 15 dogs in Mumbai,” she adds. “Over there, there are many organisations working. I was constantly in touch with the SPCA and a group called Karuna. In Punjab there’s not much awareness. Though I think the PFA guys are doing good,” Das says. Das, who had all her pets sterilised after the first litter, says, “It is important for people to teach their kids to respect animals. It is important for character building and makes you grow up into people with integrity.
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Some EOs, BDPOs not updating progress
Jalandhar, February 8 While the system had been set in place to facilitate constant updating of reports of approved works, several officers have not paid a heed to update the progress in the system in time. While the development projects worth crores of rupees lying pending with Shahkot, Phillaur, Adampur and Kartarpur EOs have been listed out with the details of the estimated cost, but the progress of none of the works in these areas has been entered. Likewise, the progress of none of the 35 works listed out by the Executive Engineer, Mandi Board, has been put online. This despite the fact that the DC has been regularly holding meetings in this regard and pulling up the officials for not pasting pictures of progress taken on cell phones and reporting percentage of work completed from time to time. Under the system, data of all ongoing works in the district are required to be entered by the executing agencies. The details of the work, such as work starting date, expected completion date, total budget layout and executing agency, have to be mentioned. Thereafter, the agencies are required to enter the physical and financial progress reports periodically along with the on-site photographs of the work being done under various schemes like MNREGA, MPLADS, etc. The reporting from BDPOs of Lohian, Nakodar, Nurmahal, Phillaur, Shahkot, and Jalandhar (West) is also significantly low. The overall percentage of reporting of all departments lies at just 33 per cent. However, there are a few departments which have been quite quick in reporting as is the case with PWD (B&R), EO Nurmahal, District Education Officer (Secondary), Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, and Deputy Director, Horticulture, where reporting is almost cent per cent. The DC, Priyank Bharti, when contacted, said the system had slowly started getting a better response. “Since there are over 1,500 ongoing projects in the district, it is impossible for me to physically go everywhere. But sitting online, I can at least note the progress online and plan visits only in the problem areas,” he said. He added that there of course were a few officials who had been ignoring the directions or were not taking field visits timely and later making excuses that they were not able to upload pictures correctly. “But it certainly is a simple procedure, which they do not want to understand for obvious reasons,” he said. Instances of misreporting had also come into light, he added. “But slowly everyone will get use to it,” he commented.
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Shashank- The bamboo genius
Jalandhar, February 8 From a child prodigy, he has moved on to be one of the most versatile and respected flutists in the subcontinent. As he talks to The Tribune on the sidelines of a Spic Macay concert in the city, flutist Shashank Subramanyam says when it come to music, people have been his biggest inspiration. “I have always been greatly influenced by the great works and legends in music,” he elaborates. Classical and folk influences both go hand to hand in the music that he plays. “The human voice plays an extremely important role in my understanding of music.” His training from vocalists Pandit Jasraj, R.K. Srikantan, Palghat K.V. Narayanaswami apart from father Subramanyam undoubtedly playing a huge role there. Talking about his chosen instrument, he says, “Every instrument has its own value. But what’s special about the flute is that it’s so simple. No strings, no metals, just a plain bamboo stick. I find its simplicity beautiful.” Through a career spanning 25 years, Shashank has wooed audiences across the world. His moments of glory include a Grammy nomination along with jazz guitarist John McLaughlin for the album, “Floating Point”, in 2009 and a documentary on him by the BBC World TV, titled “Destination Music”. But what has been his most special moment so far? “When I played for the MA in Chennai.” (He talks about the time when as a 12-year-old, he was chosen to perform for the topmost slot at the SADAS concert by the Music Academy, Chennai, in January, 1991, a record that hasn’t been broken as yet). He also fondly remembers his performances with Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Vishwamohan Bhatt, Ustad Shujaat Khan and Pandit Ajay Chakraborty. Talking about the phenomenon wherein music students increasingly take to rote learning and deliver mechanised performances rather than first understanding the soul or mood of the piece of music, he says, “Yes. That’s happening and disturbingly many people support it in a big way. It’s a sad trend. But I believe it won’t survive for long. True art always triumphs.”A widely travelled artiste, Shashank also teaches when he is not travelling. Currently he has 15 disciples. Fond of reality shows in music, he says he himself watches them and likes them a lot, but wonders why as much importance isn’t being given to classical music on TV. “I believe the media, people and corporate firms should support artistes who uphold true values in music,” he signs off.
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4 hurt as LPG cylinder explodes
Kapurthala, February 8 The wounded persons included house owner Amarjit, his wife Jasbir Kaur, their son Jarnail Singh and Daljit Singh. They were admitted to a local hospital.While the exact cause of blast could not be known, the house was also damaged due to explosion.
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Young World
Jalandhar, February 8 As many as 18 colleges from the city participated. The students participated in events like collage making, ad-mad show, choreography, group discussion and much more. Results: Collage making: Lyallpur Khalsa College (first), Prem Chand Markanda S.D. College for Women (second) and KCL Institute of Management and Technology (third). Pot making: KCL Institute of Management and Technology (first), Lyallpur Khalsa College for Women (second) and MGN College of Education (third). Group discussion: Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, (first) and GND University College and DAV College (second). Dry flower arrangement: DAV College (first), MGN College of Education (second) and Guru Nanak National College of Women, Nakodar, (third). Quiz: Lyallpur Khalsa College (first), MGN College of Education (second) and Lovely School of Business (third). Ad-mad show: Lyallpur Khalsa College (first), GND University Regional Campus (second) and DAV College (third). Choreography: Lyallpur Khalsa College (first), DAV College (second) and Doaba College (third). Group dance: Guru Nanak National College for Women, Nakodar, (first), Prem Chand Markanda S.D. College for Women (second) and Lyallpur Khalsa College (third). Hard selling: GND University Regional Campus (first), Janta College, Kapurthala, (second) and KCL Institute of Management (third). Basant Panchmi
Basant Panchmi was celebrated at the St Soldier Group of Institutions, during which the students participated in a kite flying competition and came dressed up in yellow clothes. HMV’s carnival
Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya (HMV) organised its annual fete “Carnival-2011” on February 6. Students had a gala time enjoying wide variety of food at different stalls. Renowned Punjabi singer Manmohan Waris enthralled the audience with melodious songs. Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Department of Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Punjab, Arunesh Shakir inaugurated the fair and announced a grant of Rs 3 lakh to the college. Jalandhar (North) MLA K.D. Bhandari also announced a grant of Rs 2 lakh for the development works of the college. A special raffle draw contest was also held. Industrial visit
Students of the science wing of the Kamla Nehru College for Women, Phagwara, went for an industrial visit to Wahid-Sandhar Sugar Private limited, Phagwara. Students visited different departments of the sugar mill, like cane procurement, engineering, manufacturing and accounts. Shakespeare fest
A Shakespeare festival, titled “As you like it,” was organised by the Emerging Litterateurs Society of the Postgraduate Department of English of Kanya Maha Vidyalaya (KMV). As many as 25 schools and colleges participated. Students presented a scene from “Macbeth” and other plays of Shakespeare and participated in a quiz. Two exhibitions on the life of Shakespeare were also held. Placements
A human capital consulting and outsourcing firm, AON Hewitt, has selected 161 students from Lovely Professional University in a single go in a recruitment drive. It had invited students of B.Tech in computer science engineering, IT and electronics and communication Engineering and MCA and BCA students. More than 500 students of LPU and other educational institutions underwent the selection procedure, based on written test, group discussion, technical and HR interviews. They have been offered package of more than Rs 2.30 lakh per annum for their new assignments. Human values
An eight-day workshop on “Human values” organised by Punjab Technical University concluded at LPU. The resource persons were Dr R. R. Gaur, IIT, Delhi, Dr Rajeev Sanghal, IIIT, Hyderabad, and Ganesh Bagaria, Kanpur. Dr Rajneesh Arora, Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Technical University, said the university was planning to introduce the course of human values from the next academic session. Dr S.P. Singh, former Vice-Chancellor, GND University was also present. Seventy teachers participated in the workshop. Wildlife
To make students aware of the need for wildlife conservation and to know about the phenomenon of bio-diversity, the MGN College of Education organised a five-day tour to Jaipur, Ajmer, Pushkar and Ranthambhor Tiger Reserve. It was also aimed to spread awareness about the Save Tiger national project. Dr Deepa Sikand Kauts and Gagandeep Sharma coordinated the tour. Science exhibition
Students from Eklavya School bagged various positions at the science exhibition organised by the National Institute of Technology. Jakirat Singh and Bipan got the first position for their project “Solar power house”. Deepak Sharma and Jaskaran Singh bagged the second position for “Water rockets” and for his project “Automatic water level controller” Amandeep Singh got the third position. Senior science teachers Bhawna Bhatt and Varinder Kaur assisted the student to prepare and present the projects at the exhibition. |
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‘Psoriasis can be cured by Ayurvedic medicine’
Jalandhar, February 8 Buoyed with the positive results shown by the classical cases of psoriasis after getting treatment there, the doctors are all set to conduct simultaneous clinical trial on 50 cases of psoriasis and sought technical assistance from the Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Sidha (CCRAS). “As the disease is auto-immune in nature, characterised by the defect in immune system leading to destruction of one’s own skin cells, the herbs we give here act as an immuno-modulator and ultimately put the entire immune system in it normal mode,” said Raj Kumar. Dr Sanjeev Sood, MD, Ayurvedic medicine, under whose supervision the treatment is being conducted on the patients, said, “The herbs we use here are rich in compounds having anti-oxidant and rejuvenating properties. With 15 days of indoor treatment and strict diet schedule afterwards, nearly all patients suffering from auto-immune diseases can be treated.” “Although we have treated hundreds of cases of psoriasis in the last one decade, unfortunately we did not document the exact record of the patients. Moreover, dearth of efforts in the past decades to conduct research on the various treatment modalities of Ayurveda also rendered the Ayurvedic professionals unenthusiastic to conduct documented research in this arena,” he added.— TNS |
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Agrath - The Band
Jalandhar, February 8 “Agrath - The Band” from Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, recently returned home after wining the hearts of the youth with an impressive entry in top 10 bands of the five-day-long rock band competition “Powerchord” of Saarang-2011 held at the IIT, Chennai. It got seventh position in the fest, which saw leading rock bands from IITs, universities and other institutes from across the country at their best. The fest was held from January 25 to 29. The band, which is just six months’ old comprises four engineering boys - Sankalp Singha, Prithvi Raj Tikku, Jonah Joram and Kaushik Madhav Das. And the boys have hooked themselves to rock music 24X7. From recordings to making compositions and to looking for that one golden chance of performing in some leading rock band fest, the Agrath boys say they had a long way to go. This band already has five songs in its kitty. Gung-ho over their performance at Powerchord, Sankalp Singha, the singer and guitarist of the band said, “It was an exciting competition at the IIT, Chennai, as some 100 plus bands from various institutes had sent their entries. And only 20 bands were selected for the prelims and the finals of the fest to perform on January 26,” he added. The Agrath band performed on their original metal composition “Inferno”. “We gave a tough competition to many other bands from other institutes. It was a wonderful exposure and a big boost for our band as we had just started up,” said Prithvi Raj Tikku, the deft drummer of the band. The boys have already set up a complete studio in their hostel, which keeps them busy in their music world. “We have the best of the studio recording equipment, which virtually keeps us busy. Once we are free from the classes, rock music becomes our next destination,” said Jonah Joram. And what brought them together is also an interesting story. The Agrath boys maintain that it was their North-East connection, which helped them in the formation of their band. While three of them, namely Sankalp, Jonah and Kaushik hail from the North-East, Prithvi can speak and understand Assamese. “Moreover I am a professional guitarist and a rock band performer. Me and Prithvi came together to LPU to pursue our engineering, but we had no idea that soon we would have a band too,” said Sankalp. Agrath is now looking forward to two major rock band fests - World Music Conference at Bangalore and another rock band fest at Jaipur. “Apart from engineering, which is our first priority, we would love to explore the world of rock music and would surely land up in a big way in the top lists of rock bands in the country,” they signed off.
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Hirapur village gets Rs 4.5-lakh grant
Jalandhar, February 8 The cheques were received by the village sarpanch, Manpreet Kaur, today, who lauded the efforts of Avinash in initiating various development activities in the constituency. Speaking on the occasion, Chander reiterated that the development of villages in his area was his top priority and he had fulfilled most of their demands. If the need arose, he would ask the state government to allocate more funds in this context. The MLA listened to the various grievances of the villagers and assured all help in the coming days. He inspected the current sewerage-laying work in the village and asked the officials to speed up the work to avoid any inconvenience to the public. Others present on the occasion included SAD circle president Rajinder Singh Nagra, councillor Gurdip Singh Nagra, Surjit Wariana, member, block samiti, Rajinder Kumar Rana, general secretary of the Sri Guru Ravi Das Dharam Yudh Morcha, Master Joga Singh, Dalbir Singh and Gurmukh Singh, both NRIs, besides all panchayat members.
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Crime File
Jalandhar, February 8 The woman, Daljit Kaur, alias Asha, resident of Mohalla Gobindgarh, had committed suicide on Sunday. The parents of the woman had claimed that Daljit committed suicide owing to sour relations with her in-laws. The SHO, Onkar Singh, said the husband of the deceased, Satvinder Singh, who works in Kuwait, reached home yesterday. “The husband and his family wanted to conduct the last rites at Mohalla Gobindgarh, while the woman’s family took a stand that since she died due to sour relations with her in-laws, they would take the body to her parental home,” he added. He added that on the statements of the woman’s family, the police rounded up the mother-in-law of the deceased, Satya Devi, her sister-in-law Guddi and her son Baggi in the alleged suicide case. Rice thieves held
The CIA staff recovered a Bolero Maxi Jeep ( PB-07 X 4009) and 40 sacks of rice from two persons during a routine naka in the area falling under Police Division No 5. The nabbed persons have been identified as Gurmit Singh, alias Rimpi, resident of the local New Model House locality, and Surjit Singh, alias Sabi, resident of Khichiyan village in Hoshiarpur district. The CIA staff (Urban) in charge, Inspector Satish Malhotra, said the duo were nabbed during a routine naka in the city and investigations revealed that they used to steal rice from the godowns of rice sellers and sell them in the market. A case under Sections 379 and 411 of the IPC has been registered against the duo. |
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Seminar on GM crops held
Jalandhar, February 8 As tonnes of such insecticides would ultimately become part of the food chain, the use of GM cotton - popularly known as BT cotton - has also spared the detrimental toxic effects of such insecticides on the entire ecosystem. Stating the fact, Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, Director, Research, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana presented a picture diametrically opposite to what is being projected by various environment NGOs and media organisations and said the critics had never given weight to this positive aspects of the use of GM crops. The issue was broadly discussed at the national seminar on “Genetically modified crops: Challenges and opportunities” organised by Doaba College on February 5 here. “By using GM crops, we can negate the use of insecticides and pesticides, detrimental effects of which on the human health and nature have already been proved. However, sadly, such organisations have never debated over the beneficial end results of GM crops,” said Gosal. However, taking critical stand on the issue, Dr G.P.I. Singh, Director-Principal, Adesh Institute of Medical Science and Research, Bathinda, said there were around 65 documented health adverse effects related to the direct consumption and environmental exposure to GM food. “During experiments, some adverse effects have manifested themselves after third or fourth generation among experimental animals fed on GM foods. Therefore, GM foods’ adverse effects on human health will be only visible after a gap of few generations,” he added. Earlier, Dr Manjit S. Kang, Vice-Chancellor, PAU, who was the chief guest, said already developed GM foods, such as Vitamin A-rich golden rice, protein-rich potatoes, vaccine-producing fruits, decaffeinated tea and coffee and nicotine-free tobacco, have established the fact that GM crops could be used for the betterment of mankind.
— TNS |
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Bank officials, customers’ meet held
Jalandhar, February 8 Lalait Srivastva, Banking Ombudsman, Reserve Bank of India, in his address called upon the bankers to provide prompt and hassle-free customer services in the branches. He expressed concern over the increasing number of complaints, specially relating to the ATM operations and Internet banking, and said some banks were not serious in resolving the customers’ grievances immediately. P.K. Sharma, Circle Head, PNB, said banks should start rigorous awareness campaign among customers regarding technology upgradation so that they could be benefited with the latest technology available with the banks.— TNS |
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Jalandhar, February 8
