AMRITSAR
SGPC’s plea: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Avtar Singh has urged Sikhs, all over the state, to mention their religion as Sikh and mother tongue as Punjabi during the current census. In a statement issued here on Friday, he said the Sikhs should avoid mentioning their caste and gotra with their names.

Bathinda
Meet on banking: The Economics department of the DAV College (Malout) held a national conference on the topic ‘Indian Banking-Vision 2020’.Dr Nirmal Singh, principal, MIMIT (Malout) was the chief guest on the occasion. Dr Ashwani Bhalla of the Government College (Ludhiana) delivered the keynote address.Dr RK Uppal introduced the topic to the audience. His book ‘Service-The competitive edge in banking industry’ was released by the chief guest. 

Chandigarh
Ghuman is new PSERC member: Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal administered the oath of office and secrecy to Gurinderjit Singh Ghuman as the Member of the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission here on Saturday. A spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office said Ghuman was appointed as the Member in place of Satpal Singh Paul whose term, as the Member of the PSERC, expired on February 10. 

Doraha
Debate: An English debate was organised at Green Grove Public School on Saturday. Students from classes III to V participated in the debate. Students expressed their views on topics like “TV is a bad influence” and “Junk food should be banned in school”. Komalpreet of Class IV-A stood first, while the second position was shared by Tejdeep of Class V-B and Damanpreet of Class IV-A. Prabnoor of Class IV-A and Probhjot Kaur of Class V-A stood third. 

Hanumangarh
Rajasthan Roadways staff go on strike: About 120 buses of the Rajasthan Roadways remained off the road today due to strike by the staff.The call for strike was given by all the three trade unions to express resentment over transfer of a driver and two conductors from Hanumangarh to Anoopgarh depot. 

Hoshiarpur
Player honoured: International karate player Monika Sharma, who recently won the twin tower classic karate championship in New York (US), was honoured by Veer Hakeekat Rai Seva Samiti at a function here on Friday. 

Hoshiarpur
Rs 70,000 snatched: In two separate incidents of snatching, miscreants decamped with Rs 70,000 in cash, two mobiles phones and fixed deposit receipts of Rs 70,000. According to police sources, four unidentified motorcycles-borne youths today snatched a purse containing Rs 57,000 in cash, one mobile phone and fixed deposit receipts of Rs 70,000 from Shanta Kumari, wife of Mohinder Singh of Bana, while she was returning to her house at Ransota turn at Hajipur. In another incident, two unidentified motorcycle-borne youths snatched a bag containing Rs 13,000 cash and a mobile phone from Gurbax Singh of Behranga, after he withdrew the amount from the PNB branch Talwara this afternoon. 

Nawanshahr
2 killed in mishaps: A woman, identified as Urmila Devi, was killed and two persons were injured in a collision between Tata Ace and a canter near Singhpur village on the Garhshanker-Anandpur Sahib Road here on Saturday. The injured were Urmila Devi’s husband Sunder and Tata Ace driver Onkar Sharma. They were admitted to the Civil Hospital, Saroya. Canter driver Gurdip Singh of Sekhupur village against whom the police has registered a case is absconding. In another accident, Ranbir Singh (20) of Jagatpur village died on the spot when he rammed his motorcycle into the wall of a shop near the Civil Hospital, Balachaur. He had reportedly been coming from Siana to Jagatpur.