Hearing on grant of bail deferred
Amritsar, April 8
The Amritsar district court has deferred the hearing on grant of bail to Khalsa College teachers booked for creating unruly scenes on the premises of two Khalsa Charitable society-run institutions to April 21.

SGPC must take over college, says Mann
Amritsar, April 8
Simranjit Singh Mann, President, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), has demanded that the management of historic Khalsa College be taken over by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC).

Chandigarh, April 8
The provisional census data released today has come with mixed news for the state. While Punjab can pride itself for showing drastic improvement in its child sex ratio since 2001, it is still amongst the worst performers in the country on this parameter. Though the child sex ratio is low across all districts, situation in the border areas and Malwa region is alarming.

The data, released by state Chief Secretary SC Aggarwal and Director (Census) Seema Jain, shows that the rate of growth of population in Punjab has slowed down during the last decade. From 20.1 per cent in 2001 it has scaled down to 13.7 per cent.

Ludhiana has emerged as the most populous district with 34.87 lakh persons. Amritsar with a population of 24.9 lakh is the second largest districts in terms of population followed by Gurdaspur (22.99 lakh), Jalandhar (21.81 lakh) and Ferozepur (20.26 lakh). None of the other districts has a population of more than 20 lakh. Barnala has the lowest population with only 5.96 lakh people.

The overall sex ratio has increased by 17 points since 2001 and is currently at 893. It is also the highest-ever sex ratio in the state. At the same time, Bathinda district has the lowest sex ratio of 865, down by 5 points since the last census. The child sex ratio has also increased by 48 points across the state and is now at 846. Kapurthala, Jalandhar and Nawanshehar have shown the highest increase in child sex ratio.

Provisional census data has been released on only three parameters - population, gender and literacy. According to Jain, it would take at least six months to tabulate the data. The census was conducted in two phases across 58 lakh households in cities and 12,581 villages across the state.

The highest growth rate of population has been in Tarn Taran, Mohali and Patiala districts. One of the reasons of population growth in Taran Taran could migration from the neighbouring areas on account of it being a new district while Mohali and Patiala districts could have grown due to their proximity to Chandigarh. Interestingly, Tarn Taran has the third highest population growth, but lowest child sex ratio (819).

Literacy in the state has seen an upward trend. Further, gap in literacy between males and females has also reduced. In 1971, Punjab had an overall literacy rate of 34.12 per cent (42 per cent among males and 24 per cent among females). In the current census, the literacy has gone up to 76.7 per cent (81.5 per cent in males and 71.03 per cent among females). Among the districts, Hoshiarpur has the highest literacy at 85.4 per cent, followed by Mohali (84.9), Ropar (83.3), Ludhiana (82.5), Jalandhar (82.4) and Gurdaspur (81.1). Muktsar and Mansa are at the bottom with 60 and 56 per cent literacy, respectively.

The census has also focused on gender and disabilities. Some enumerators had to approach difficult areas along the 553-km border with Pakistan and others had to travel by boat to approach villages cut off by rivers and streams, Aggarwal said.

The census was conducted with the theme "everybody without omission". Special emphasis was laid on vulnerable groups like women, elderly, disabled, infants and homeless. Punjab, like the rest of the country saw a new initiative - "Census in Schools"/ The purpose of this was to make all children aware that the census was taking place and that they have a role in ensuring that the data for their own family is recorded correctly. The programme covered about 60 schools in each district in Punjab and was specifically designed for participation by students of the entire school in general and students of class VI, VII and VIII in particular.

Patti (Tarn Taran), April 8
Sounding the poll bugle, former CM and PPCC chief Captain Amarinder Singh said that if the SAD-BJP government converted the Khalsa College into a private university, he would reverse the decision, if the Congress came to power.

Addressing a rally at the constituency of CM Parkash Singh Badal’s son-in-law and Food and Civil Supplies Minister Adesh Pratap Kairon, Singh said, “The Khalsa College is a jewel of Punjab. The institution is an indispensable part of Punjabi heritage as many of our generations have acquired knowledge in it. The Badal family, in connivance with its relatives, is trying to grab the college and convert it into a private university, but we will not allow this to happen.”

He alleged the decision was a conspiracy. “It is part of a bigger conspiracy of the Badals to grab prime land and sell it at throwaway prices to their favourites as they had done with the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Jalandhar.”

He added if the Badals were so keen on having a private university they should form it elsewhere.

He said corruption would be the main poll plank of the Congress and they would “expose the corrupt SAD-BJP government”.

He said the Congress would give priority to youth and women in ticket allotment.

Referring to Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal’s promise of making Punjab power surplus within two years, he said that even after four years of the incumbent government Punjab remains a power deficit state.

“Instead the Badals have certainly gone surplus in their own wealth by grabbing transport, sand mining, cable and liquor business.”

Meanwhile, cracks surfaced in the local Congress unit as PPCC member Maninder Singh Patti held a separate rally to lodge his protest against “outsiders ruling the roost in district Congress affairs”.

Among those present on the occasion included senior party leaders Lal Singh, Rana Gurjit, Arvind Khanna and Harminder Singh Gill.

Gidderbaha, April 8
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal visited various villages of this assembly segment, known as his nephew and ousted finance minister Manpreet Badal’s bastion where he got warm and emotional welcome.

Badal visited a section of villages of this predominantly rural constituency, which returned Manpreet Badal to Punjab Vidhan Sabha for four times consecutively since 1995 byelection, after nearly a decade.

He was given a huge welcome by people and Badal stated: “As Manpreet has resigned from Punjab Vidhan Sabha, I will now serve you.”

Badal, who presided over sangat darshan functions at nine places in this assembly segment today, struck an emotional chord with people with his speeches.

“Manpreet has cheated the party, people of the area, who did everything for his victories and me, who introduced him (Manpreet) to politics before Sukhbir Badal was introduced to politics,” he said.

“What is my fault? Why Manpreet has raised a wall between me and my brother Gurdas Badal?” Badal asked, adding “Ghar Ko Aag Lagi Ghar Ke Chirag Se. (A family member has caused setback to whole family).”

He asked Manpreet if SAD (B) was a bad party then why he kept on contesting elections time and again as its nominee.

“Manpreet’s action will hurt me for my whole life,” he claimed, adding that he had been receiving intelligence inputs for the past three years that Manpreet was trying to damage to the party but he never believed such things.

“I always expressed my desire to meet the people of Gidderbaha assembly segment when Manpreet was with me. But Manpreet always made an excuse and stopped me from meeting people. I don’t know why Manpreet was doing this?” wondered Badal while reminding the people that their forefathers had supported him in all the agitation launched by SAD. “You and your forefathers sent me to Vidhan Sabha a number of times before I handed over this assembly segment to Manpreet Badal. I am indebted to you. Henceforth, I will be at your service,” he said. 

Jalandhar, April 8
Former Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, who has launched a political party making the crusade against corruption the fulcrum of his political campaign, has extended support to Anna Hazare’s campaign.According to eminent economist Sucha Singh Gill, “It is just the beginning of the crusade against corruption. It has started from the Centre, but will ultimately reach the states”.

Another eminent scholar Harbhajan Singh Deol said: “Most of the states have become a den of corruption”. In many states, political power has been monopolised by a few families, who form a political clique to demolish social crusaders.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Lok Pal Act, which was enacted in 1996, is has been proved to be just a proverbial toothless tiger. Under the Act, the Lok Pal has no decisive powers - no power to enquire into any complaint and no public servant can make a complaint under the Act.

The Lok Pal can only communicate his findings and recommendations to the competent authority. According to the Act, in case the Lok Pal is satisfied that all or any part of the allegations made in the complaint are substantiated, he report his findings and recommendations to the competent authority, which will have to communicate to the Lok Pal, within three months, the action taken report. In case, the Lok Pal is not satisfied with the action taken report, all the Lok Pal can do is send a special report for reviewing the decision to the Governor.

Since 1996, the Congress and the SAD-BJP have ruled the state alternately but they never thought to make the Lok Pal an all-powerful institution to eliminate political and other types of corruption from the state. 

Nabha, April 8
Following intelligence inputs and recent mobile records with security agencies, the state government has decided to install jammers in jails across Punjab to stop criminal activities.

Sources said that the process of installing jammers is on at the high-security Nabha jail. A mock drill for its testing is also being conducted. The jail houses dangerous inmates, many of whom have been sentenced for terrorism.

“The system is in place and once the jammers are on, all mobile calls would be jammed,” sources said.

“Numerous cases pertaining to kidnapping, ransom and even robberies, when tracked were found to be run by a mastermind sitting inside jails through mobile phones,” a senior officer said.

“We have reports on such activities continuing in jails and based on that many steps are in the pipeline to improve the conditions of jails,” he added.

Punjab Minister for Jails Hira Singh Gabhria confirmed the move. “To check this, we would categorise criminals and lodge them separately in barracks. This will ensure that hardcore criminals do not get any chance to lure petty criminals into the world of serious crime.”

“We have also changed the jail manual. A jail inmate found using mobile phone would be booked and could get an additional imprisonment of a year, or a fine of Rs 25,000 or both,” he added.

Currently, Punjab has seven central jails at Patiala, Bathinda, Ferozpur, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar and Ludhiana. Nabha, Sangrur, Faridkot, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur have five district jails. There are two open-air jails at Nabha and Kapurthala, one women Jail at Ludhiana and ten sub-jails at Fazilka, Majha, Mukatsar, Patti, Ropar, Barnala, Malerkotla, Phagwara, Dasuya and Pathankot. There is also a jail-training school at Patiala

Rajpura/Sirhind, April 8
Though the ready-to-harvest wheat crop that was flattened due to recent inclement weather in villages of Rajpura and adjoining Sirhind has put the farmers in a quandary, it has proved beneficial for the blacksmiths, who are making brisk business by selling hand tools, especially the sickle.

The farmers are facing difficulties as harvesting a flattened crop using combine machines is more expensive due to the use of extra fuel and is also time consuming. Also, a combine harvests only grains if the crop is standing, but it includes a lot of soil and other dirt particles when a flattened crop is harvested.

“To keep harvesting hassle free and economical, most of the farmers this time are opting for manual tools for the same,” said Harnek Singh of Rajpura.

The base of wheat crop is sliced easily with the traditional sickle and bunches are then put into a harvesting machine to obtain grains.

Manual harvesting helps farmers in extracting more silage (used as fodder) as compared to the combines.

“Besides repairing at least 100 sickles everyday, we are also selling the same amount of tools to farmers,” said Bittu, a farm-tool manufacturer in Rajpura, adding that people from the neighbouring state of Haryana and were also purchasing farm equipments from them.

Besides increased demand of sickles, the tool manufacturers are also repairing blades used in the harvesting machines. After harvesting the crop manually, the farmers put wheat plants in harvesting machine to separate grains from the silage. The blades require rubbing from blacksmiths after harvesting a crop of 3-4 acres.

Many sellers of farm tools said the prices of the tools had increased more than double in the past five years and use of sickle increases whenever wheat crop falls flat. Besides sickles the sale of hoe, spade, shovel and others tools has also increased, they added.

Patiala, April 8
The demand for professional ragis is increasing in India and abroad. This is helping hundreds of boys and girls from rural Punjab in making career in this field after procuring a professional degree. The Department of Gurmat Sangeet, Punjabi University, is helping them to strike the right chord in this direction.

In the postgraduate course of Gurmat Sangeet, students are taught different ragas and singing styles as contained in Sri Guru Granth Sahib and raga-based kirtan chaukis. In addition to providing in-depth study relating to Sikh religious principles and practical training of Gurmat Sangeet, workshops on communication skills in English are also held to meet global requirements.

Besides India, gurdwaras and Sikh missionary institutes in Europe, Singapore, Canada, and the US, want professional granthis from Punjab and are ready to pay a handsome pay package with ample facilities.

“With this course, getting a visa and work permit for a foreign country becomes easy. As a result the course is gaining popularity and every year we are getting more and more students,” says Gurnam Singh, Head, Department of Gurmat Sangeet. “Many of our students recruited abroad are getting more than $6,000 per month along with free lodging and boarding,” he added.

"The employers want the students to be educated and well versed in English, so that good ragis are able to trains others,” says Dr Gurnam Singh.

As the SGPC and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee have reportedly failed to produce professional ragis for their gurdwaras, the department is catering to the huge demand.

Mohali, April 8
State Education Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan yesterday claimed that the Education Department had achieved 90 per cent success in checking cases of mass copying during this year’s Classes X and XII exams conducted by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB).

Without quoting statistics, the minister credited the decreased number of cases to a foolproof mechanism put in place before the exams. A three-member committee comprising the District Education Officer and officials of the PSEB had been constituted to further strengthen the mechanism. “Our officials identified certain black sheep and organised groups, which helped in checking mass copying,” he said.

Basking in glory for checking mass copying, the minister, however, failed to provide any statistics in support of the department’s achievement. Ever since the Akali government was voted to power in 2007, the previous Education Minister, Upinderjit Kaur, had been campaigning against mass copying and several centres were cancelled for this. But now, the new Education Minister claims to have eradicated the menace. This year 19 examination centres have been cancelled for mass copying.

Meanwhile, the minister announced granting five grace marks in English, maths and science in Classes X and XII exams. But it will be one time benefit and no such incentive would be given in the next semester exams being held in September.

The PSEB Chairman, Dr Dalbir Singh Dhillon, has announced waiving re-examination fee for those students who are to reappear due to the cancellation of their examination centres.

Chandigarh, April 8
As many as six doctors have been allegedly found negligent in examining a woman inmate, who delivered a stillborn baby in the Ludhiana Central Jail toilet on September 9 last year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today heard.

The matter was brought to the notice of the High Court Division Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, after an inquiry report was submitted by the Punjab Deputy Director, Health and Family Welfare, Dr Karanjit Singh. The report came during the resumed hearing of public interest litigation filed by a Ludhiana-based NGO, Women Justice and Equality.

The doctors are Dr RK Sharma, Dr Renu Baweja, Dr Hartinder Kaur, Dr Sudha, Dr Alka Mittal and Dr Ananat Jit Kaur. The report says the doctors who carried out the examination of the woman inmate failed to diagnose her pregnancy.

Morinda, April 8
Work on the re-carpeting of a 6-km stretch on the Chandigarh-Morinda road has begun, which will be completed within the next five months at a cost of Rs 7.60 crore. The road is in a bad shape for the past three years.

Taking permission from the Ropar District Magistrate, the Public Words Department has closed the portion from Ropar-Morinda Chowk and Bela Chowk for two months. The central works division has also recently floated tenders worth Rs 7.60 crore for the work.

While around 600 m to 700 m of the stretch will be raised, the rest of it will be strengthened and re-carpeted. — TNS