Jalandhar, April 9
Scores of college lecturers and professors organised a protest march here today against the proposed move of the management of Khalsa College, Amrtisar, to convert the college into a private university.

The protest march was organised by the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union (PCCTU) and was joined by the college teachers from across the state.

Addressing the protesters, HS Walia, union state secretary, alleged that the activists who were strongly opposing the move had been implicated in false cases.

He reiterated that the struggle under the banner of PCCTU would be intensified across the state if the FIR registered in false cases were not cancelled.

The protesters rued that the move to convert a prestigious institution of historic importance into a private university has come at a time when both the central and state governments are boasting of their various education promoting policies, including the Right to Education Act.

“Eagerness to promote culture of private education institutes manifests that the government is not willing to provide affordable education to all the strata of society. Such policies are contradictory to the education promotion schemes,” said Dr Jatinder Virli, secretary, PCCTU, Jalandhar unit.

Amritsar: The new office-bearers of the Khalsa College Teachers Union pledged their support in safeguarding the unique identity of the college.

The office-bearers included Prof SS Rangi, president, Prof JS Arora, vice-president, Prof Daljit Singh, secretary, Prof Randhir Singh, joint secretary and Prof Mohammad Arshad, finance secretary.

The members also expressed their gratitude towards those who extended their unconditional support to the college cause.

Jalandhar, April 9
Even though the public at large is in a jubilant mood across the country with Anna Hazare’s crusade against corruption winning the ‘first round’ against the government, several 
social activists especially women expressed resentment over the non-inclusion of women in the 10-member joint committee to draft an effective Lokpal Bill.

Talking to The Tribune, a former captain of Indian woman hockey team, Rajbir Kaur, said women should have been included in the 10-member Lokpal Bill drafting committee but neither the UPA government nor Anna Hazare’s NGO ‘India Against Corruption’ thought of doing that.

Currently a selector of Hockey India (both for boys and girls teams), Rajbir Kaur said women activists, including former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, actively participated in the movement to force the government to take equal representatives from the civil society in the committee for drafting the Lokpal Bill.

The committee should be reconstituted with at least two women members in it, she demanded.

Echoing her statement, Commonwealth and Asian Games medallist Manjeet Kaur said there should have been one woman each from the sides of the government and civil society.

Similarly, KMV College Principal Dr Atima Sharma says Mahatma Gandhi always took women along with him during the freedom struggle. Women should have been given proper representation after due consideration in the Lokpal Bill drafting committee.

“Half of the total population should not have been ignored while deciding representatives in the committee that too when a number of women had also sat on fast unto death along with Hazare,” she added.

Expressing her dismay over, local social activist Kajel Chopra said participation of women in the nationwide agitation should have been kept in mind while deciding representatives in the committee.

The committee comprises five members from the civil society including Hazare, its co-chairman Shanti Bhushan, eminent lawyer Prashant Bhushan, retired SC Judge Santosh Hegde, RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal whereas the government representatives are five ministers. They are Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee (as committee chairman), Law Minister Veerappa Moily, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Home Minister P Chidambaram.

Hoshiarpur, April 9
Three separate cases of murder have been reported in the district. According to SP (D) Randhir Singh Uppal, a partially burnt body of a person, who was later identified as Balwant Singh of Dhariwal, Jalandhar, was found in a field at Khardehra village.

It was suspected that after murdering Balwant Singh, someone had dumped his body in the field. A missing report of Balwant Singh had already been got registered at Nakodar police station.

In another incident, the body of an unidentified youth was found packed in a gunny bag near a canal bridge at Khanaura village. Marks of strangulation had been found on the neck of the body. After getting conducted its postmortem, the Mehtiana police had kept it at the local Civil Hospital for identification.

In the third incident, a housewife, Daljit Kaur (36), wife of Lakhbir Singh of Dholbaha road, Hariana, was found murdered at her house. Her husband and children were away from the house when she was murdered. Marks of injuries were found on her body.