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Governing council firm on private varsity idea
Tribune Impact |
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Record low wheat arrival in mandis
Jalandhar, April 16 In what may be seen as an impact of the prevailing freak weather conditions across the region, Punjab mandis have witnessed an unprecedented around 20 times dip in arrival of wheat this time.
Bonus a cruel joke: Lakhowal
Hanspal should resign on moral grounds: Manpreet
Students of 20,000
non-affiliated schools can appear as regular candidates
Ferozeshah war museum battles neglect
‘Govt ignoring polluted rivers’
Rs 3 cr distributed from ‘cash-strapped’ exchequer
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Governing council firm on private varsity idea
Talking to The Tribune, governing council honorary secretary Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina said they were determined on getting a go-ahead from the state government for their private university proposal. “We have not put the university issue on the backburner, as is being projected by a section of the media,” he said. However, the council seems to have softened its approach, with Chhina hinting that they may set up the university in a building other than that of the Khalsa College. “Ever since the university issue has come up, we have been hearing people as to how their sentiments are attached with the Khalsa College building. We have various buildings and if need be, we can opt for some other building to establish the university.” Asked further about the idea, he said it was just a possibility and that too if needed. The approach of the college management had mellowed down yesterday itself when the management committee, for the first time, resolved to build a consensus among the Sikh community over the conversion of the iconic college into a private university. Notably, the people opposing the private university proposal have time and again said they would have no objection to it if it was set up at a place other than the historic college.
PCCTU: Teachers’ suspension illegal
PCCTU general secretary HS Walia has alleged that all the norms were thrown to the wind while ordering suspension of three college teachers on Friday. He said the suspension orders were served on the teachers despite a vast majority of the management committee members not supporting the move. He reiterated they would boycott evaluation work of the GNDU from Monday while the next course of action will be decided at the PCCTU office-bearers’ meeting in Chandigarh on April 19. College land ‘donors’ contemplate action In a related development, the residents of Kot Khalsa village, who claimed to have donated their land for setting up the college, have announced they would hold a conference in Amritsar on April 24 to mould the public opinion against the proposal. They said they would soon file a PIL in the high court against the move and would not rest till the government withdraws the Letter of Intent issued in this regard.
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Tribune Impact
Barnala, April 16 A team of officials from the administration, Health Department and the police, headed by tehsildar-cum-duty magistrate Rajesh Verma freed Malkeet yesterday. The Tribune had carried the news item “He has been living in a dingy room for 20 years” on April 13.
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Record low wheat arrival in mandis
A combination of cloudy weather, mild hailstorm, and gusty winds, which swept entire Punjab on Friday night and Saturday evening, instilled a fear psychosis among farmers, though no major damage has been reported to the crop so far. "No damage to wheat has been reported from any of the mandis. There are no reports of any discolouration either," said DS Grewal, Punjab Food and Civil Supplies secretary. Farm expert Naresh Gulati said lodging would cause discolouration of grains only in case wheat crop gained excess moisture. "It will force farmers to resort to manual harvesting of the crop in lodging affected patches. Farmers should harvest their crops only after grains turn dry," he said. The sudden and unexpected decline in the arrival of wheat could be gauged from the fact that just around 2.02 lakh metric tonne of the crop had landed in Punjab mandis till Friday evening as compared to a whopping 40.26 lakh metric tonne on the same day last year. The Punjab Food and Civil Supplies department authorities are worried that the delay in the onset of arrival by about a fortnight could make things difficult for them as they would be left with lesser time to lift the crop from markets. Officially, the wheat procurement season started from April 1 and would last till June 30. But procurement usually gets over by May 15 due to sudden glut-like rush of grains in mandis during this period. Punjab was expecting arrival of around 110 lakh metric tonne of wheat in mandis this time. The Food and Civil Supplies' statistics revealed that Punsup had topped the list of government procurement agencies by procuring 56,827 metric tonne by Friday evening. It was followed by Punjab Markfed (46,716 MT), Punjab Agro (38,205 MT), FCI (20,606 MT), Pungrain (20,474 MT) and Punjab Warehousing Corporation (17,599 MT).
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Bonus a cruel joke: Lakhowal
Lakhowal, who was on a visit to Chak Bhaktu village of the district to attend a social function today, said that the Centre’s bonus of Rs 50 per quintal was a cruel joke. He said that farmers of the country never wanted bonus on wheat crop. Instead, they had been demanding for the past many decades that the MSP of foodgrains must be linked with the WPI. “Hence, the BKU (Lakhowal) rejects the bonus,” he said. If one took the hike witnessed in the price of inputs into consideration, it would be clear that the Rs 50 bonus was not enough to compensate the farmers. For the first time, the farmers will be asked to fill forms to keep the record of the produce brought by them to the grain markets and purchase centres.
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Relying on rhetoric to reject bonus
Chandigarh, April 16 The government is also unmindful of its own experts who earlier claimed the MSP ensured a 20 to 25 per cent profit to farmers and even a state government sponsored study held a similar view. In fact, economists feel the present method of determining the MSP by detailing cost of all inputs on their wheat and paddy crops, including own labour, is the best available option, with earlier demands of linking it with the whole price index being rejected by a state government committee headed by Dr RS Ghuman of the Punjabi University, Patiala. Dr Ghuman told The Tribune today that according to calculations done by him in league with the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), Ludhaina, as well as the State Farmers Commission, the MSP for wheat and paddy in 2009 was 25 per cent more than the cost of inputs. He said the same trend was continuing ever since. The only catch apparently is the high land lease cost in Punjab. Punjab Mandi Board Chairman Ajmer Singh Lakhowal while highlighting this said the state farmer lost because the MSP was presently being calculated keeping the average land lease at Rs 13,000 per acre. The land lease in Punjab is between Rs 28,000 to Rs 32,000 per acre. Meanwhile, political parties also sung different tunes on the bonus of Rs 50 per quintal on the MSP of wheat announced by the Centre. The Punjab Government as well as the SAD called it a "cruel" joke with the state farmers while the Congress welcomed the move. Terming the bonus as "delayed" and "unjustified", Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal claimed that the non-remunerative MSP coupled with "anti-farmer" policies of the Centre were primarily responsible for the slowdown in agricultural growth. Badal continued to demand that a formula once advocated by renowned scientist Dr MS Swaminathan that the MSP provide a 50 per cent profit over cost of production be implemented. Dr Swaminathan has, however, backtracked on this recommendation. PPCC president Capt Amarinder Singh, meanwhile, welcomed the bonus saying if the CM felt this bonus was less he should announce a similar sum from the state coffers. Compared the MSP increase during the NDA rule, he said it was only Rs 80 per quintal in six years as compared to an increase of Rs 540 per quintal during the same period under the UPA regime.
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Hanspal should resign on moral grounds: Manpreet
Anandpur Sahib, April 16 Manpreet said Hanspal, also a member of the minority commission, was nominated to safeguard the interests of the minorities and not for deceiving them. He condemned the Congress for categorising martyrs in various castes and creeds. “Martyrs belong to the nation and society as a whole. One caste or creed cannot feel proud of them or their valuable contribution towards the country,” he said. Talking about the recruitment drive for his party, Manpreet said the drive had started and members would join the party in April and May. “In June, we will announce the executive body of our party. Besides this, we will have executive bodies of the farmers’ wing, advocates’ wing, youth wing, women wing, ex-servicemen wing and others. Every section of society will find representation in the party,” he said. He said the recent report of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), pointing towards the bad economic health of Punjab, was correct. He said honest and dedicated politicians were needed to pull the state out of the current economic crisis. He denied contesting elections of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee saying he was not a religious leader. “The need is to fight keeping religion and politics separate. Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee only ensures improvement in the management of gurdwaras,” he said.
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Students of 20,000 non-affiliated schools can appear as regular candidates
Mohali, April 16 The decision was taken at a meeting with more than 300 representatives of private schools called by Punjab Education Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan at the PSEB headquarters here. After the implementation of the Right to Education Act, the students enrolled with the non-affiliated schools had been denied permission to appear in the Board examination. As a result, the associations of the affected schools were consistently taking up the issue with the state government. The schools had been given time till 2013 to get themselves affiliated with the government agencies concerned. Sekhwan said all such schools that were earlier termed as academies would now be termed as associate schools and their students would have the option to sit in semester examination as regular students or through the open school system. Prior to the ban on such schools, around 2.5 lakh students used to annually appear in the matriculation and senior secondary school examination as private candidates. After the meeting, the Minister and Punjab School Education Board chairman Dr Dalbir Singh Dhillon said Punjab was the first state to have taken such an initiative for the benefit of hundreds of students. He said different rules and regulations would be framed to associate the private academies with the Board. The regulations would be simple to the extent that they will be acceptable to all type of private institutions. He said that the minimum criteria as per qualification of teachers would be set by the Board so that the academic level of the teachers of associated schools may be brought at par with the affiliated schools. All such measures would be in tune with the spirit of the RTE Act. However, the government is silent on the issue of salaries of the teachers in such schools. As per the decision, the one-time membership fee from each of the school would be Rs 20,000 and the annual continuation fee would be Rs 5,000. ‘Step will ensure revenue to state education board’ Education Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan has said that the decision to regularise schools would have multifaceted results as it not only would end the prolonged controversy over the fate of the students and teachers working in non-affiliated schools but also provide huge revenue to the Board. — Rajay Deep, Bathinda
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Ferozeshah war museum battles neglect
Ferozeshah (Ferozepore), April 16 However, for successive Central and state governments, the museum that commemorates the sacrifices by valiant Sikh soldiers in the Anglo-Sikh wars at Mudki, Ferozeshah, Sobraon and Chellianwala does not deserve any attention for its maintenance and preservation. Two antique cannons have been standing guard on broken wooden wheels at the main entrance. Antique swords and muskets carry a thick layer of dust and rust. Four paintings by renowned artist Kirpal Singh on the Anglo-Sikh War are in an utter state of neglect. Cobwebs are visible in the entire building. The floors are in immediate need of repair. The entire structure needs a fresh coat of paint. The lights, to illuminate the artifacts, are non-functional. Kulbir Singh, a former Deputy Commissioner of Ferozepore, who had made efforts to save the museum in 2006, said that if immediate steps were not taken, various invaluable things would get damaged beyond repair. Bachitter Singh, caretaker, said that all the paintings would be sent to a Panchkula-based expert for their refurbishing. KK Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, said that a grant of Rs 30 lakh had been demanded from the Punjab government for maintenance of the war museum.
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‘Govt ignoring polluted rivers’
Mohali, April 16 Sant Seechewal said repeated appeals made to the PPCB and the state government to check the source of polluting rivers and drains had failed to make any impact. No concrete action was being taken against the polluters.
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Rs 3 cr distributed from ‘cash-strapped’ exchequer
Samrala/Ludhiana, April 16 The sangat darshan at Samrala turned out be a pre-planned show for the distribution of cheques to the panchayats, which were signed on the spot by the CM. Additional funds worth crores would be distributed through cheques at the sangat darshans scheduled to be held at Machchiwara, Narangwal, Khanna and Raikot during the week. Villagers, who had been waiting for development funds for the past four years, were obliged under the name of sangat darshan, a practice to woo voters for the Assembly elections scheduled to be held in 2012. Panchayat members and SAD supporters, knowing about their sanctioned amounts, were in a leisure mood as they were in no hurry to forward their complaints to the Chief Minister. Interestingly, the panchayats led by sarpanches, who are the supporters of the Congress, were not entertained at the event. Amrik Singh Dhillon, former Congress MLA from Samrala, alleged, “The Punjab Chief Minister’s assemblage was restricted to panches and sarpanches who are loyal to SAD(B)." Inderjit Kaur, sarpanch of Kube village, said, “I was not called due to my association with the Congress. Instead, a cheque of Rs 6 lakh was handed over to the panches allied to the SAD(B). "It is wrong to sidestep the sarpanch and hand over the cheque to the panches," said Inderjit.
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Three days after The Tribune highlighted that Malkeet Kalia (45), a mentally ill person, had been forced to live in a room measuring 7x4 feet without a fan or a heating system by members of his family for the past 20 years, the district administration on Friday freed him from his confinement.
Chief of People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) Manpreet Singh Badal said since former chief of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee
(PPCC) HS Hanspal had allegedly bribed the prime witness in the 1984 riots case for delivering a false statement in the court, he should resign on moral grounds.
Cobwebs and a thick layer of dust tell a tale of neglect at the Anglo Sikh War Museum here.Located in a three storey building, near the bank of the Rajasthan feeder and Sirhind feeder canals, 22 km from
Ferozepore, the paintings of battle scenes, array of weapons, cannons and other relics in the museum can make even a layman comprehend the glorious history of the Sikhs.
Amritsar, April 16
Jalandhar, April 16
Bathinda, April 16
