Bathinda, January 19
The Dental Council of India (DCI) has tightened its noose around the dental colleges being opened across the country. For the last four years, the number of dental institutes being opened in the country has come down and there are mere 10 to 15 new institutes in the pipeline.

The vice-president of the DCI and principal director of Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences, Dr Mahesh Verma said this while talking to TNS today.

He was the chief guest at a lecture on the need for transformational leadership in medical and dental education, held at Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (AIMSR) here.

At present, on an average, there was one dentist against 11,500 persons in India, he said. There are 289 dental institutions in the country. Out of these, 40 were set up in government sector.

He quoted a DCI report while revealing startling statistics of dental colleges that have been penalised with reduction in the number of seats. "In 2006-07, 17 dental colleges were penalised and number of seats were reduced by 1130 while in 2007- 08, 20 colleges were penalised and the number of seats reduced was 860. Similarly, in the year 2008-09, as many as 18 colleges were fined with reduction of 790 seats and in 2010, the number of colleges penalised rose to 28 and as many as 1,780 seats were reduced," he said while detailing about the continuous efforts of the DCI to check the mushrooming of dental institutes.

Quoting the 12th five-year plan (2012 to 2017), Dr Verma said the Medical Council of India (MCI) plans to increase the number of MBBS seats from 37,000 to 63,000 and the number of post-graduate seats from 20,000 to 31,000. "In order to meet the demands of the burgeoning population, the MCI plans to increase the number of seats. Similarly, the DCI will also have to plan to meet the increasing demand for oral healthcare," he said, adding that currently, around one lakh dentists were registered with the DCI.

Bathinda, January 19
Private dental colleges do not have enough number of patients for clinical practices, which hampers the standard of dentistry education in the country, said the vice-president, Dental Council of India (DCI), Dr Mahesh Verma while delivering a talk at the Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (AIMSR) today.

Dr Verma was speaking on the relevance of transformational leadership in dental education and medical education. In his presentation delivered today, Dr Verma, who is also the Director-Principal, Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences, New Delhi, emphasized upon the need for quality education and discouraged the use of malpractices. He observed that as the competition is increasing day-by-day, many colleges are enrolling less meritorious students, which has led to degrees being procured and not earned. "Unfortunately, the policing of standards maintained in institutes are impossible due to practical reasons," he said.

Dr Verma highlighted the need to have infection control environment in dental institutes and complete follow up of the Bio Medical Waste Act, 1997. He added that while the government institutes lack autonomy, the private ones are fortunate to have it. "But in certain private colleges, autonomy turns into autocratic rule. Private institutes should refrain from inter-college poaching of faculty," he said.

He added that the immediate need for transformational leadership is to enhance the morale and performance of students and develop a formidable work force in dental and medical fields. "This could be achieved with a vision that includes establishing a sense of purpose, eliminating false sense of security, setting standards of achievement, feedback, removing barriers to action, incentives, negating organizational politics and idea sharing etc," he said.

He said India was witnessing a reverse brain drain in which multitudes seeking education abroad were reducing and instead, a revolution in the trend was being witnessed with foreign students choosing India as an education destination.

Among those present on the occasion were president, Punjab Dental Council Dr Vimal Sikri, president, Adesh Foundation Dr HS Gill, Dean, Colleges, AIMSR, Bathinda, Dr GPI Singh, principal, AIDSR, Bathinda, and Dr R Padmanabhan, besides others.

Bathinda, January 19
Thursday proved to be the coldest day of this winter in Bathinda and its adjoining areas as maximum temperature recorded 10 degrees Celsius, the lowest maximum temperature so far of the season.

The previous lowest maximum temperature in the city was recorded on January 6 when region registered 11.4 degrees Celsius mark in the afternoon.

Residents tryst with the harsh weather conditions continued as fog staged a strong comeback throwing the normal life out of gear in the region causing almost nil visibility.

Moreover, the mercury that has been hovering over 7 degrees Celsius for the last couple of days plummeted to settle at 2.6 degrees Celsius, as per the agri-met department of the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) regional station, Bathinda.

Besides, the sun which has been playing truant for the last several days found playing hide-and-seek following giving its first glimpse after many days around 11 am today.

Later in the evening, fog started to develop in several parts of the area making visibility next to nil.

The prevailing weather conditions are not conducive for growth of the vegetables, including potatoes.

Director of the PAU regional station Bathinda, Dr VP Mittal, while talking to Bathinda Tribune on Thursday evening, said lack of sunlight disrupts the process of photosynthesis causing retarded growth of vegetable crops.

Dr Mittal said if the prevailing conditions continue, vegetable farmers may be recommended to go for light irrigation following experts' advice.

Bathinda, January 19
Foggy weather and the chill fail to prevent candidates from doing door-to-door campaigning.

Leaders of various political parties are seen campaigning in various residential areas of the city. While dip in the temperature forces people to remain indoors, the candidates are out visiting city residents, right at their doorstep.

Supporters of the Congress candidate Harminder Singh Jassi were seen knocking the doors of the residents in the morning while his opponent, the SAD candidate Sarup Chand Singla, visited the electorate in the evening.

The lower-rung party workers arrange meeting in a house where residents of a particular locality gather and listen to the candidate.

"I am not a staunch supporter of the SAD, but a close relative told me to be present at her house in the Model Town Phase-III today evening. I was told to bring at least two or three persons along," said Palwinder Kaur.

She said the SAD candidate arrived at around 6.30 pm and addressed those gathered in a house and got assurance that they would support him.

Political observers said that the SAD candidate Sarup Chand Singla had started the door-to-door campaign a bit early and thus far, he had covered most of the residential areas and got promises of support from the people.

Harminder Jassi too is campaigning and has been organising meetings with his party workers in the city to garner support.

Though door-to-door campaign begins at the fag end of the elections but since there was a fall in the temperature, the leaders were unable to gather people in the open areas by organising big rallies.

"So, they decided to get in touch with the people by going door to door. They urge the gathering to remain in touch with them and give them their support by casting their votes in their party candidate's favour", said Tejinder Kaur, a private schoolteacher.

Bathinda, January 19
In its bid to contribute in the global efforts towards reducing the harmful emission under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the National Fertilizers Limited (NFL) is changing its way of production of urea from fuel oil to natural gas at its unit in Bathinda, said Dinesh Ghai while answering a question posed by the locals at the CDM stakeholders consultation-taken meeting organised at the NFL guest house in Bathinda today.

The meeting was held to make the people, residing around the NFL Bathinda, aware about the benefits of the CDM project being carried out by the NFL and also to know the viewpoints of the stakeholders about the project.

Ghai, senior consultant at the Deloitte which is the consultant company of the NFL for the CDM project, was the key speaker on the occasion.

"The CDM is to reduce the harmful emission in the environment," Ghai explained through the power point presentation, adding that natural gas was comparatively lower carbon intensive fuel and generates lower CO2 for similar production of urea.

The NFL Bathinda is going to switch from fuel oil to natural gas for producing urea and the work under the Ammonia Feedstock Changeover Project - in common parlance termed as gas-based production, under the CDM project is going on in full swing.

It may be mentioned here that ammonia feedstock changeover project was undertaken due to high energy consumption with the existing feedstock.

And after the completion of the project, there would be considerable reduction in energy consumption, cost of production and ash generation.

After addressing the gathering, Ghai also answered the queries of the participants who wanted to know how the switchover is going to be beneficial for the residents and the environment.

The participants included banker, educationists, member of pollution control board, representative from district administration, NFL officials and others.

Sarpanch village Sivian Gurjant Singh, sarpanch village Gilpati Jagtar Singh and others were also participated in the meeting.

The NFL officials, including executive director KB Verma, VK Gogia, SC Singla, KK Goyal, RK Chopra, Vikram Rawat, union members, officials and others were also present during the proceeding.

Bathinda, January 19
The Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and Congress candidates from Rampura are fighting a different battle ahead of the Vidhan Sabha elections. They are filing a large number of complaints against each other and so far, as many as 60 complaints have been received from the Rampura constituency in the last just 24 days.

Officials on the election duty said they were quite upset over the complaints as most of them were frivolous. "Yesterday, we received 12 complaints from Rampura and every other day we get five to six complaints," said an official on election duty.

The contents, way of writing, mistakes and the language used in the complaints are almost similar.

"We are getting complaints from all the constituencies but the highest number of complaints come from Rampura constituency. Most of these complaints are frivolous and it seems that the complainants are doing this just for the heck of writing complaints," said a senior official on election duty.

Sharing the contents of the complaint, he said while one candidate files complaint against gram sewak and booth-level officers the other lodges complaints against the security guards of his rival, policemen, station house officers and the Senior Superintendent of Police.

The election official said that 90 per cent of these complaints were found 
to be frivolous and they could not initiate any action regarding these complaints.

"It seems that the candidates have hired people to lodge complaints against each other. Most of these complaints are lodged against policemen," said a low-rung official, who has been deployed on election duty at Bathinda.

He said they do not take the complaints lightly as a copy was marked to the Chief Electoral Officer of Punjab, Kusumjit Sidhu, and also registered on the website of Election Commission of India.

The candidates are also filing complaint against junior government servants, including forest ranger, forest guard and teachers.

Bathinda, January 19
Resentment prevails among the workers of the local Milk Plant against the authorities of the Milkfed, Punjab, as the authorities have reportedly "failed" to accept and implement their demands so far.

Today, on the call of the Milk Plants Employees Confederation, Punjab, the workers of the local Milk Plant held a gate rally here to put pressure on the authorities concerned so that their demands are accepted at the earliest.

In a press note issued here today, president of the Milk Plant Workers Union, Amarjit Singh said the managing director (MD) of the Milkfed had not released the first installment of the arrears of the revised pay-scales so far though it had been promised to the union leaders during a meeting, held on October 14, 2010, that the first installment of the arrears would be released by December 31 last.The speakers, while addressing the rally, warned the Milkfed authorities that in case their demands were not met by January 31 by convening a meeting of the confederation, then the confederation would be compelled to stage a state-level dharna in front of the head office of the Milkfed.

Among others who addressed the rally included president Amarjit Singh, vice-president Mohan Lal Verma, secretary BK Mittal and Jagraj Singh. — TNS

Bathinda, January 19
Under the 'Voter Awareness Campaign' a local NGO, Bathinda Vikas Manch, in assistance with local Yog Sewa Samiti, organised voter awareness programmes on the Power House Road and Shiv Mandir Street here.

President of the Manch, Rakesh Narula, asked the gathering to exercise their right to franchise as it provided the people an opportunity to form a government of their choice. He also asked the people that they should know the power of their vote and should not exercise their right to franchise under any pressure. Narula also administered a pledge to the people that they would cast their votes in the elections.

Radhey Shayam Bansal of Yog Sewa Samiti along with others visited several houses on Power House Road and the Shiv Mandir Street, and distributed printed material under the voter awareness campaign. They also inspired the people to cast their votes. — TNS

Bathinda, January 19
National Youth Week, being celebrated from January 12 to 19 in memory of Swami Vivekanand, culminated today. Nehru Yuva Kendra, Bathinda, organized a function on the concluding day.

In the past one week, the members of various youth clubs observed Peace Day, Sports Day, Cultural Day, Sadbhavna Diwas and exhibition. The coordinator, Jagjit Singh Mann, honoured the winners of various competitions.

Speaking on the occasion, Mann said that youngsters should learn lessons from the life of Swami Vivekananda and should always be ready to help the needy and downtrodden.

District Project Officer Sukhwinder Singh Sukha informed the youngsters about the life of Swami Vivekananda and the way he stood for the education of the youth.

He also encouraged the youth clubs to combat drug menace in villages and start a campaign. Among those present were Manmohan Lal, Gurjant Singh Jeond, Manpreet Singh, Paramjit Kaur, Rani Kaur, Lakhvir Singh Nathana, Sukhpal Singh and Harpreet Singh Manchi Kalan, besides others. — TNS

Bathinda, January 19
Under the voter awareness campaign started in the district, competitions were held at the Punjabi University Guru Kashi College, Talwandi Sabo.

Poster making, slogan writing, debate and declamation contests were held today.

Apart from the host college, teams from Mata Sahib Kaur Girls College, GGS College of Education, Government Senior Secondary School, Talwandi Sabo, Sri Dasmesh Senior Secondary School, Khalsa Senior Secondary School and Tagore Public School participated in the event.

The district administration had appointed Kumar Amit as the nodal officer. He spoke to the students about the aspirations of the Election Commission, targeted at cent per cent voting.

He said it is people’s right to exercise their right to franchise in the January 30 elections.

He urged the students to tell their family members about the right to vote and its significance.

The Bathinda project coordinator of the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration (MGSIPA) Mandeep Singh too addressed the students on the occasion.

Mandeep Singh, in his speech, said that casting vote on January 30 should be a priority for every voter.

Assistant professor, economics, Dr Baldev Singh said that students are the future of the nation and they should be apprised of their right to vote.

Principal NP Singh welcomed the guests. Kumar Amit honored the winners.

Bathinda, January 19
The students of class X of the Baba Farid Public Senior Secondary School have secured 100 per cent result with first division in the first examination conducted by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) recently.

Simran Sharma, Simarjot Kaur and Ravinderjit Singh scored 93.08 per cent, 91.54 per cent and 91.15 per cent marks, respectively.

Forty-eight students scored above 70 per cent and rest of the students got above 60 per cent.

Bathinda, January 19
The static surveillance team, constituted for surveillance of the assembly elections, today seized Rs 4,38,500 from near Kamalu Jajjal village in the district.

Though the money was handed over to the officials of the income tax, it was later found that the money belongs to a farmer who was going to purchase a tractor. The farmer has been identified as Bahadur Ram, a resident of Sirsa.

The farmer later informed the team members that he had withdrawn the money from a bank to make the purchase.

The officials said that the money is likely to be handed over to the farmer after the farmer produces the bank documents concerned and other papers.