Amritsar, March 10
Out of the 100 examinatioon centres in the state notorious for the menace of copying, 36 such centres have been identified in the border district. Following a report of the Unfair Means Branch of the board, notorious centres, where copying cases had occurred repeatedly, have been identified. Despite the decision of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) to install CCTV cameras at the examination centres notorious for rampant cases of copying, it is unlikely to procure the order before the beginning of Class XII examinations on March 12.

PSEB secretary Dr Balwinder Singh, who was here today to assess the arrangements to conduct the finals of Class XII examinations, did not confirm the installation of these surveillance apparatus for the examinations this time.

He said directions had been issued to the Controller of Examinations to install the same. He said the entire apparatus to be installed at the sensitive centres recognised in the state will cost Rs 15 lakh which will be borne by the CBSE. Principals of many schools and officials of the education board, on the condition of anonymity, said it was not possible to install the cameras at the centres by the tie the examinations are held this time.

District Education Officer (Secondary) Sukhwinder Singh said neither the schools have funds, or the time to install the cameras in the schools.

Initially, the PSEB had decided to install CCTV cameras in all examination centres but later confined the list to sensitive centres, a majority of them fall in the border area. Educationists have been seeking strict measures to stem the rot of copying especially in the remote areas of the district.

The PSEB secretary said as many as 100 sensitive examination centres across the state, including 36 in the border district, have been identified to focus on curbing the menace of copying.

The board has set up 3,040 centres, including 288 in Amritsar, across the state to conduct the examinations for 3.50 lakh students. Similarly, he said, 3.78 lakh students will sit in the matriculation examinations, which will begin from March 20.

He said a four-layered surveillance will be put in place at the sensitive examination centres in the future by way of centre superintendents, observers, flying squads and CCTV cameras. He said the District Education Officer, Amritsar, has also been asked to submit the names of senior lecturers to be appointed as superintendents and deputy superintendents. He said the PSEB will select anyone out of that pool for examination duty. Besides, he said, observers will keep changing and they will have to give a secret daily report of the examination proceedings to the board.

Amritsar, March 10
Signboards of various sizes are being installed at various locations to guide tourists in the holy city that attracts thousands of tourists from all over the country and abroad.

Road signboards have been installed at majority of the gates of the walled city as well as prominent places on the road leading to the Golden Temple and Jallianwala Bagh. The Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board is all set to offer more facilities to the tourists and the locals to provide easy access to the places of historical importance.

The Board is all set to construct a multi-storey parking at Machi market near Hall Gate.

As many as four hoardings informing about the heritage and Panj Sarovar walks will be installed at the prominent places in city like the Golden Temple, airport, railway station and the bus terminus.

It also plans to release literature in the form of leaflets and pamphlets for tourists, besides putting up big hoardings to publicise the Heritage Walk and the Panj Sarovar Walk. The literature will be available at city hotels.

The Heritage Walk, launched on September 27, and the Panj Sarovar Walk, launched on December 14, could not find favour among tourists and locals due to lack of a publicity campaign.

Local officials of the board rued that the flex boards installed to promote the walk had disappeared within days.

They said the work on construction of pavement at Chaurasti Attari Chowk had begun while water tubewell at Taksal Chowk has been shifted. Electricity transformer at Chowk Attari is likely to be shifted to Katra Mohar Singh. They hoped that all these measures will remove bottlenecks in the smooth conduct of the walk. 

Amritsar, March 10
Yoga teacher Satatma Kaur, a baptized Sikh from Holland, started taking yoga classes for the students of Citizens’ Forum Vidya Mandir, a school for children of drug addicts yesterday.

Of the total of 656 students, she will impart training in yoga to the students from Classes IV to XII. She will take classes for six weeks during her stay in the holy city. She visited the school for the second time yesterday and donated money for charity. Earlier, she had visited the school in 2010. She said she was here on a pilgrimage and want to give something to the people. “Now, I am returning what I learnt so passionately and intensely in my life,” she said.

Earlier, the Citizens’ Forum School hogged the limelight when all the students of its free coaching centre cleared the Joint Entrance Test.

The school is being run in Maqboolpura, an area notorious for drug addiction. The area lost many of its young boys to the menace of drugs which was highlighted in the columns of this newspaper.

Amritsar, March 10
Celebrating International Women’s day, the district health department organised a function at Virsa Vihar today to honour women health employees today. Civil Surgeon Dr Manjit Singh Randhawa said 25 doctors, Auxiliary Nursing Midwives and other employees were honoured at the function. The department also honoured Satnam Kaur, who made headlines for refusing to abort her child against her husband’s wish.

Dr Randhawa said women employees of the department are the backbone of the health services in the country.

“The women have really done exceptionally good work in the department over the past one year,” he said. He said women like Satnam Kaur are a role model for the entire region.

Dr Meenakshi, posted at Manawala, who got the honour for conducting maximum number of deliveries in the rural areas said, “The honour by the department encourages one to work harder in the future.” She said all women achievers are elated over the department’s humble gesture.

Dr Jasmine Nanda said times have changed for the better and women are proving their worth in every sphere of life. She said crime against women should be dealt with seriously to instill a sense of security among women.

Civil Hospital, SMO, Dr Balbir Singh Dhillon, and the Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Kuldeep Singh Ghai were also present.

Amritsar, March 10
The two-day second national conference on ‘Changing dimensions of business: Issues, challenges and opportunities for the corporate World’ was inaugurated at the Global Institute of Management today.

Organised in collaboration with the Global Network of Business Researchers, conference director Prof BD Sharma said the aim of the conference was to facilitate an interface between the society, business leaders, academia and pioneer entrepreneurs on the various issues related to the changing dimensions of business in India. Business environment is being affected by hydra-headed changes in trade relationship, government policies, modes of financing, business management styles, demand of masses, income level of consumers and others, he said.

Dr BP Singh, former head and Dean of the Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, was the keynote speaker. Dr Raghbir Singh, Professor, the Department of Commerce and Business Management, GNDU, was the guest of honour.

Amritsar, March 10
A media sensitisation seminar was organised by the district tuberculosis hospital, in association with Axshaya project run by the Voluntary Health Organisation of India today. In the seminar, experts educated media persons and members of the NGO about the causes and cure of TB.

District TB Officer, Dr Naresh Chawla, said people must get them self checked at the hospital if cough persists longer than two weeks. He said the tests are conducted at the TB hospital.

Resource person of the seminar, Sumit Arora, educated the people about the causes of TB. He said a healthy life style is the key to a TB-free life. Axashya project coordinator Rajeev Chaudhary said a tele-film about the various initiatives taken under the project Axshaya to control TB in the country.

Dr Chawla said in the current year, so far 750 new cases of TB have been diagnosed under the Revised National TB Control Programme. Last year a total of 3,986 patients were given treatment under the programme, Chawla informed.

Amritsar, March 10
Against the popular perception that gatka, a form of Sikh martial art, is popular among the rural population as well as the not well educated baptised Sikh children, few urban, highly-qualified, even youngsters who are not baptised and more and more girls are taking up the game.

At the state-level women open gatka competition being organised at Central Khalsa Orphanage, at least two of the young women participants are pursuing their PhDs and another two, including an engineering student are post graduation students. Even boys pursuing their PhDs and post graduation degrees are pursuing the game.

A student of post graduation at Punjabi University, Patiala, Navdeep Kaur said, “Gatka is no more a game played by the Sikhs only. It has universal appeal. We have a Muslim girl in our class who is learning the art.” She said she is not baptised and is alike every other university girl student in her interests. But she is inter-university gold medallist in the discipline of gatka.

Pursuing PhD at Guru Nanak Dev University Kuljeet Kaur said, “More and more girls are inclined towards this martial art. In Mai Bagho Gatka Akhara, there are 25 students. The city has a dozen of these akharas.” She said gatka should be learned by the girls to defend themselves on the streets.

An M. Tech student Harpinder Kaur said, “When you go to learn gatka you are first taught defence strategies and that is very important of a girl. Besides it is not only a physical game. You have to be stronger in your mind.”

Inter college gold medallist Gatkebaaz, Baljinder Singh, a Ph D scholar said, “It is good that girls are learning this art. This will help revive the art which evolved around 400 years ago.”

One of the first gatka instructors employed by the state government at Punjabi University, Patiala, Avtar Singh said, “Earlier there were no rules and regulations but with the Gatka Federation of India formulating and standardising these in September 2009 and its introduction university sports calendars mass appeal has increased.”

He said against gatka which is displayed at local fairs, the martial art is now more scientific, systematic and organised. The School Games Federation of India (SGFI) had also incorporated gatka in the 56th National School Games calendar 2011-2012.

Amritsar gatka association president Sarabjit Singh said, “The game has evolved from a game of brawn to a game of skill and strategy. With its new appearance where Gatkabaaz play wearing track suits and trousers, it is likely to become another of India’s very own martial art as well as a national sport.”