Bathinda, April 3
The computer teachers working in all government schools would be responsible for locating the hardware that has been missing from computer labs, state the orders of Director General of School Education (DGSE)-cum-state coordinator Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA), passed recently.

Of late, the computer labs have been bereft of their valuable hardware parts that were taken for repairs but never returned. In the written communiqué issued to district education officers all over the state, the DGSE has raised the issue of HCL and GCL engineers taking away hardware for repairs and not returning the same.

The computer teachers have been directed not to give any hardware for repairs without getting an undertaking that includes details of hardware given for repairs, name and designation of visiting engineers and other important details. All computer teachers will have to send these details to their respective ICT coordinators every Tuesday through e-mails.

The same procedure is to be followed for carrying out even those repairs that are to be conducted in the school labs itself.

Even the district ICT coordinators and project coordinators have been directed to remain extra cautious over the issue. It has also been pointed out that computer teachers do not lodge report of faulty computers and even if the complaint is lodged, it is done well past the stipulated time period.

All the coordinators have been directed to conduct a meeting of all the vendors and take stock of hardware that had gone for repairs. “Though the meetings are mandatory, hardly any coordinator follows it religiously,” the DGSE pointed out.

“The DGSE office is trying to plug the gaping holes in computer education. The impetus is only on increasing number of computers and no one is talking about upgrading the old ones,” pointed out the computer teachers.

Computers were installed in government school in three phases, starting 2006. The hardware installed in 2006 has become obsolete and does not have any anti-virus system. “We have repeatedly brought this to the notice of DGSE office, but nothing has been done. In the absence of anti-virus, at times, systems become redundant,” the teachers pointed out.

Bathinda, April 3
In response to the Rail Roko call given by the BJP Kisan Morcha, farmers of Bathinda, under the banner of the District BJP Bathinda (Rural) staged a protest today and squatted on the railway tracks at Kotfatta railway station for about two hours in the afternoon in support of their several demands.

The agitation, however, did not make much impact on the movement of the trains passing through Bathinda, sources in the railway said.

The stir, that started at around 11 am, lasted for nearly two hours. Holding placards, the farmers raised anti-Congress slogans.

President of the District BJP (Rural), Dayal Sodhi, criticised Congress for its alleged anti-farmers policies.

Sodhi said the demands of the farmers, included immediate implementation of the report of the Dr Swaminathan Commission, separate budget for agriculture in the line of railway, bonus of Rs 500 per quintal on wheat and making Minimum Support Price (MSP) of the crop Rs 1,800.

Explaining the reason behind the demand for the bonus on wheat, Dayal said a meeting held in Jaipur had concluded that the production cost of a quintal of wheat was Rs 1,200.

The BJP Kisan Morcha staged the Rail Roko across the country today.

The movement of the trains touching Bathinda, however, remained almost unaffected, railway sources said, adding that the trains en route to Kotfatta had crossed the station before the agitation began. 

Bathinda, April 3
A special lecture on ‘India’s Federal Political Economy and Punjab’s Development Pattern’ will be organised by the Central University of Punjab at its campus in Bathinda on Wednesday.

The speaker at the event will be Dr Pritam Singh, Associate Professor and Director of the Post Graduate Programme in International Management and International Relations, Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom.

The lecture will be followed by a discussion and interactive session with the resource person by the faculty and the students.

The lecture and the ensuing discussion aim at bringing key areas of the federal political economy as it is viewed today.

The lecture will also focus on Punjab’s current development scenario, while simultaneously contemplating the complications and issues that need to be strategically addressed by academic community, media and all others concerned.

The lecture is also open to the general public.

Bathinda, April 3
As the HIV positive patients are more prone to “opportunistic infections”, like tuberculosis (TB), the TB test of all HIV patients and the HIV test of all TB patients are mandatory.

Keeping this in view, the doctors treating HIV patients send them for conducting a test for tuberculosis, while the doctors treating TB pateints send every new sputum positive patient for an HIV test.

The integrated counselling and testing centres (ICTCs), set up in the district, motivate the HIV patients for going in for a TB test (sputum test) and vise-versa as some symptoms of both the diseases are almost similar.

According to the official information, during the last quarter (October to December 2011), out of the 215 new sputum positive cases from the district, five were tested positive for HIV while out of the 58 HIV positive patients, tested for TB, two were found suffering from TB.

The member secretary of the District HIV, TB Coordination Committee, Dr Raghubir Singh Randhawa, who is also the District Health Officer (DHO), told this reporter today that the coordination committee had held a meeting recently.

He said the meeting was held after every three months to review the 
situation and sensitise the people about the same.

He further added that the coordination committee also ensured that the HIV patients did not suffer from opportunistic infections, like TB, and the doctors, treating HIV and TB patients, continued to coordinate with each other.

At a recently-held meeting, the coordination committee emphasised creating awareness among the HIV and TB patients. Besides, it also stressed upon the need of coordination between the HIV and the TB authorities in a proper manner so that the patients could get due attention.

It has been learnt that the coordination committee has also decided to involve the local unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in the coordination committee.

Bathinda, April 3
A Veer Nari meet was conducted at the Bathinda Military Station today as a mark of respect to martyrs’ widows residing in Bathinda and Mansa districts.

In a press statement released here today, the army spokesperson stated that during the Veer Nari meet, the Regional President of AWWA (Army Wives Welfare Association), Chetak Corps, Annie Anand, interacted with all the women and addressed various problems they were facing.

She apprised them of the ECHS (Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme) offering a medical cover to its members and about Chetak Sahara Yojna, which has been launched to empower wives of ex-servicemen and widows so as to provide avenues to work with dignity. She also apprised them of various projects being undertaken by the Government of Punjab and assured them of conveying their problems and grievances to all the authorities concerned.

She said Indian Army had always been at the forefront in caring for its retired soldiers and especially the widows and families of its brave soldiers who had sacrificed their lives for upholding the honour of the country in various wars since independence.

“The Indian Army considers this responsibility as a sacred duty and makes every effort to provide solace and assistance to these brave war widows referred to as Veer Nari with great pride and affection,” she said.

The event concluded with the felicitation and honouring of all women invitees. Such efforts will further reinforce the trust in the Indian army, which their husbands had served with great valour and pride.

Bathinda, April 3
In its endeavour to offer “good employment opportunities” not only to its own students but also to those who are studying elsewhere, the Baba Farid Group of Institutions is organising a mega job fair at its campus on April 7.

As per the information received from the college, as many as 40 companies would be present at the job fair to recruit students with various profiles.

The companies, representatives of which would be present to grill the candidates at the job fair, include the business and technology consulting, IT services and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) giant Wipro, one of the India's leading automobile manufacturing company JCBL, data mining and business analytics solutions providing company IDBI Intech, retail giant Walmart Corporate, leading real estate firm Ansal API and insurance firm Bajaj Allianz.

Other big companies that would make their presence felt at the fair include, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Café Coffee Day, Bonn, Manpower, Tech Mahindra, Future Group, HDFC Bank, Shriram Fortune, Kotak, Reliance, FirstSource, Sinesoft, HBN, Indiamart, Godrej and Hero Electric among many others.

Talking about the job fair, assistant director of BFGI's Department of Training and Placement, Gaurav Garg, said, "The job fair is aimed at bringing various companies on a platform to hire freshers and the candidates. The job fair promises to offer a large number of jobs, under different profiles, to suit the expectations of the candidates."

The job fair is open to the final year students of B.Tech (CSE, IT, automobile, mechanical, civil, electrical, site engineering), business administration (BBA, MBA), fashion technology (BFT, MFT), food technology, marketing, commerce (BCom, MCom), pharmacy (B. Pharma, D. Pharma), computer applications (BCA, MCA), journalism, mass communication and many other streams and courses.

The candidates are expected to register for the job fair at the on-the-spot registration desks. "We prefer the on-the-spot registrations over the online registrations to avoid the feel good factor. The on-the-spot registrations will give the real number of aspirants present at the fair," said Garg.

The job fair is also expected to be thronged by aspirants from not only the entire state but also Delhi and the NCR apart from adjoining states like Himachal Pradesh.

Managing the huge rush of candidates would not be a concern, says Garg. "Unlike other job fairs, we assign separate rooms to companies and inform the candidates about the company profiles and the rooms where they are sitting. This avoids unwanted confusion between the candidates and the companies," said Garg. 

Bathinda, April 3
In the incident that took place near the refinery at village Phulokhari, Gurmeet Singh from village Gurthadi was going on a motorcycle with his wife Sarabjit Kaur and maternal aunt Harbans Kaur. When Gurmeet reached near the refinery, a white Ford Fiesta (HR 54 0302) coming from the refinery side hit the motorcycle. Due to the impact of the collision, the occupants of two-wheeler were thrown away.

While the complainant and his wife Sarabjeet sustained serious injuries, his aunt Harbans Kaur succumbed to her injuries during treatment at a local hospital. The Raman police have registered a case against the unknown driver of the vehicle.

In another incident, a bus of Hemkunt Bus Services (PB 03 6751), knocked down one Som Dutt from village Sawaich Kamalu.