Bathinda, April 27
Resentment prevails among the MGNREGA contract employees over their meagre salaries/ wages and no casual, medical or maternity leave to them.

In the Bathinda district, there are 117 MGNREGA (Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) contract employees.

These include seven assistant programme officers (APOs), 11 computer operators, 89 Gram Rozgar Sewaks, eight technical assistants, one complaint assistant and one accounts manager.

As per information, in Bathinda district the APO gets `12,000 per month, accounts manager `9,000, technical assistant `8,000, complaint assistant `8,000, computer operator `6,000 and the Gram Rozgar Sewak `3,500.

Sources said there was no uniformity in the salaries/ wages of employees in the state as in some districts the deputy commissioners had been paying higher salaries/wages to the MGNREGA contract employees as compared to the Bathinda district.

Due to the meagre salaries/wages in the times of inflation, they said they could hardly make both ends meet amd shoulder their domestic expenses.

The sources also said the monthly wages of the Gram Rozgar Sewaks were just equal to the MGNREGA workers as a MGNREGA worker in Punjab was now getting `166 as wages per day.

Besides, the MGNREGA contract employees’ salaries/wages had not been increased during the past three years though the daily wages of the MGNREGA workers had been increased three or four times so far. Besides, no annual increment had been given to them so far, they added.

When contacted, district president of the MGNREGA Contract Employees Union, Damandeep Singh said in view of their meagre salaries, they wanted the Punjab government to grant them pay scales along the Madhya Pradesh pattern.

In Mahdya Pradesh, the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act contract employees were being given salaries as per the pay scales by bringing them under the Panchayati Raj Department.

The union has also demanded casual leaves, medical leaves and facility of maternity leave at par with the state government employees.

It added that as the contract employees had no casual or medical leave, they were forced to take leave without pay. The union has also demanded promotional channel for the contractual employees.

The employees also said even in Haryana the MGNREGA contract employees were getting more salaries/ wages as compared to them. The APO there was getting more than `21,000 and the Gram Rozgar Sewak `7,000 there.

They also demanded regularisation of their services as they had been working for the past three or more years.

Bathinda, April 27
The number of students, with special needs, is being collected from classes IX to XII for raising disabled friendly infrastructure and providing relief to the affected children in the form of different aids.

Data is being collected under Inclusive Education for the Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS) of the center government run under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan (RMSA) wherein children would be covered under ten different disabilities.

Children from government high schools, senior secondary schools and private-aided schools are covered under this Central Government scheme.

Disabilities covered under it includes blindness, low vision, leprosy cured, hearing impairment, locomotor impairment, mental retardation, mental illness, autism, cerebral palsy and multiple disabilities.

“Most of the times, we have children with locomotive impairment and spinal disorder. We also have children who are born normal and then become handicaped due to sports or agricultural injury. Such children get hugely benefitted from facilities granted under the IEDSS,” said one of teachers at the Government Girls’ Senior Secondary School, Mall Road. She added that children suffering from cerebral palsy and multiple disorders hardly make it to class VIII and are seldom reported from various schools.”

Apart from the poor students studying in government schools, those studying in schools for special children such as Mahanta Gurbanta Dass School for deaf and mute children too are benefitted from the scheme.

Aid is given to the disabled children who have completed eight years of elementary education to continue their education at the secondary stage in an inclusive environment in a regular school.

Bathinda, April 27
The Bathinda Association of Non Government Organisations (BANGO) has held a meeting with the functionaries of three local private laboratories for getting the dengue tests of suspected dengue patients conducted on concession rates during the ensuing dengue season.

Talking to this reporter here today, a representative of the BANGO, Ramesh Mehta said they had held talks with the functionaries of three local laboratories who would conduct the dengue tests at concession rates.

Mehta said the poor patients would get financial help from BANGO in case of dengue tests. He said these laboratories would conduct the dengue test for `350, for which the patients had paid around `1,000 during the last dengue season. Likewise, `80 would be charged for the test, for which the people had paid `200 to `250 last year.

Mehta said they would also motivate the private doctors to treat the dengue patients on humanitarian ground, in place of doing business.

Mehta, who is also the founder president of a local NGO, Aasra Welfare Society, said BANGO had been formed by 85 non-government social, religious and voluntary organisations to help the people and save them from costly tests or treatments. He said BANGO had also started an awareness campaign against dengue.

He said the functionaries of the laboratories had also assured the BANGO representatives that they would charge the dengue patients only the cost price of the tests.

The functionaries of the private laboratories present at the meeting were Sandip Bansal (Sant Clinic Laboratory, Bibi Wala Road), Navneet Jindal (Jindal Laboratory, Veer Colony) and Narinder Tayal (Tayal Laboratory, Namdev Road).

Among others who took part int he meeting on behalf of BANGO were Sonu Maheshwari, Kamal Dutt Sharma, Ramesh Mehta, Avtar Singh Goga, Ramesh Garg and Gaurav Goyal.

Bathinda, April 27
“Punjabi literature is more popular in the villages of Punjab than in its cities,” said Indo-Candian writer, Navtej Bharati. He was present at the Central University of Punjab campus today to deliver a special lecture.

Elaborating on his observation, he continued, “Of what I have noticed about the popularity of Punjabi literature in Punjab, I feel the children in the villages are more conscious about and interested in reading it. They know more about their regional writings as compared to their city cousins. The children in the cities are more inclined towards technology, the latest fads and fashions and TV shows, among many other things.”

Supporting the common notion that the slow and steady erosion of the regional literature in India is happening because of the influx of Western culture, he said, “I have been staying abroad for many years and I can say it with conviction that I smell more of West here than in the West itself. The people here are keener on being like the Westerners, while there they are carefree.”

“Well, I wouldn’t blame the Indians for aping the West. Thanks to the technological advances, the geographical spaces have shrunk and the only space that exists now is the virtual space. Sitting here, one may get to know what someone is doing in Canada. Geography and the sense of space is no more as relevant to literature as it was till a couple of years back,” he added.

Refusing to “prophesise” about the future of the writings of the budding Punjabi writers, he said, “I foresee that a common language will appear that will be a combination of Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu, and this common language will be understood across Northern India. This would be similar to what happened during the Bhakti movement. During that period, the language of the saints was understood across Northern India.”

Commenting on English, the ‘common language’ popular these days, he said, “The education system stresses on the use of English. Everyone thinks that knowing English is important for one’s professional growth. I call this linguistic colonialism. The areas, geographical or mental, under its dominance are the linguistic empire of English.”

“Rather than being a platform for learning, our education system has become a platform for unlearning. Specialisation during higher studies is considered important for furthering one’s career. It lands us in mental groves. Still I’m not too passive. I believe, ultimately people will get back to their roots,” he added.

Bathinda, April 27
“If you are a creative writer, you invite poverty,” said the Indo-Canadian poet Ajmer Rode, while speaking at the Central University of Punjab campus here today. Along with poet Navtej Bharati, he delivered a special lecture at the University.

Saying that he had learnt this from his own life experiences, he said, “I belong to a financially weak rural family. Although I was interested in literature and writing, my parents, like every other parent, wanted me to take up a lucrative profession and not have a hand-to-mouth existence by taking up writing.”

“I understood their concerns and took up engineering. Taking it up was easy but pursuing it for a career was difficult. All the while I was inclined towards literature and kept reading extensively. My career in engineering could not suppress my creative urges. While creating my first work of literature, I brought together my writing skills and what I had learnt while pursuing engineering. The resultant work was the Punjabi version of the Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, and that too in dialogue form.”

Debunking the myth that only in India the writers are poor, he said it was a universal truth. “Everywhere writers are poor. The only difference is that unlike in the case of Indian languages, English is a vast language and exists across continents. There are huge school and public libraries in the West and the reading habit still exists there,” he said.

Talking about the quality of English writings in India, he said, “Although more pulp fiction, or what we call the popular chick-lit fiction, is being produced by many Indian writers writing in English, there are authors like Arundhati Roy as well. She writes brilliant poetic prose. Recently, at a literary conclave in India, I met man Indian writers writing in English and I must confess that contrary to expectations, English writing is coming up in the country.”

“The positive aspect of the contemporary writings in India is that the new writers are experimenting with different genres. And the disappointing aspect is the publishing industry. Earlier, the publishers were kept on a high pedestal but now, that is not the case,” he said.

“In the West, they encourage the writers. They want new writers to write about their culture and the place they belong to. This way, they get something new to read and they appreciate the efforts. On the contrary, the Indian publishers do not welcome new writers. One can get anything printed by paying cash. A lot of trash is being published which is diluting the good writings,” he concluded.

Bathinda, April 27
Members of the Master Cadre Union Punjab, Bathinda unit, met the new District Education Officer (DEO) Balwinder Singh Aulakh today and discussed their long-pending demands with him.

In a statement issued here today, the members said they wanted the government to implement the rationalisation policy properly. They said although the teachers had been transferred under the policy, the students were yet to be divided equally among the sections of the classes.

They also demanded that the full benefits of the service be given after the completion of a minimum of 25 years of service.

They said although the government had announced the reduction of the time period from 30 years to 25 years, formal letters were yet to be sent out to the schools.

Apart from demanding a separate grant for building Maths laboratories in schools, on the lines of the science labs, they wished that the government lays emphasis on the fact that a teacher first teaches his own subject properly, before taking on the responsibility of teaching an additional subject.

The Punjab government had announced the Assured Career Progression Scheme (ACP), or the 4-9-14 case, in November 2011. The Union is demanding that the scheme be implemented with effect from 1 January 2006 instead.

Taking up the matter of the special childcare scheme, in addition to the maternity leave, announced for the female teachers, the Union demanded that the scheme be implemented at the earliest in Bathinda since it was already being followed in other districts.

After patiently listening to the demands of the Union, the DEO assured the members that he would look into the district level matters at the earliest and will bring the rest to the attention of the state government. He also told them they could meet him on the last Wednesday of every month and voice their concerns.

As many as 40 members of the union had met the District Education Officer. These included the president of the Union, Pritpal Singh, press secretary Sukhdev Mittal, Swaranjit Singh, Laxman Maluka, Rajesh Moga, Rajinder Kaur Brara, Satnam Singh, Jagmel Maluka, Rupinder Singh and Gurwinder Singh Jaid, among others.

Bathinda, April 27
The District Health Society (RNTCP) today organised a TB awareness camp at the Government Elementary School, Ghanaiya Nagar, Bathinda. The camp was attended by school students and teachers.

The communication facilitator of the society, Gagan Goyal, imparted knowledge to the students and teachers about tuberculosis.

Goyal said there were some symptoms which indicated that the person might be suffering from TB. So, every person should know about the symptoms of the disease to prevent it from spreading further.

He said if a person suffered from cough for two weeks or more, then he could be suffering from the disease. The other symptoms of the disease were blood in sputum, pain in chest and loss of appetite and weight.

Goyal said the identification of a TB patient begins with the sputum test. If the sputum test is found to be positive then the person is declared as a TB patient. He said such patients were given medicines for six to eight months free of cost under the revised national TB control programme (RNTCP) through directly observed treatment. He said the testing of the sputum was also done free of cost.

He also appealed to the children to spread awareness about the symptoms of TB in their homes and in areas where they reside, so that the disease could be controlled.In-charge of the school, Sher Singh, sought answers from the students about the questions related to the disease.

Bathinda, April 27
Four persons have been booked by the police for trying to encroach upon a piece of land belonging to a school. A complaint was lodged against the accused by the panchayat members of Mehma Sirja.

The complainant in the case said Kulwant Rai, Raj Kumar, Simrajndeep Sharma and Om Parkash Sharma, all residents of Mehma Sirja, tried to encroach upon the piece of land belonging to the school and also steal the gravel lying on the school premises.

Bathinda, April 27
The students of Malwa College shone in the National Federation Cup held at Patiala from April 21 to 24. BA final year student Suresh Kumar, an international athlete and national champion, won the gold in 10, 000 m race in 29.16 min and the silver in the 5000 m race in 14.16 min.

Kirpal Singh, from BA second year — international discus thrower — won the medal in discus at a distance of 58.69 m. Arpinder Singh from BA first year, national champion and international triple jumper — was second in triple jump with a distance of 16.20 m. — TNS

Bathinda, April 27
The Punjab Associate School Association (PASA) has demanded the inclusion of their representative in the state committees for education reforms and welfare.

Raising the demand at the felicitation ceremony of the chief parliamentary secretary Sarup Chand Singla and MLA Darshan Singh Kotfatta, at Teachers' Home today, PASA patron Jagdish Ghai said the students of associate schools should also be given stipends on the lines of those in government schools.

"Our monthly fees are very nominal and we teach children belonging to the poor sections of society. The government should extend help to us also," he said.

Punjab president PASA Rajinder Guddu demanded that a Vidya Bhawan be erected in Bathinda for the welfare of the teaching community. — TNS

Bathinda, April 27
Baba Farid College of Education (BFCE) was recently inspected by a team from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) headed by BP Bhatnagar, former vice-chancellor, Rajasthan Vidyapeeth University, Udaipur. The other member of the team was S Marlin, principal, Saint N' College of Education, Secunderabad.

The team assessed the administrative activities, labs, classrooms, hostels and playgrounds and gave its report to the NAAC, after which the BFCE was accredited with "A" grade.

Chairman, Baba Farid Group of Institutions, Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal, congratulated the principal and the staff of the BFCE.

Principal, BFCE, Naib Singh, thanked the staff of the college and the management. — TNS