Ludhiana, November 14
Asking for directions proved fatal for a tipsy middle-aged man, as he was bludgeoned to death by a drunk gambler Gole Market near Domoria Bridge here last night.

The accused Shanti (25), who had allegedly lost all his money over a game of cards, had no remorse for what he had done. He didn’t even know the person he had killed last night. He was arrested by the police here this evening.

Shanti said the victim was also drunk and entered into a fight with him over a petty issue.

The incident took place at midnight when Shanti, who works as waiter at a roadside eatery, was allegedly sitting on the roof top of a shop and playing cards along with his two friends.

He told the police that the victim, who had come from the railway station, approached them and asked for direction. Both Shanti and the man entered into a heated argument as the latter was asked to leave. Soon the argument turned into a brawl and in the process the victim fell unconscious.

Ludhiana, November 14
It has been three days since the leopard escaped from the borewell in Kadian village, but there no clue of the wild cat since then.

Forest officials said, the fresh pug marks spotted on Monday indicated that the leopard was suspected to be hiding at a guava farm in the area.

The forest guards, who have pitched their tent in the area since Sunday, fear that the animal might attack human beings.

Forest guard Gurpreet Singh said ever since the fresh pug marks were spotted, the department along with the police had intensified the search in the area.

Ludhiana, November 14
Baba Vishvakarma Day was celebrated with religious fervour here today. Various functions were organised to pay rich tributes to Vishvakarma, regarded as the principal universal architect.

On the occasion, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, speaking at Ramgarhia Girls College, said in a bid to make our unemployed youth employable in a dignified manner, besides enabling them to get absorbed by the local industries, the state government had prepared a comprehensive plan. Under the plan, Punjabi youth will be provided skill training in different disciplines, for which the government had signed an MoU with a German public-sector company to set up five main skilled development centres at Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Bathinda and Amritsar with a chain of numerous sub-centres, he said. About one lakh youth would be trained every year in collaboration with the local industries at these centres, he added.

Paying rich tributes to Lord Vishvakarma, the Chief Minister said that he was the founder of craft, architecture and engineering on the earth.

“Whatever industrial and infrastructural growth we observe today is happening with the blessings of Lord Vishvakarma that facilitated the mankind to make technological advancements,” he said. To pay a real tribute to Lord Vishvakarma, Badal appealed the people, especially the Punjabi youth, to improve their professional skills and benefit from the new job opportunities created by the induction of modern technology in the state industries.

In another function, Baba Vishvakarma International Foundation celebrated Baba Vishvakarma Day with great enthusiasm at the grain market on Gill Road here today. While inaugurating the function, Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria spoke about the importance of the day. He said Baba Vishvakarma was an architect and all inventions from needle to aeroplane were made possible because of him. He said it was our duty to celebrate this day with great enthusiasm.

Prominent personalities from different spheres were honoured on this occasion. Those who were honoured with “Vishvakarma Ratan Award” included prominent poet Surjit Patar, Sardar Panchi, famous folk singer Surinder Chhinda, K Deep, noted industrialist Jaswant Singh Sagar, Rajinder Singh Saund Nexo, Narinder Singh, Surjit Singh Nota, Inderjit Singh Sohal, Satwant Singh Sheera, Jagtar Singh Gobind, Amarjit Singh Syan, Krishan Kansal, educationist Prof Onkar Singh Saggu, Dr Kamaljit Sohi and Ashok Makkar.

In his address, Ghanshyam Lotey asked the state government to allocate two acres of land in Ludhiana for the setting up of a bhawan that should be named after Baba Vishvakarma. Punjabi Sahit Akademi president Prof Gurbhajan Singh Gill said Baba Vishvakarma had done a lot for the humanity. He said UNO should be approached to get the day declared as "International Architecture Day".

Meanwhile, District Congress Committee celebrated the occasion by organising a function at the Bihari Colony in Ward Number 17. The function, presided over by the DCC Ludhiana Urban president Pawan Dewan, was organised by Purvanchal Hosiery Textile Workers’ Union president Lal Chand Rao. Paying obeisance to the portrait of Lord Vishvakarma, Dewan said Vishvakarma has been described to be the first engineer of the universe. He said Lord Vishvakarma had a distinct place in the glorious Indian culture. “Lord Vishvakarma makes everyone realise that work is worship,” he said.

Mandi Ahmedgarh: Shri Vishvakarma Maha Puja Utsav was celebrated at Dehliz Road Vishvakarma Mandir today. Iqbal Singh Jhoondan, MLA of Amargarh constituency segment, was the chief guest and Balwant Singh Lotey inaugurated the function by hoisting the flag. Ravinder Puri, president of the local civic body, was the guest of honour.

Addressing the gathering, Jhoondan said the modern society owed a lot to Baba Vishvakarma who paved the way for all mechanical and technical advances.

"It was all due to the foundation laid by him that man thought of exploring the cosmic universe. Fundamentals laid by the great architect led humanity to the age of ultramodern gadgets and space aircrafts," he claimed.

Various religious singers presented a collection of religious songs and hymns on the occasion.

Ludhiana, November 14
The Communist Party of India (CPI) today convened a massive rally of workers from hosiery and other sectors of industry to focus on the demand for immediate hike in minimum wages of all categories of workers in the wake of unprecedented rise in prices of essential items.

Addressing the rally at Basti Jodhewal Chowk here, the CPI leaders also gave a call to the workers to participate in large numbers in the rally proposed to be held by the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) at Delhi on December 20.

Speakers, including DP Maur, general secretary, Joint Council of Trade Unions; Ramesh Rattan, city secretary; Dr Arun Mitra, assistant secretary of the party; Feroze Master; Nagina Ram and Kuldip Binder reiterated the demand for revision of minimum monthly wages for the workers. They demanded for minimum wages of Rs 10,000 for unskilled, Rs 15,000 for semi-skilled and Rs 20,000 for skilled workers.

They further called for filling up of all vacant posts on regular basis and not on contract basis, payment of provident fund and bonus to all workers without any pre conditions, increase in gratuity rates, pension to all workers and employees, compulsory registration of trade unions within 45 days of filing registration papers, and implementation of labour laws as per ILO convention 87 and 98.

The trade union leaders alleged that the workers were being denied their constitutional rights even to get their ration cards, Aadhar cards and voter cards. "For these documents, the workers are made to visit various offices time and again and harassed," they said.

The speakers flayed the government for bowing to the pressure of corporate sector which had led to flouting of labour laws with impunity, not only by the private, but also by the public sector. "There is no provision for social security for the unorganised workers. Government has failed to curb the rising prices and solve the problem of unemployment," they added.

Ludhiana, November 14
Although Chidren's Day is celebrated with fervour in almost all schools, many children found themselves at a loss to answer some simple questions about the relevance of the occasion. Although a few said that they knew November 14 was Children's Day, they stumbled and stuttered when asked about the real significance of the day. They failed to tell why it was celebrated. A Class-VII student said Children's Day was just another day like Mother's Day, Father's Day and Parent's Day.

A few of the children said that the day is celebrated in memory of Jawahar Lal Nehru, but were not able to tell who he was. Some students were able to tell that the day is celebrated because Chacha Nehru loved children, but none of them could tell why the day is celebrated on November 14. Some of the students could not tell why he was called Chacha. A Class-VI student said that as Mahatma Gandhi was called Bapu, Nehru was called Chacha.

When asked if they knew about Jawahar Lal Nehru, some readily answered that he was the first Prime Minister, but could not tell who Chacha Nehru was.

Rohit, a teacher said that although education system is getting advanced technologically and focuses on giving information about several things, learning in depth is lagging in this technologically advanced system.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, Nov 14
Probably for the first time in the past decades, the Children’s Day that falls on the birth day of the first Prime Minister of India, Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru, was not celebrated with enthusiasm at schools of the area.

Government holiday, on account of the Vishawkarma Day in the state-run and private-aided schools was cited as major factor behind the factor.

The Director General (school education) had directed the heads of all schools to celebrate the day by opening schools for at least two hours today. But the orders could not be complied due to alleged inefficient communication of the orders among the students.

Internet problem at schools situated in the rural habitation and observance of "local" holiday at some of the schools on Monday also added to the problem.

Sources said that the Children’s Day was not celebrated with desired enthusiasm at any of the government and private-aided schools. Though heads and staff of some of the government schools had tried to organise competitions by opening their institutes for about two hours, yet poor turn out of students resulted in the disappointment of those who attended the functions.

However, majority of the heads, when contacted claimed that the day had been celebrated with fair success at their institutes.

Sources informed that the heads had earlier, been advised to celebrate the day on Thursday. But later, the schedule was altered and it was decided to organise functions at all government schools on the proper day today.

One of the heads, on condition of anonymity, admitted that the function could not be organised as his school was closed on Monday on account of local holiday and that the staff had already completed preparations for a function to be held on Thursday.

Ludhiana, November 14
To the delight of many in the city, Wikipedia has allowed uploading of video content on its website. Wikipedia is one of the most popular encyclopaedias online and the possibility of seeing and uploading videos along with the text is enthusing many people in the city.

The online page of the Wikipedia video uploading page reads that the website is still at an early stage in its process of incorporating videos in its encyclopaedic content. The maximum size of the video that can be uploaded is 100 MB. Videos can be shot with digital camcorder or still camera, tripod and video editing software.

There are three different categories that would be accepted online -- snapshot-type videos, performance-type videos and tour-type videos. The snapshot-type videos illustrate a single action and are usually 30 seconds or shorter in length. The performance-type videos are recordings of individuals performing an extended series of actions. Usually these types of videos will have only one shot, and can be up to several minutes long. The tour-type videos will shift between different views to illustrate different aspects of a subject, or to tell a kind of narrative story. Usually this type will have a sequence of several different shots, and can be up to several minutes long, according to the website content.

"The choice of uploading videos online is great," says Rahul, a student. "A lot of times, the first link that appears in search engines for any topic is that of Wikipedia. It, thus, is one of the most popular choices for accessing information,” he says.

"As Wikipedia is a great source of information, this initiative surely would go a long way in making the resource more useful," says Supreet, another student.

Jagraon, November 14
The increased surveillance has led to a considerable decline in the criminal activities in Jagraon area during the last couple of months. With effective vigilance, the police has not only arrested hundreds of drug peddlers, a visible reduction has also been seen in other crimes including snatching, thefts and eve teasing.

Not a single incident of snatching has taken place within Jagraon town in the last two months. Besides this, only one incident of theft has taken place in Jagraon town during the same period, which clearly indicates a decline in the criminal activities.

The local police has also seized a large quantity of contrabands including opium, poppy husk, heroin, smack and other habit forming drugs during the last few months. As per records, the local police has registered 255 cases under the NDPS Act and seized around 32.5 kilograms of opium, 104 quintals of poppy husk, 161 gram of heroin, 137 gram of smack, 500 grams of charas and a massive amount of habit forming drugs till the end of October this year.

The police has managed to arrest 260 alleged drug peddlers, including some big fishes involved in this illegal trade. The effective policing has forced drug peddlers halt their activities during the last couple of months.

There was a time when crimes like snatching and petty thefts had become very common in the area. As many as 24 incidents of snatching surfaced during the same period out of which the police has cracked 19 cases and arrested 26 alleged snatchers. The police department has also recovered valuables of around Rs 18 lakh out of a total of Rs 62 lakh worth snatched goods.

As far as theft incidents are concerned, a total of 51 cases came to fore till October this year. The police has solved 34 cases and arrested 33 alleged thieves so far. The police has also recovered stolen goods worth Rs 13 lakh out of a total of Rs 22 lakh worth stolen goods.

Besides this, the police has also cracked three blind murder cases this year.

Jagraon, November 14
The slow lifting process of the paddy crop from the grain markets has irked the farmers as well as the commission agents. Because of the slow lifting process, massive stocks of paddy crop have been still laying in the grain markets of the area. All the grain markets of Jagraon are packed with large stocks of paddy crop because of the slow lifting process.

The farmers rue that first the procurement of paddy crop was not done on time due to which they had to spend many days and nights at the grain markets. Now, when the crop is being procured by the procurement agencies, the lifting of paddy crop is being delayed for the reasons best known to the officials of the local Market Committee, say the farmers.

During a visit to Grain Market, Jagraon, which is the second largest grain market in Asia after Khanna, it was found that huge heaps of paddy crop were laying in the grain market. The situation is worst at grain markets located in rural areas where the lifting process is slow.

Official sources said, the major reason behind slow lifting of the paddy crop has been shortage of labour. Besides, the lack of mode of transportation has made the situation worst.

"Because of the ongoing festival season, a large number of migrant labourers from states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have returned to their native states as a result of which there has been huge shortage of the labour in the Mandis," said an official at Market Committee Jagraon though preferring anonymity.

The slow lifting process has irked the farmers as well as commission agents as their Diwali celebrations were dampened due to delay in lifting of the crop. They complained that they could not deliver sweets and gifts to their relatives and friends due no non-lifting of their crop. Baljinder Singh, a farmer of Kaleran village near Jagraon, rued he could not even purchase sweets and crackers for his family as he had to stay at grain market to take care of his crop.

It is not only the farmers and commission agents who were upset due to delay in lifting, the labourers and other staff members working for commission agents were too unhappy at the situation as they had no option but to stay at grain markets for completing their respective jobs.

Market Committee Jagraon Secretary, Jaswinder Singh, claimed the lifting process was going on full swing. "Despite labour shortage, we are making every possible effort to streamline the lifting process. The whole paddy stock laying in the grain markets will be cleared very soon," he added.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, Nov 14
Awareness campaigns against burning of crackers to check the environment pollution proved a futile exercise as majority of the people celebrated Divali in a usual manner and bursting of crackers continued till late midnight.

Neither the sellers and nor the buyers of crackers were aware about decibel level of the crackers and explosives manufactured by different companies. Dr Ravinder Sharma, a resident of Subash Nagar regretted that nobody had bothered to clear the rubbish left after bursting of crackers the whole night.

Municipal Council president, Ravinder Puri, said steps would be taken to organise ward-wise community Divali celebration where the residents can celebrate the function jointly. "We will discuss the issue in house and initiate process to make ward wise arrangements for celebration of festival jointly in future," said Puri.

Jagraon, November 14
Sri Ram College, Dalla, won the football tournament organised by Shere Punjab Sports Academy, Chakar. The champions defeated Kamalpura in the first semifinal under the 60-kilogram weight category, while the host beat Bilaspur in the second semifinal.

In the 40-kilogram weight category, the hosts beat Mehal Kalan to emerge victorious. Chakar team also emerged winner in the 30-kilogram weight category by defeating Gujarwal in the final match of this category.

Canada-based NRI Sudarshan Kaur Sidhu was the chief guest during the prize distribution ceremony. She applauded the efforts of Shere Punjab Sports Academy, Chakar, to promote sports culture in rural areas. Prof Balwant Singh Sandhu, chief administrator of Shere Punjab Sports Academy was also present during the occasion.

Ludhiana, November 14
Satbir Singh Atwal, ADCP, Ludhiana (Traffic), has been unanimously elected as the president of the District Athletics Association Ludhiana (DAAL). He replaced DS Walia, who headed the body for more than a decade.

A former international athlete, Satbir Singh was chosen to the post at a meeting of the association held here yesterday. Ishar Singh Deol, honorary general secretary, Punjab State Athletics Association, chaired this meeting which was attended by all the members of DAAL.

Satbir Singh had received the highest state honour in the field of sports, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award, in 1995. He is the national record holder in javelin throw, the feat he achieved during the Open National Athletics Meet at Kolkata in 1998. Besides, he has bagged the gold medal for ten times in the All India Police Games.