Jalandhar, September 20
Extending whole-hearted support to the Indian Army in the Jammu and Kashmir floods, around 155 villages in Bholath constituency of Kapurthala district are gathering relief material under “Operation Jeewan Jyot” for the flood victims for the past four days.

The initiative, taken totally by villagers, has borne tremendous results within four days of its announcement.

Prominent NRI families from these villages are supporting them in their endeavour. These villages are jointly collecting and packing the relief material, especially for the coming winter season, at the gurdwara of Khassan village. Many women and children could be seen early in the morning gathering on the gurdwara premises to pack the relief material to be handed over to the Army on Monday.

“The situation seems to have improved in J&K, but in reality, people there are in for a bigger trouble as the winter season is fast approaching. Since most of their winter clothing and even houses have been washed away in floods, they will face difficulty in winters. So, we decided to launch “Operation Jeewan Jyot” to keep the flame of precious lives burning in J&K by collecting clothing, beddings and ration for their winter stock,” said Dr Narinder Singh Kang, sarpanch of Khassaan village, and president of the Nadala Block Sarpanchs Association. He said the relief programme had got a huge response and almost all 155 villages were participating in the programme. “This would help sustain them during the time when the valley will be cut off from rest of country in winters,” said Dr Kang. The atmosphere at Khassan village has become that of a mega fair, with many tractors and trolleys loaded with relief material approaching the gurdwara premises since early hours. Many women and even children could be seen unloading them and later packing them finely in waterproof sheets.

“Since morning, people reach the gurdwara and while listening to the morning ‘bani’ start packing various stuffs. The rest of the villagers serve tea and langar at the venue. Sometimes, the local granthi also holds religious discussion on the importance of donation mentioned in the holy book,” said Harinder Kaur, sarpanch of village Mana Talwandi. She said even children were involved in the programme so that they could also feel and realise the catastrophe that had happened to their fellow countrymen.

While people have confirmed having collected around four to five truckloads of material with the help of prominent NRIs till Friday, they were expected to face some difficulty to send it to Srinagar, as the Army had stopped airlifting relief material from Adampur. However, Jasveer Singh Gill, president, NRI Sabha, confirmed that the sabha would bear the entire expense of sending the material to J&K. “We are in the process of hiring trucks and will personally hand it over to the state administration of J&K by early next week,” said Gill. 

Jalandhar, September 20
There is no big secret about the fact that schools across the district are throwing caution to the wind when it comes to the implementation of the RTE Act. But the carelessness on this reflects not just on studies, but a plethora of activities that constructive academics should be associated with.

Even as star struck, high-profile tournaments grab eye balls on telly, at the grassroots level, the story of the sporting aspiration of school students is a sordid affair, which neither schools nor the government pays any attention to. A number of district schools lack the basic requirement for healthy sporting – a playground.

Over a 100 schools in the district lack any kind of playgrounds due to which students’ routine is reduced to hours of sitting and no recreational activity at schools which involves moving around. While villages and panchayats still provide space for students to utilise for sporting activity, in urban schools the conditions are deplorable.

Even as the RTE Act holds the presence of a playground very necessary for the healthy development of students, in a majority of urban schools, students languish without maidaans.

Urban schools in the bastis, bazaar areas and other congested localities in the city are very bad. Students of many poor families end up spending the best part and most constructive parts of their childhoods in schools set up in 5 to 10 marla lands, which cannot possibly offer them any sort of physical or sporting activity.

While villages still afford to ask students to walk to a nearby ground, in the city this is unheard of.

Schools like those in localities like, Panj Peer, Purian Mohalla, Tali Mohalla, Basti Danishmandan, Basti Sheikh, Avtar Nagar, Kot Sadik, Garha, Model House and a host of others, even in posh localities like Model Town and Adarsh Nagar do not have playgrounds for students.

While a letter from the Education Department recently had sought all details of various schools asking for the kind of playground they had and whether it was in proper condition etc, so far the government hasn’t initiated any efforts to provide alternative playing space for schools which reported lack of a playground.

The total number of schools with inaccessible playgrounds takes the tally even higher because in some schools, big open spaces have been rendered useless due to the problems like overgrown grass and unkempt grounds, dumping of wastes by neighbours, land disputes among a host of other problems.

While students from class 9th to 12th are charged a dedicated sports fund just to provide them with proper sporting arrangements, tragically the money isn’t fetching the requisite facilities to students.

Even in villages, the provision of common village spaces saves the day, as there, too, some schools are not maintaining their playgrounds.

A government school teacher teaching primary students at one such school said, “It is shameful for little children to be left without an option to play. While we tell both visiting teams and always mention this in our reports to be sent to the Education Department, so far we haven’t been provided with an alternative space. There is little room to walk around even in classes, when attendance soars, additional students have to be adjusted in classes or on rugs in the verandah. While it’s time for them to run and play around, the school doesn’t even have enough room for them to have an open space to play in the recess. Even the mid-day meal preparations claim the little courtyard. We can’t allow students to play on the road. The government should think of an option for hapless school children so their childhood doesn’t go waste in dinghy, cramped school rooms.”

Jalandhar, September 20
Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike will inaugurate two buildings of animal hospitals in Jalandhar.

Jaspal Singh Ghumman, Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, said the minister would inaugurate the Civil Animal Hospital, built on Railway Road Kartarpur at a cost of Rs 20 lakh. After this, he would inaugurate the animal hospital at Kharal Kalan near Bhogpur.

Dr Ghumman said the starting of these animal hospitals would greatly facilitate the people of about 20 villages living in the area. In these hospitals, laboratory tests, vaccination, treatment etc associated with diseases of animals would be provided. He said people would also get to know about various new government schemes regarding animals from these hospitals. These were being opened to provide quality treatment at reasonable rates to people with pets and domesticated animals.

He said now people won’t have to go far to get their animals treated. 

Jalandhar, September 20
Raizada Hansraj Stadium in the city is going to get a little makeover due to the All-India North Zone Badminton Championship coming to the city after seven long years.

The championship slated to be held from September 23 to 25 will have 133 players from states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Chandigarh and would be competing for four different titles during the championship the stadium. The District Badminton Association is busy doing the necessary repair work both in and outside the stadium besides doing whitewash. "Delhi was supposed to host the tournament this year but as it had organized many international Badminton events recently, we offered to hold it this year. The Badminton Association of India accepted our request and allowed us to hold the tournament this year," said Rajinder Kalsi, Secretary, Punjab Badminton Association. The men's inter-state championship will compete for the Rahimtoola Cup whereas the eves would compete for the Chadha Cup. The junior boys, the competition would be held for Narang Cup and for junior girls, the cup will be held for Shafi Qureshi Cup. Manoranjan Kalia, inaugurating A Venu Prasad will be the chief guest for the prize.

Jalandhar, September 20
On a complaint filed by its own employee over denial of information for nearly two years, the Central Information Commission, New Delhi, has issued a show-cause notice to the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala.

The complainant Rajinder Kumar Goyal, working as C&M superintendent at RCF, had filed an application seeking some information regarding recoveries from contractors on December 15, 2012. Information Commission Vijai Sharma, in his order, has asked the CPIO of RCF to supply the information within 30 days and also reply on the show cause "as to why action should not be taken for contravening the timelines prescribed under the RTI Act." The CPIO has been given a month's time to reply to the show-cause notice as well.

A consistent whistleblower and an RTI activist, Goyal's application pertains to the recoveries made by the RCF from contractors for the supply and work of various glass wools. The information pertained about recoveries made in the year 2012-2013 and 2011-2012. The details sought included name and address of each supplier upon whom recoveries had been place, date of each recovery, date of recovery place, number and date of each purchase order for which recoveries had been made.

The applicant has mentioned in his appeal that he suspected the recoveries to be dubious and that the amount recovered could be just eyewash whereas the recoverable amount could be much higher. "The fact that authorities do not bother at all to reply to the application as well as the appeal reinforces my suspicions of a likely goof-up. It seems that the authorities are working as per their planned strategy which is to wait out the record retention or preservation period. And once that period is over, they will immediately destroy the records. They analyse that it will take quite some time or a few months before the Commission renders it decision. And further since the complete information will have to be obtained in several or a few trenches, which possibly may translate into such a long time that they get the immunity from preserving the records. In that eventuality, the wrongdoer, if any, will go scot-free".

The applicant has sought a compensation of Rs 5,000 and imposition of a penalty under section 20(1) of the Act. 

Jalandhar, September 20
Pendu Majdoor Union (PMU) will organise dharna at Block Development and Panchyat Offices (BDPO) in the state from September 22 to 26 against the state government's anti landless labourer policies.

Union secretary Kashmir Singh Ghugshor said the protest would be organised in collaboration of eight different bodies working for the rights of landless labourers.

Kashmir Singh Ghugshor said the representatives of all the bodies have been agreed unanimously to oppose the alleged police actions that were being taken to suppress their struggle.

He alleged that the false cases against their union representatives were being registered at various police stations. 

Jalandhar, September 20
The School of Hotel Management and Tourism, Lovely Professional University, welcomed Michelin-Star chef Vikas Khanna.

Chef Vikas inaugurated the first season of Uni-Chef Cookery Show at the school under tagline "Your Kitchen, Your Recipes."

This cookery show is to cover ten seasons in a month this year 2014, and is devised by University Network -'YTV'. The first season saw recipe for "Italian Cone Pasta Chaat" prepared by an M Sc student of the Hotel Management School, Anish Diwikar. Nine more Chef-students of the school will be the hosts for next nine seasons with separate recipes. All episodes will also be telecasted on YTV of the university to be accessed on internet anywhere in the campus. On this occasion, Chef Khanna also unveiled his book 'Amritsar-Flavours of the Golden-City'.

Educated at the best universities of America, Vikas Khanna is restaurateur, cookbook writer, filmmaker and also great humanitarian. He has been the host of TV shows Master Chef India Season 3 and Master Chef Junior. In addition of being awarded as Michelin Starred Chef many a times, he also has great nominations to his credit including James Beard Award for International Cooking, STAR Parivaar Award for favourite Maezbaan.

While sharing his experiences of early phases in the world of Chefs, Khanna motivated LPU students and told that they should "never admit defeat".

He said: "Hard work is always worship and strength as well. Modern time is a great time for devoted chefs in the hotel industry. They are the real masters with their special skills and desired efforts." He also guided students to adopt healthier life-style. Elaborating on his this fondness chef Khanna said, "Lack of proper nutrition is a fundamental issue and one of the biggest roadblocks for the growth and development of individuals. We should all propagate and follow healthier life-style"

elcoming the elite chef on the campus, LPU Chancellor Ashok Mittal said: "We are happy to receive the world-wide renowned Chef at the university. This will indeed enable our students to learn a lot from the great experiences of a personality like his caliber and strength."

Jalandhar, September 20
By outperforming more than 700 candidates in the two-day competition, Jalandhar-based Ankush was crowned Chef of Punjab organised by the CT Group of Institutions, while Shruti won the first runners up and Neelu won the second runners up trophy.

In the final round held at Shahpur Campus of the CT Group of Institutions, 100 finalists of the competition churned out the dishes with splendour, their plates seemed to be the work of art and knowledge.

Elated Ankush said, "Winning the competition was very important for me. I have experimented a lot with food and practised over the years. The regular practice to prepare different dishes helped me brush up my culinary skills."

The final day event was inaugurated by celebrated chef, Vikas Khanna, Chairman, S Charanjit Singh Channi, Co-Chairperson, Parminder Kaur Channi, Managing Director, Manbir Singh, Vice Chairman, Harpreet Singh, Tanika Channi and Seerat Channi of CT Group of Institutions.

As many as 700 participants took part in the competition. Out of them 100 finalists were selected in the first day event held at Sutlej Club, Ludhiana for the final round. 100 finalists demonstrated their skills by presenting dishes of professional stature. A panel of four judges of Vivek Saggar, Director, Food Art, Vishvesh Khanna, Executive Chef, Sarovar Portico, Vinod Zutshi, F and Manager, Radisson Jalandhar and Rahul Rawat, Execuitve Chef of Radisson Blu, Ludhiana selected the top three dishes for the winners of this mega culinary event. S Charanjit Singh Channi, chairman, CT Group of Institutions presented the cheques of prize money to the winners. The winners of 'Chef of Punjab' were honoured with the prizes worth Rs 2 lakh, Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000 for first, second and third positions, respectively.—TNS 

Jalandhar, September 20
Even as it is the youth who have been making maximum utility of the social media groups on Whatsapp, Facebook and other applications for chatting and keeping themselves updated on the latest activities around them, various professional companies too have now started using them for their business and promotional activities.

Making use of Whatsapp and FB are the owners of the boutique who have been putting up the photographs of the latest designer wear available at their showrooms not just for their local clientele but also offshore customers who keep on contacting them for placing orders. Each designer wear picture also carries the details of cloth used, colour combinations available, shipping and courier charges to be taken and other information.

Says Preet of a boutique in Master Tara Singh Nagar, "While I manage the design part, it is my other family members who take care of the marketing issues through social media. They keep clicking pictures of the designs available and keep posting in various groups. In response, I get calls from abroad from my customers who measurements are already with me. The free social media has come as a much better publicity measure, giving us even a better result that we got by paid insertions in media and printing handouts."

Even the schools have started using Whatsapp to keep the parents apprised about the various activities of the children on the campus by sending them video and photographic images on daily basis. A parent of a child studying in Cynosure Playway School said proudly, "We get all notices from the school on Whatsapp. Every Friday is an activity day and the school sends us videos of participation of not just our child but also of other kids in the class. This way we get to know where our child stands and how they have been improving on stage."

Not just this, even various NGOs have been using the Whatsapp for sending across social information regarding blood donation camps to be held in their areas or even in case there is emergency requirement of blood group by someone. The Human Rights Press Club based at Kapurthala has been circulating information regarding such camp to be held on October 1 at Civil Hospital there through various creative messages.

Not just NGOs, even government departments have been using this media. The police department too has been seen flashing information regarding missing children across to its staff uploading pictures. Such activities have been helping the department trace such cases rather quickly as the message reaches far and wide in a matter of few minutes. The cops, however, warn of doubly checking all information as some mischievous groups have been seen using the medium for playing pranks as well.

Jalandhar, September 20
Defending champion RCF outplayed professional outfit United Punjab Football Club 1-0 in round VIII of the 28th JCT Punjab State Super Football League 2014-2015, which is presently going on in Guru Gobind Singh Stadium here in the city.

It was a close encounter between two teams who were not able to perform well in the tournament but both teams fought well to grab points in the second phase of the league. Jagtar and Gurpreet of the RCF, kapurthala combined well upfront to make continuous raids in UPFC den, resulting which RCF surge ahead when Gurpreet took a well measured powerful free kick in 12th minute form near left flank which entered from right side of the goal-post and helpless Satvir could not make any act to save this debacle.

Chandandeep of UPFC to handle the ball outside penalty area and referee made no hesitation to allow free kick to RCF. Thereafter, UPFC tried their best to score equalizer, but Parveen missed couple of scoring opportunities those came in UPFC way. Till half time the score line was 1-0 in favour of RCF.

In the second half, RCF managed to have slight domination over UPFC with better ball possession and having creativity in footwork, but in the whole there was no further harm to UPFC. On Sunday, Dalbir Football Academy will take on CRPF in Guru Gobind Singh Stadium, Jalandhar and the kick of this match would he held at 4:00 pm.

Jalandhar, September 20
Royal Stumps Cricket Academy of Jalandhar registered a thrashing victory over the Cricket Development Academy of Bangladesh by 6 runs in a T-20 match held at the Cricket Ground near Wadala Chowk.

Bangladesh team was all out for 116 runs, Royal Stumps scored 123 at a loss of nine wickets in 20 overs.

Royal stumps won the toss and choose to bat first. Yogesh Kumar scored 56 runs in 21 balls and Aakash 19 runs in 25 balls.

Nislamudin clinched three wickets and Himo picked two wickets for Bangladesh.

From the host's side, Honey, Gurmeet, Amitoj took two wickets each.