IT Chandigarh

Chandigarh: The decision of the UT Education department to downgrade the status of Government Model High School, Sector 26, to a middle school has not convinced the parents.

The parents feel that the students will face numerous problems, if the school is shifted midway through the academic year. Talking to Newsline, Ramesh Gupta, father of a Class VI student said, “The students have been facing many problems this year. There are no facilities available for the students in the school. However this decision is weird”.

Echoing his views, Kaushalya Devi, mother of a class VII student said, “The school faces a complete lack of facilities. My daughter cannot even use the washroom, as it is still under construction. Now, the shifting seems to be another hassle”. Some parents were apprehensive of the new location and said that the students will be forced to use the main road for commuting to school.

The parents feel that the shift will also force their students to cope with a change in the school environment, midway through the academic year.
(more…)

SAS Nagar: Congress leader Harnek Singh Gharuan today levelled allegations against his party man Kharar MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu calling him a drug trader, a coward person and a politician whose politics revolves around money. He said Sidhu has been playing petty politics and his allegations against him and two other party leaders are based on falsehood.

It is pertinent to note that Sidhu had alleged during a rally in Mohali that Harnek Singh Gharuan, Bir Devinder Singh and Lakhwinder Kaur Garcha took Rs 20 lakh each from Captain Kanwaljit Singh for helping his son Jasjit Singh Bunny, who contested against Sidhu in the last Assembly elections. Sidhu had said that they had been disloyal to the Congress Party.

Gharuan said, “I called up a press conference at that time (during elections), where I had clarified that I would not support Sidhu at any cost as he is a trader of drugs. I worked for the Congress Party in other constituencies as well, and I am a true Congressman.”

Gharuan said that he would talk to Bir Devinder Singh and Garcha regarding Sidhu’s allegations, and if possible, they would meet the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and would submit a written complaint against Sidhu. “I am prepared to do that and if the other leaders will hesitate, I will meet the Congress president alone,” he said.

When contacted, Sidhu said that he is a liquor contractor and has paid to the Punjab government to win the contract legally. He said he is not involved in any kind of drug trading. He said, “I was contesting the election on the Congress Party ticket and being disloyal to me in Kharar constituency is definitely an example of disloyalty towards the Congress Party.”

Source: ENS

SAS Nagar: Shopkeepers of Phase XI market today nabbed a youth while he was trying to steal a bicycle from the market that belonged to a peon of a property dealer. The thief was identified as Vijay Kumar, a rickshaw puller, who is a resident of Colony number 5, Chandigarh.

Jagdish, who works at GK Properties in Phase XI told Newsline that when he came out of his shop to collect tea for the office staff, he saw Vijay trying to break open the lock of his bicycle. Jagdish said he raised an alarm and shopkeepers nabbed the thief. They beat him up and recovered a mobile, a wallet and some keys from his pockets.

Jadish said that his new bicycle was stolen from Phase XI market about 20 days ago, and he had to purchase a new one on installments. Vijay was handed over to the local police, who are investigating the matter.

Source: ENS

SAS Nagar: The Mohali Dussehra Committee will celebrate the festival of Dussehra at the Dussehra Ground, in Phase VIII Mohali on October 21, said president of the committee Madhu Sudan at a press conference on Tuesday. MD and CEO of Punjab Tractors Limited, Bishambhar Mishra would be the chief guest on the occasion, he said. Sudan said that the committee would spend Rs three lakh to organise the Dussehra function.

The work on the effigies of Ravana, Kumbhkaran and Meghnath is in full swing in a factory, which is being executed by the workers, especially hired from Uttar Pradesh for this purpose. Sudan said, “This year, the height of the effigy of Ravana will be 70 feet, while the height of the effigies of Kumbhkaran and Meghnath will be 65 feet each.

He said that a special effigy with ten faces would also be set on fire which has been named “Aaj Ka Ravan” by the committee. He said that after the four effigies are burnt, there would be a special entertainment programme of firecrackers for the public that would last for one hour.

Source: ENS

Chandigarh: Chandigarh Police will now seek the help of Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL) to find out clues which could crack the mystery of the missing Rs 2.82 lakh from the RBI’s Sector 17 branch.

One of the Class IV employees of the bank, Rajesh, who was questioned at length by investigating officials as he had given contradictory statements during his questioning, was let off by the police today.

The investigating officials, who have recovered eight screwdrivers from the scene of crime and the box from which the currency wads were stolen, will send the seized articles to CFSL for examination tomorrow.

“The screw drivers recovered from the spot belong to the bank. If the same were used to open the box, it indicates that one of the bank’s employees could be involved in the theft. There are chances that CFSL experts might relate some finger prints available on the screw drivers and the cash box, which would help in our investigation,” said one of the investigating officials.

It has already been over five days since the matter was reported to the police but it has not been able to crack the case involving one of the most highly-secured banks in the region.

Source: ENS

Chandigarh: As the world celebrates World Food Day with the theme ‘Right to Food’ on Tuesday, India is more worried about an obesity epidemic. Although, the theme is relevant for 26 per cent of India’s population that lives below the poverty line and suffers from anaemia, the doctors are worried about that part of the population that is overeating.

The nutritionist, Fortis Hospital Mohali, Sonia Gandhi said, “This year, we would like to talk about eating right food on the occasion of the World Food Day. For country like India, the problem doubles up. While the poor are not getting enough to eat and are suffering from malnutrition, the middle-class and the rich are eating too much and eating the wrong kind of food.”

According to the findings of the National Family Health Survey III, 45.4 per cent women and 34 per cent men in urban Punjab are obese or overweight. In urban Haryana, the figures are 34.8 per cent for women and 26.5 per cent for men.

Moreover, childhood obesity has increased dramatically in Chandigarh. A recent survey conducted by the PGI indicates that seven per cent of children in the city are obese. The survey conducted by the department of paediatrics at PGI recorded heights and weights of nearly 15,000 students in the age group between five to 15 years in government and private schools. The Body Mass Index of each student was calculated and doctors drew observations.

The survey also revealed that nearly 30 per cent of obese children had obese parents, indicating that the genetic make-up and family lifestyle played a significant role in their obesity.
(more…)

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday extended the seven years jail term of four policemen to life imprisonment in human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra murder case.

Those who had been given life imprisonment are Satnam Singh, Surinder Pal Singh, Jasbir Singh (all Sub Inspectors) and Prithipal Singh (Head Constable) by a court of Justices Mehtab Singh Gill and A N Jindal.

The bench observed that taking the statement of witnesses the court concluded that Khalra was picked up from his house at the instance of SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu by the four.

Khalra was tortured at Jhabal police station and shot dead there and his body was disposed of by them near the Harike Bridge on Sutlej river. He had disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 1995.

The Bench observed, “The sentence of seven years is inadequate and hence extended to rigorous imprisonment for life.”

“The case clearly falls within the ambit of section 364 IPC (kidnapping) and the accused were awarded seven years RI. The intent of appellants was clear as the deceased was abducted with intent to murder as he was active in finding the extra judicial killings in districts of Tarn Taran and Amritsar during the militancy period,” the Bench said.

A Patiala court in 2005 sent Jaspal Singh, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) to life imprisonment in this case.

Source: The Times of India News Service

CHANDIGARH: Unmindful of categorical recent directions of the Supreme Court that registration of FIR was must, police officials in Punjab have simply shut their eyes to the repeated rape of a minor girl and refused to register the case. This has compelled the complainants — the entire panchayat of a village — to move the Punjab and Haryana high court.

The whistle in this case was blown not by an individual, but collectively by the panchayat of Malka Colony of Tarn Taran district which has sought protection for the minor girl and directions to the police officers concerned for doing the needful. The case came up for preliminary hearing before the division bench of chief justice Vijender Jain and justice Mahesh Grover and the victim too was present in the court.

According to information available, the girl, who is a domestic help, was forced by a nurse, Gurmeet Kaur, to have sex with many men over a prolonged period. The nurse has allegedly performed three abortions on the minor.

On October 2, 2007 the panchayat, decided to collectively rescue the victim and chose Jasbir Singh to approach the police in this regard. He then met Valtoha SHO Lakhwinder Singh, who refused to lodge an FIR and threatened Jasbir Singh. Subsequently, SSP Tarn Taran, too was approached who also declined to help, the DIG border range was then contacted. He in turn spoke to the SSP, who again refused to do anything. On the contrary, an FIR was registered against Jasbir Singh.
(more…)

Chandigarh: Just as there are no degrees of beauty, similarly there is no progress in art, believes art teacher and philosopher Ajit Singh. While this may sound like a pessimistic adage, it actually means quite the opposite, adds Singh, a venerable authority on the region’s art. He defines art as ‘changing’, but not progressing. “The word denotes a movement towards a fixed point in a stipulated time. That is not what art is. It is the ebb and flow of time in an eternal present,” says Singh.

Singh said this before a lecture delivered by him at the Gandhi Bhawan, Panjab University, on ‘Time Factor in Modern Art’ as part of the ongoing ‘Crossing Currents’ art exhibition organised by ‘Art Drops’ at the Museum of Fine Arts.

Quoting the great poet Mohammad Iqbal’s views on time, Singh said, “In reality, there is no rest and permanence. To real time or pure duration, the distinction of past, present and future does not apply. In this flow, the past rolls into the present.”

According to the philosopher, innovations in shapes and forms of art, produced at different times, surface at various places. As an example, he talks of Chinese artist Mi Fie (Sung Dynasty 10th century AD), who painted landscapes with dots of complementary colours. He is believed to have followed a tradition that was no less than 1,200-years old. Interestingly, 19th century French artist Georges Seurat too painted landscapes in a similar style, which he termed as pointillism, points out Singh.
(more…)