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Journalism of Courage
Punjab Sarkar amp; Pu
The recent letter by the Punjab Chief Minister to the Union government asking it to make the Punjab Governor the chancellor of the university has once again brought into focus the peculiar position that PU enjoys.
A senator and member of the university Syndicate, Dr R.D. Anand, has dug up some interesting facts from the record books. He points out that the Punjab governor was the chancellor of the university during its earlier years and the situation changed after the Punjab Reorganisation Act was passed. Anand says that under Section 72 of the Act, the Central government can issue directions from time to time for Panjab University as it is an inter-state corporate body. The power to issue directions will continue till other provisions are made.
On November 1, 1966, a notification was issued substituting the words quot;Government of Punjabquot; by the words quot;Central governmentquot;. Section 9 stated that the chancellor shall be appointed by the Central government by notification in the Gazette of India.
Further, a notification was issued stating that the Vice-President of India shall be the chancellor of PU with effect from September 1, 1967. And the position has stayed like this since then.
Go-getter
Punjab Education Minister Tota Singh sanctioned a Rs 2.5-lakh grant for S.A.S. Nagar8217;s Government Primary School in Phase II and then Rs 40,000 worth of free uniforms for needy students came in from the Bibi Nanaki Kirtan Jatha, 100 jersies each from the Phase-V Residents8217; Welfare Association and Shiromani Akali Dal president Amrik Singh and Bright Public School, S.A.S. Nagar, gave furniture and a tat.
The credit for mobilising these many useful gifts goes to Surinder Kaur, centre head teacher and a recipient of a state teachers award. Kaur also takes the credit for getting the Phase II school completed and organising its inaugural function.
More suggestions
After spearheading the agitation against the levy of parking fee in Sector 17, the Traders8217; Association has given a memorandum to the local MP, Satya Pal Jain, suggesting that the levy of parking fee should be part of the road tax and the local Municipal Corporation should be given a 50 per cent share in it.
The Association has also suggested that 50 per cent of the amount collected by way of challaning various traffic violators in the City should also be given to the Corporation for maintenance of roads and parking lots in the City. Any takers from amongst the Administration or MC?
Chandigarh, Punjab?
Concerned about the lack of civic amenities in Chandigarh, local Congress leader B.M. Khanna wrote to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and promptly got an acknowledgement from the PMO, which mentioned that his letter had been quot;forwarded to the Punjab Chief Secretary for appropriate actionquot;. Coming events cast their shadows before 8230;?
Getting unstuck
Yasmin Dutta has struck again. This time with a one-man8230; oops! one-woman show of useful articles made from waste material. The one-month long exhibition at the DC Model School, Sector 7, Panchkula, is in fact a curtain-raiser to WEB Women Entrepreneurship Block, set up to in her own words quot;encourage women to be financially independent without getting into the rut of 9-to-5 jobsquot;.
Aaaii-eeee 8230;!
That8217;s what attacking karatekas shout of course. You hear a lot of that at Naya Gaon8217;s Century Public School. This small school has proved itself to be a nursery of karate champions. Its students have done the City proud by winning six medals in the All-India Inter-School Karate Championship held at Indore from September 18 to 20. Ten students comprised the school8217;s team at the championship, organised by Shotokan Karate Academy Madhya Pradesh; of these, three won silver and three won bronze medals.
Education shows
Although a large number of rallies and dharnas are held in this City, there8217;s hardly any variety in them. Identical hai-hai and zindabad-murdabad, identical speeches, identical threats, et al. Day in, day out, it8217;s the same old stuff8230; except for the school teachers8217; rally last week. The agitating teachers really showed their stuff. Language teachers quoted literary figures, social science teachers made reference to politicians, mathematics teachers compared teachers8217; unity to a triangle which can never be broken! And a science teacher amused the gathering when he said water will continue to boil and form vapour which does not condense until the fire below is extinguished.
Wild goose chase
The truckload of men appeared to be heading for some early morning rally. quot;We8217;re going to Sector 35,quot; they replied to the curious reporter, quot;but we don8217;t know why.quot; Suspecting that some uproar might be in the offing, the reporter followed the truck to Sector 35. Alas, no uproar. The crowd had been trucked to swell the cheering squad assembled to felicitate a Congress leader on his re-election as president. And as if quot;no storyquot; that wasn8217;t bad luck enough, he had to face the frown of his seniors for being late for the morning meeting.
Guard troubles
A woman Home Guard volunteer was deployed on Madhya Marg to ensure that slow-moving traffic remained in the slow-way carriage and did not stray onto the main road. When a cyclist did not heed her, she attempted to deflate the fellow8217;s tyres 8212; as per her seniors8217; instructions. That8217;s when the guy got nasty and assaulted her. Fearing further humiliation, the woman did not even report the matter to the police. On the other hand, one sees men Home Guard volunteers deployed with a private contractor8217;s employees busy intimidating motorists and forcing them to get their vehicles etched after paying money. Perhaps the bosses need to apply their minds while deploying the Home Guard volunteers.
Nothing by halves
Everyone can draw inspiration from the slogan adopted for the Special Olympics held last week in Chandigarh. According to the Express photographer, the slogan is so good that nobody should ever be left to guess about it quot;so how come they put up just half the message?quot; he asks. His snap of the adhura hoarding accompanies this edition of Cityscape.
