The management of Hotel Majestic Park Plaza organised blood donation camp with the support of DMCH on occasion of Women's day. 52 volunteers donated blood. S. Jagpal Singh Khangura (Chairman) Arun Jaie (Area Director) were also present on this occasion.

People are the most important asset of any institution, establishment, country or family, said Dr Mohan Joseph Modayil, member, Agriculture Scientist Recruitment Board, New Delhi.

He said an establishment with huge money, buildings and infrastructure could enjoy success only when the people working were dedicated to their responsibility.

He was delivering a lecture and presentation on ‘People First’. He was here on invitation by Dr VK Taneja, Vice-Chancellor, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University.

He said as a teacher, his priority was student first and he worked on it for a quarter of a century, but for the last 10 years he had been working on people first.

Dr Joseph said human resource was the soul of every establishment. “No success has been achieved without people and the level of success depends on the level of people,” he said.

He shared a number of tips to become a ‘total quality person’ (TQP). He said one’s conscience guided him whether he was a TQP or not.

He said timely decision, control on anger, usage of ‘thank you’ and ‘please’, cordial relations with everybody and quest for knowledge were the main characteristics to become a TQP.

Dr OS Parmar proposed the vote of thanks. After the presentation, Dr Joseph visited the College of Veterinary Science, the College of Fisheries, the College of Dairy Science and Technology, the dairy farm and the poultry farm along with Dr Simrat Sagar Singh, dean, Dr AS Nanda, director, research, and Dr KS Sandhu, DSW. He also discussed a number of future plans with Dr Taneja

An awareness camp was organised to mark the Farmer’s Day at Kailpur village, near here, yesterday. The camp was organised under the national project of organic cultivation.

Dr Rajinder Pal Singh Aulakh, agriculture development officer, Ludhiana block, presided over the camp and highlighted the benefits of organic cultivation to villagers.

“The earth had sufficient recourses to fulfil the needs of human beings but not the desires of the human race,” he said.

The camp was inaugurated by Farmers’ Advisory Committee, Punjab, chairman Maghar Singh Braich.

Braich asked farmers to conserve natural recourses for the next generation by using it optimally.

Appreciating the training camps conducted by the agriculture department, he said such camp not only made farmers aware of making maximum profits from agriculture and allied business but also provided information on latest technologies.

Dr Sukhpal Singh, agriculture development officer, Ludhiana, highlighted the schemes offered by the government for farmers.

He said farmers could avail of benefits by making agriculture development clubs.

He called upon farmers to intensify their efforts to enhance the agriculture productivity.

During a technical session, farmers were asked to adopt organic methods of cultivation.

Dr Baldev Singh Sivia, agriculture development officer, stressed that organic methods were much more effective as compared to chemical fertilisers and insecticides.

Dr Virender Kaur Randhawa, head, home science extension department, PAU, stressed the establishment of self-help groups by womenfolk of villages.

Amanpreet Ghai laid stress on the intervention of government to develop needed machinery to be used in organic cultivation at concessional rates, while Dr Rajinder Pal focussed on government intervention in marketing organic products as well as produce.

‘Asal’, a self-help group of Barewal village, exhibited its edible produce and distributed plants of shadow, fruit and of medicinal values free of cost among farmers.

The Ludhiana District Weightlifting Association (LDWA) will organise the 33rd Ludhiana District Weightlifting Championship at the Ludhiana Weightlifting and Bodybuilding Club near Rakh Bagh here on March 14.

According to Parvesh Sharma, a former international weightlifting star and general secretary of the LDWA, competition in the men’s as well as women’s sections will be conducted during this one-day championship.

Interested participants have been asked to report at 6.45 am at the venue. The body weighing will start at 7 am and the competition will commence at 9 am, said Sharma.

Urging the Centre to make public the “black list” of Sikhs, Congress MLA Jassi Khangura on Tuesday demand- ed a “pragmatic review”, saying a number of blacklist- ed persons had never been involved directly or indirectly in militancy. “The list must be made acces- sible under the Right to Information Act. It needs to be pragmatically reviewed as it includes numerous injustices,” the Qila Raipur MLA said at a press conference.

In this list, he said, a dis- proportionate number of Sikhs feature who had been black- listed since the days of mili- tancy. “Many Sikhs have been added to the list based on poten- tially spurious allegations,” he said. The MLA demanded dis- closure of the principal reason behind inclusion in the list, cat- egory of offence or allegation.

He said it had become nec- essary to have a fresh risk assessment of every Sikh name featuring on this list in view of changed circumstances. It was also unjust that those featuring on the “black list” were neither made aware of the issues that necessitated their inclusion nor were they offered any opportunity to plead their case, he argued, saying: “This must change.”

Many blacklisted NRI Sikhs, he said, were victims of the police-led Punjab land mafia.
Khangura said: “Property worth thousands of crores of NRIs in Punjab has been usurped by the police by fabricating evi- dence, recording false state- ments and filing false FIRs with the objective of adding names to the `black list’.”

He said Sikhs who had made secessionist demands be given an opportunity to submit an affidavit rejecting their earli- er stand and swearing alle- giance to the Constitution of India. “If this country can allow Parkash Singh Badal, who had insulted the Constitution out- side of Parliament, to hold high office without even a morsel of apology, then surely we must not exclude from India those persons now prepared to reject their earlier views,” he said.

The MLA said that many NRI Sikh mediapersons fea- ture on the list on the basis of statements they had allegedly made in the past due to vari- ous compulsions. “Time has been a great healer. Views have changed.” He cautioned that resentment might rise if these issues were not addressed promptly.

The Agriculture Department in collaboration with the Co-operative society, Lalton Khurd, and Jhande and the PAU, Ludhiana, organised a seminar-cum-workshop to mark the national field day.

Ludhiana Chief Agriculture Officer Dr Yadwinder Singh Chhina was the chief guest of the seminar that was held in the co-operative society building of Lalton Khurd village while Dr Baldev Singh Sivia, (retired), Chief Agriculture Officer from Barnala, and chairman Maghar Singh Braich were the guests of honour. Resource persons from PAU including senior agronomist

Dr Surjit Singh, senior soil scientists Dr Dalwinderjit Singh and Dr Surinder Singh Kukkal and Dr DS Benipal. Agriculture officers of Ludhiana block Dr Parkash Singh, Dr Amanjit Singh, Dr Sukhpal Singh, Nirmal Singh and Dr Jagdev Singh were also present in the seminar.

The seminar was organised under the Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA) of Punjab and was focused on crop diversification and conservation of natural and non natural resources. More than 500 farmers from all villages of Ludhiana block had participated in the seminar and the queries raised were answered by the present resource specialists.

The specialists mainly stressed on multiple crop cultivation system with alternative crops. They also laid stress on adopting the crops that required low usage of water from sowing till harvesting and slowly transform from paddy cultivation to other crops. The farmers were informed that the cultivation of pulses were highly profitable on one hand and water saving on the other hand. They sought co-operation of farmers to make the National Grain Security Mission (Pulses) a success in the interest of the nation and coming generation.

The conservation of natural and artificial resources was sought by the experts. The experts expressed their apprehensions that in future the problem of food grains would be alarming. They said on one hand, the population was rising at an alarming rate, while the area under cultivation was decreasing. Moreover, the productivity of the land was also decreasing and under these conditions there was no other substitute to adopt scientific methods to raise productivity of the foodgrains.

The soil scientists favoured the use of residue of agriculture produces as a method of natural fertilisers along with animal manure. They said the use of insecticides, pesticides and chemical fertilisers should be minimal as per need, as the nitrogen might increase the probability of fatal diseases specially in children, if it was used more on land.

Urging the Centre to make public the "black list" of Sikhs, Jassi Khangura, Congress legislator from Qilla Raipur, has demanded a "pragmatic review" saying a number of blacklisted persons had never been involved directly or indirectly in millitancy.

He has further asked the Centre to make changes in the Right to Information (RTI) Act, allowing release of the information on the black list to the extent of providing information about the people “barred from entering the country and the reasons for the same”.

Khangura, who was himself a NRI before contesting elections and returning to India, said people were put on the black list signifying “persona non-grata,” who were to be denied entry into the country over flimsy complaints.

“There have been instances where a neighbour has written to the High Commission or embassy accusing a person of anti-India activity. Without any verification such people are entered in the black list,” he said.

Describing this anomaly as the violation of the fundamental Human Rights, Khangura said he would meet the Prime Minister and ask for developing a mechanism for making the entire process transparent.

“If a person is involved in seditious activity do not let him come to India, but you have to give the people an opportunity to defend themselves,” he said. Though, the black list runs pretty long, he pointed out that it was estimated that the list contained 205 Sikhs in 1984, raised up to 489 in 1998-1999, was reduced to 134 in 2003 and is currently believed to be over 200.

Khangura said, having just returned from a tour of the USA, Canada and the UK, he had received numerous complaints on the black list which pragmatically needs to be reviewed. Not only does this list feature a disproportionate number of Sikhs but also many have been listed for a large number of years during which the circumstances, both here and abroad, have changed. Many Sikhs have been added to the list based on potentially spurious allegations.

He demanded that the black list must be made accessible under the provisions of the Right to Information Act, if not in full then at least to the extent that individuals may clarify their inclusion in the list or otherwise. “This will prevent the gross injustice against persons issued visas by our foreign missions being denied entry on arrival in India,” Khangura said.

He pointed out that Sikhs on the black list fall into three categories; One, those who are involved in organisational activities outside the country that are designed to cause harm within the country. These persons must remain excluded.

The second category is those compelled into militant actions, for whatever reason, but who have now rejected their earlier stance. They should be given a second chance and lastly, those who had never been involved directly or indirectly in militancy or in the promotion of succession, but who now, find themselves the victims of spurious allegations.

Jassi Khangura, Congress legislator from Qilla Raipur, has demanded setting up of an appellate authority for NRIs, who have been blacklisted by the Union government and denied entry into India.

He has further asked the Centre to make changes in the Right to Information (RTI) Act, allowing release of the information on the black list to the extent of providing information about the people “barred from entering the country and the reasons for the same”.

Khangura, who was himself a NRI before contesting elections and returning to India, said people were put on the black list signifying “persona non-grata,” who were to be denied entry into the country over flimsy complaints.

“There have been instances where a neighbour has written to the High Commission or embassy accusing a person of anti-India activity. Without any verification such people are entered in the black list,” he said.

Describing this anomaly as the violation of the fundamental Human Rights, Khangura said he would meet the Prime Minister and ask for developing a mechanism for making the entire process transparent.

“If a person is involved in seditious activity do not let him come to India, but you have to give the people an opportunity to defend themselves,” he said. Though, the black list runs pretty long, he pointed out that it was estimated that the list contained 205 Sikhs in 1984, raised up to 489 in 1998-1999, was reduced to 134 in 2003 and is currently believed to be over 200.

Khangura said, having just returned from a tour of the USA, Canada and the UK, he had received numerous complaints on the black list which pragmatically needs to be reviewed. Not only does this list feature a disproportionate number of Sikhs but also many have been listed for a large number of years during which the circumstances, both here and abroad, have changed. Many Sikhs have been added to the list based on potentially spurious allegations.

He demanded that the black list must be made accessible under the provisions of the Right to Information Act, if not in full then at least to the extent that individuals may clarify their inclusion in the list or otherwise. “This will prevent the gross injustice against persons issued visas by our foreign missions being denied entry on arrival in India,” Khangura said.

He pointed out that Sikhs on the black list fall into three categories; One, those who are involved in organisational activities outside the country that are designed to cause harm within the country. These persons must remain excluded.

The second category is those compelled into militant actions, for whatever reason, but who have now rejected their earlier stance. They should be given a second chance and lastly, those who had never been involved directly or indirectly in militancy or in the promotion of succession, but who now, find themselves the victims of spurious allegations.

Congress MLA Jassi Khangura on Sunday asked Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to ensure that the pandemonium in the last Assembly session when even turbans were also tossed around does not occur again in the ensuing session beginning March 4. "With a summer of verbal abuse and a winter of turbans flying in the Vidhan Sabha, and all the disruption and corrup- tion prevalent in 2009 fresh in my mind, I felt it was time to ask whether, as the Chief Minister and leader of your party, you will strive to ensure the same debacle does not take place this session," Khangura asked the CM in his open let- ter.

Khaungura accused Badal and his MLAs of distracting from the issues of the law and order breakdown in Ludhiana and the perilous condition of the state's finances during the last session.

Punjab Congress leader Jassi Khangura today demanded that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal should ensure that violence scenes are not repeated in ensuing session of the State Assembly on March 4.

In a statement here, Khangura said though the CM was an elder statesman, the same could not be said about his son Sukhbir Badal and that there was a need to ensure “Sukhbir’s MLAs maintained a certain level of civility and clarity”.

Khangura said he understood that during the last session, the SAD did not want a discussion on the law and order front as well as the disturbances in Ludhiana. He said the Congress, however, did not think that this would mean an end to democratic debate and discussion as had happened during the last Assembly session.

The Congress leader said notwithstanding the breach of privilege proceedings against the Leader of the Opposition, the fact remains that the Congress Legislative Party did not act differently in any manner from earlier Vidhan Sabha Sessions. “What happened in December 2009 was a premeditated action by your MLAs on unsuspecting colleagues of mine,” he added.

Claiming that the entry of Sukhbir had resulted in deterioration in the atmosphere in the Assembly, Khangura appealed to the CM to use his position to control ‘disruptive elements’ that were seeking to detract from the business of the House.