8 members medical relief team returned from Uttrakhand

 Tue, Jul 16, 2013 at 4:08 PM
People are reeling under severe health problems 

The people in the disaster affected areas around Uttarkashi are reeling under severe health problems and they require long term planning for a comprehensive health care. This was the impression gathered by 8 members medical relief team by the joint efforts of  Indian Doctors For Peace & Development (IDPD), IMA Ludhiana, Punjab Medical Representatives Association and Whole Sale Chemists Association which went to several interior villages and gave medicines to the needy. They climbed on difficult terrains for several kilometers carrying medicines and crossed on man pulled trolleys over the overflowing raging Ganges to reach inaccessible areas. In addition to holding camps to examine the patients, they visited serious patients in their home and gave preventive and curative treatment including intravenous infusions. Large no of population particularly women and children were found to be anaemic and poorly nourished. The infectious diseases particularly abdominal, skin and chest were rampant. Women folk, because they have to bear most of the workload including carrying fodder fuel in form of wood, on their back were found to be having backache and other degenerative problems. The female doctors in the team Dr Mrs NEELAM SANDHU and Dr Miss RACHANA BAWA said that women and children were more affected by anaemia & other diseases of poor nourishment. In addition women had lot many gynaecological disorders. Dr. S. K. PRABHAKAR, 

a psychiatrist in the team found that the large no of population in the affected area were suffering from anxiety, post traumatic stress disorders. He gave them psychological counseling and encouraged them to move forward. Dr. SHAKIL-UR-REHMAN, a paediatrician found underdevelopment among the children. Dr. ARUN MITRA, General secretary IDPD and Former President IMA Ludhiana, who led the team said that there is need for a continuity of work on the health care. People have to be given basic health education to improve their hygiene & surroundings and their nutritional status needs to be improved to strengthen immunity. Efforts have to be made for gender equality particularly for the nutritional status of women. The team further expressed feelings from their observation & information that the collateral damage could have been much less if effective steps would have been taken earlier to avoid damage to the ecosystem and environment by the administration and the people. They also demanded long term planning to preserve  ecology by preventing deforestation & adopting development strategy keeping the environment into consideration to avoid any such disaster in future. The team members were anguished at that some political parties, instead of taking it as a  humanitarian cause were using it for their political ends.
The team had left on 7th July 2013 and stayed in the region for almost a week. On their way back they had to wait for 9 hours on the road due to landslides. The medical relief team got logistic support from the Uttarkashi district health authorities, police and several social activists.

A medical relief team left for Uttrakhand today

Van Mahautsav celebrations

Wed, Jul 10, 2013 at 9:42 AM

Planted and distributed 100 saplings at Kapil Park 

As part of Van Mahautsav celebrations  Bharat Jan Gyan Vigyan Jatha Distt. Ludhiana  in co-ordination with Punjab State Council for Science & Technology, today 10.07.2013 planted and distributed 100 saplings at Kapil Park, Hambran Road.The event was inaugurated by Sh. M.S.Bhatia,Organising Secretay of BJGVJ. In his address Sh. Bhatia stressed the need of planting trees in maximum numbers to save the environment. The residents of the area gathered in good number and pledged to protect these trees. The others who were present included Com.Gurnam Singh Sidhu, Ramadhar Singh, Agya Dass Aggarwal, Randhir Singh Dheera, Babbi Tyagi, Manish Srivastav, Sandeep Kumar,Sonu Kumar, Rohit Gautam, Rajesh Gautam, Raj Singh, Sanjeev Sharma, Narinder Kashyap, Vicky Mehra, Rajinder Kumar, Ravinder Kumar, Varinder Kumar, Manmohan Kumar Bali, Dr. B.C.Kapil, Advocate N.C.Kapil, Jeewan Dass,  Avdesh Kumar, Vijay Kumar, Rahul Mehra,  Golu Mehra Vishal , Deepak and Vipan.

A medical relief team left for Uttrakhand today

Save Punjabi

CPI rally at Ludhiana

Worker on the Bahadarke Road stabbed

Shopkeepers on road

IDPD delegation going to Germany

AITUC meeting held at Ludhiana

A medical relief team left for Uttrakhand today

Sun, Jul 7, 2013 at 11:59 AM
The mission is organized jointly

A medical relief team of doctors and paramedical staff left for Uttrakhand today to give medical care to the needy in the affected areas by the flood which caused unprecedented damage to life and property. The mission is organized jointly by Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD), Indian Medical Association Ludhiana, Punjab Medical Representatives’ Association and Whole Sale Chemists Association Ludhiana. The team which is led by Dr Arun Mitra, General Secretary IDPD and executive member of IMA, Dr S K Prabhaker, Psychiatrist, Dr Rachana Bawa & Dr Neelam Arya General Physicians and Dr Shakeel Ur Rahman–Child Specialist along with Para Medical Staff Kuldip Singh Binder, Anod Kumar and Sanjeet Kumar. The team will stay in the area for 5 days and examine patients in the remote villages. The team was given send off by Dr L S Chawla–President IDPD, Dr Manoj Sobti–President IMA Punjab, Dr Subhash Singla – General Secrretary IMA Ludhiana, Sh.Rajesh Kaul–President Punjab Medical Representatives Association and S.Gurbakash Singh of Wholesale Chemists Association Ludhiana.

8 members medical relief team returned from Uttrakhand

Save Punjabi

Save Punjabi as Subject of Study in the Colleges of Delhi

Delhi University has recently introduced a new Four Year Undergraduate Program (FYUP). Under this Program only three colleges of Delhi University are eligible to offer Punjabi from first year as DC-I (major subject).Inother 13 or 14 colleges of Delhi,Punjabi (including Urdu and other Indian languages) will be taught as a minor subjectonly from the second year of admission (Under so called DC-II). In other words there is no provision for Punjabi students to be admitted to this subject in the first year of admission because the University has clearly specified that the admissions will be made on the basis of Discipline I only. The other colleges where Punjabi was being offered as Compulsory Subject of M.I.L from the first year, have been denied to offer Punjabi as DC-I. It means that there will be no admissions to the subject of Punjabi at entry level.

The argument of the DU authorities is that there is a provision of Foundation Course (Language literature and Culture in Modern Indian Languages) and Applied Course (language) in which students can opt for Punjabi in I Semester only. But the fact is that admission cannot be made on the basis of this Foundation/Applied Course. Moreover these FC/AC courses are of purely elementary level as their names suggest.

The other argument of the DU authorities is that there is a provision under this new Program for offering Punjabi as DC-II (Minor Subject) starting from third semester of the second year. Since no admission can be made on the basis of DC-II, the colleges will be left with no student offering Punjabi. Moreover, the students offering DC-II are not required to pursue the subject of their option for all the six semesters. They can change their option after three semesters. In other words Punjabi as DC-II shall remain for three semesters only which is clearly detrimental to the subject. Moreover, Punjabi as DC-II has been clubbed with other subjects like Science, Commerce and Humanities. This clubbing of Punjabi with these subjects isnot at all conducive to Punjabi as a subject. Under this scheme of things the fate of minority languages like Punjabi and Urdu hangs in balance. They will be at the receiving end, without adequate protection. As per previous practice, these languages need weightage for admission, which is being denied by the present authorities.

Before the inception of this new Course, there was a provision for Punjabi as compulsory subject and the students could offer Punjabi for all the three years. I had been associated with the teaching of Punjabi language, literature and culture in Delhi University for 40 years and have never witnessed such a threatening situation for Punjabi Studies.It never happened in the entire history of Delhi University, which has produced some of the eminent scholars and critics inthe field of Punjabi Studies, when the teaching of Punjabi was sought to be marginalized in such a manner. Therefore, under this newly introduced Program no option other than DC-I ensures proper place for Punjabi as a subject of study. All the colleges offering Punjabi should be provided this facility.

As a matter of fact Punjabi and Urdu have been accorded the status of a second language in Delhi. So the teaching and learning of these languages needs more to be encouraged rather than discouraged. Language is not merelya vehicle of communication;it is part of our cultural identity and way of life. All the regional languages represent the rich diversity of our national culture and civilization. Marginalization of these languages under the newly introduced FYUP of the Delhi Universityisa retrogressive step which needs to be opposed.All the right thinking individuals, educationists, teachers and scholars should raise their voice against this unjustified and discriminatory decision of the authorities.

The following relevant portions of the Discipline-I, Discipline-II & Applied Courses as taken from Website of the University of Delhi are given for your ready reference.

Discipline Courses-I (DC-I) (Major Subject)

Under this programme, students will have to study total 20 major subjects at a deep level for Bachelor with Honours in each course which are called Discipline Courses-I (DC-I).

Discipline Courses-II (DC-II) (Minor Subject)

In the 4 Year Undergraduate Programme, students will have to choose total 6 minor subjects of their liking for additional knowledge and building their competencies outside their main subjects of study. These subjects are called Discipline Courses-II (DC-II). This offers a wide variety of courses as minor subjects those will help the students to learn about the national and global scenario of interdisciplinary mode and enhance their knowledge for getting employment or initiating for self-employment and allied areas.

Applied Courses (AC)

Students will have to choose total 4 skill based subjects that will give practical knowledge which are called Applied Courses (AC). The outcomes of these applied courses are very useful for producing well trained manpower on the one hand and getting employment or initiating for self-employment in the concerned subject area and allied areas on the other.

Note: All the students are required to take all the papers of Foundation Courses & IMBH, Discipline Courses-I and all the papers of Applied Courses. In addition, they will be required to take papers from Discipline Courses-II from same subject or other than main subject. 

AITUC meeting held at Ludhiana

Mon, Jul 1, 2013 at 3:49 PM
Meeting condemned attack on IAS officer Pannu

The state council meeting of All India Trade Union Congress  (AITUC) was held under the president ship of Com Bant Singh Brar. The meeting started with two minutes salience in the memory of victims of Uttrakhand tragedy. The meeting condemned attack on IAS officer Mr.Kahan Singh Pannu and demanded that the culprit should be brought to book. The meeting decided to hold AITUC state conference in Ludhiana on 29th July to focus the burning demands of the workers. Meeting demanded that the workers should be employed on regular basis and contract system should be abolished in toto. All the service benefits including health, education, pension and promotion etc. should be ensured. The unskilled workers should be paid a minimum of Rs.10000.00 per month. Meeting condemned the enhanced electricity bills and rise in electricity tariff. The meeting also decided to host national council meeting of AITUC in Punjab in October 2013.

Some more links:

CPI rally at Ludhiana

Worker on the Bahadarke Road stabbed

Shopkeepers on road

IDPD delegation going to Germany

AITUC meeting held at Ludhiana

Another child gets new lease of life at CMC

Cherubic Child With Heart Disease from the valley

Ludhiana, 17th June, 2013:(Shalu Arora and Rector Kathuria):Mr Mohd Hanif and Mrs Noorbano of Srinagar are extremely happy parents today. Their lovely angelic child – Baby Rakina – aged 2 years was suffering form a major heart defect (large hole in the heart) which was damaging her heart and lungs. Rakina was not growing according to their age and would get recurrent infections. She would land up in the emergency room of the hospital in J & K time and again. The parents were told that Rakina needed an early heart surgery. However Mohd Hanif – a labourer was unable to collect the money required. He was then were referred to Dr Harinder Singh Bedi – Head of Cardiac Surgery at the CMC & H Ludhiana. On investigation it was realized that only a major open heart surgery could save Rakina as her heart was close to its terminal condition. Dr Bedi who has had advanced training in the treatment of such cases at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in Australia said that if untreated the lungs of such children get damaged beyond repair . In co-ordination with the Director – Dr Abraham G Thomas and Dr Jugesh Chattwal Prof and Head Paediatrics – it was decided to perform the high risk case under the Gift of Life scheme funded by the CMC Alumni USA and the UMSF USA.

A major heart surgery was done wherein Rakina’s body was placed on a heart lung machine, the heart stopped and put on ice and the hole in the heart repaired. Dr Bedi said that there were some tense moments when the heart lung machine was stopped. However by Gods grace – Rakina’s heart recovered immediately. Dr Chattwal said that Rakina’s heart is now normal and she can now lead a normal healthy life. The other members of the team during the marathon surgery were Dr S Garg, Dr Melchi, Dr Allen, Dr Anish,Dr Aradhana, Dr Shipra and Dr Neethu  . The delicate control of the heart lung machine was done by Mr William and Mr Jairus.

Dr Abraham G Thomas – Director of CMC said that the Institute is fully geared to take care of such children with heart defects. Dr Bedi told that it was only because of the strong backup of the CMC faculty and infrastructure that most of the heart defects could be safely treated in CMC.

Worker on the Bahadarke Road stabbed

AITUC demanded immediate arrest of culprits 

                                                                                                                                                                               File photo

The all India Trade Union congress (AITUC) has demanded immediate arrest and strict action against the culprits who stabbed a worker on the Bahadarke Road. Addressing a rally of thousands of workers today at the Bahadarke Road today Com. D P Maur- general Secretary Joint Council of Trade Unions Ludhiana said that the law and order situation is very bad in the city and maximum brunt of the situation is to be borne buy t he poor workers who have to go for duty in shifts at any time of the day or night. The police has failed in its duty to provide security to the citizens particularly the workers.  Not only that the labour laws are flouted with impunity and the poor workers do not get their dues or health or other social security benefits. Dr Arun Mitra- Asssistant Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) demanded that there should be 24 hour police patrolling in the area which should not remain just on the main road but in the street and  mohallas. The workers should be issued identity card by the employers so as to avoid harassment by the police while checking. Com Kuldip singh Binder- member district council of the  CPI said that if the culprits are not arrested by tomorrow the agitation will be intensified. Com Feroze Master – General Secretary of the Hosiery workers union said that the workers of the area would not take rest till the culprits are taken to task. Com Shafiq also addressed the rally and appealed to workers to continue their peaceful agitation for security, social security benefits and implementation of labour laws in letter and spirit.  
D P Maur

General Secretary

Joint Council of Trade Unions

Mobile: 94176022333