Recruitment of pre-primary teachers extended
Chandigarh: Punjab Government has extended the last date for receiving application to June 9 for the posts of Pre-Primary Teachers. A spokesperson of the School Education Department said that the Directorate of Education Recruitment had invited applications from eligible candidates for filling up of 8393 posts of Pre-Primary teachers till December 21, 2020 and later this date was extended to April 24, 2021. According to the spokesperson, due to some technical reasons and keeping in view the interests of the candidates, the date has now been fixed on June 9, 2021 so that all the candidates can apply. According to the spokesperson, these applications can be uploaded on the department's website www.educationrecruitmentboard.com.
8,000 students write to Punjab CM
Chandigarh: Concerned over the impact of deteriorating air quality on their health, over 8000 school students from across Punjab on World Environment Day have written to Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh urging him to immediately initiate steps by acting on the rising air pollution, which will help safeguard their health. The demands from students predominantly echoed their right to clean air and the right to breathe at the same time highlighting the fact that Punjab has some of the most polluted cities in India like- Mandi Gobindgarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Khanna, and Patiala. Even during the lockdown under second wave, when most of the industries were shut and movement halted, Ludhiana noted an average air quality index (AQI) of 135 whereas the good AQI is 0-50 and moderate is 51- 100. Even Fazilka and Rupnagar, which are considered some of the greener regions in Punjab noted on average AQI of 113 and 129, respectively. This alarming data puts focus on the immediate need for an intervention and promoting actions to reduce the prevalent severe air pollution. The initiative of creating awareness amongst students on Air Pollution was carried out under the Clean Air Punjab project by EcoSikh.
Six-day webinar series on EPCB Haryana
Chandigarh: On Environment Day, the Environment Pollution Control Board Haryana on Saturday started a six-day webinar series that would be continued till June 10. Inaugurating the first day of the webinar series today, Additional Chief Secretary Environment and Climate Change Department, Dheera Khandelwal said that nature is the basis of human life. Addressing the participants including teachers and students who attended the webinar from all the colleges across Haryana, Khandelwal said that nature is a precious part of human life and efforts should be made to save the same by planting more and more trees. She said that poetry, story, drama and science books related to conserving and protecting nature would be published for the Nature Clubs that are functional in all colleges across Haryana. The keynote speaker at the function, Dr Dinesh Kumar, Principal Scientist, ICAR-I SORI, New Delhi, discussed the scientific aspect of the importance of environmental protection in the ancient Indian tradition.
Punjab to address air pollution problem
Chandigarh: To address the problem of growing industrial air pollution in Punjab, the Industry & Commerce and the Science, Technology & Environment departments on the ‘World Environment Day’, announced partnership with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) South Asia and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC India) to launch the use of an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The State Government would work with J-PAL South Asia and EPIC India to design and establish pollution markets in Punjab. The partnership includes providing technical assistance and capacity building to public officials to effectively use data and research evidence from established and functioning emissions trading market at Surat. As a first step in this partnership, the State Government and the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) would also launch an ETS to regulate emissions from 200 dyeing industries in Ludhiana besides reducing particulate and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the state.
