lS poll pushes HPAS prelim exam date
Shimla: Short of staff for conducting the HP Administrative Services preliminary examination, the date for which was announced for 11 May, HP Public Service Commission (HPPSC) has announced postponing the date to June 15. A spokesman of the Commission stated that on the request of staff deployed in the Parliamentary elections, the Commission decided to hold the HPAS Preliminary Examination on June 15, whereas earlier it had been fixed for May 11. The decision was taken at a special meeting on Thursday presided over by KS Tomar, Chairman, HPPSC.
Awareness against drug de-addiction needed
Chandigarh: Drug abuse is not new but matters have been getting worse in recent months as almost a whole generation of young people is being lost to a menace with 67 per cent of rural households in Punjab having at least one drug addict in the family. Most drug addicts belong to the 16-35 age group. Against this background, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Punjab State Council organised an awareness session on drug de-addiction for the students of Government ITI Nawanshahr. Karam Chand, Principal ITI Nawanshahr, said that there was great need to create awareness among the youth about the devastating effects of consuming drugs. Paramjit Singh Sachdeva, co-convener, CII CSR panel, CII Punjab State Council and Managing Director Sachdeva Stocks Pvt ltd briefed the students about the CSR activities CII is doing in the state and urged the students to keep themselves away from the drugs.
Nirankari devotees donate blood
Chandigarh: A blood donation camp was organised on Thursday at Sant Nirankari Satsang Bhawan, Sector 30A, in which 490 Nirankari devotees, including 78 women, donated the blood units. The camp was inaugurated by zonal in-charge, Dr BS Cheema, who said that under the auspices of the Sant Nirankari Charitable Foundation, 69 blood donation camps were organised across the country on Thursday. Every year, the day of 24th April is observed as Manav Ekta Diwas (Human unity day) to commemorate the supreme sacrifice of its former spiritual head, Baba Gurbachan Singh and to remember hundreds of devotees who laid down their lives for the noble cause of truth, love, peace and unity. Dr Cheema further said during the current year 18 camps would be organised in the Chandigarh Zone, out of which this is the first one and the next camp will be conducted at Pinjore on May 4.
Banks in Himachal target `13k cr credit line
Shimla: Committing to fund the States socio-economic sector, banks have drawn up an ambitious `12,932 crore annual credit plan for 2014-15 year, top bankers disclosed at a State-level bankers committee (SlBC) here on Thursday. SK Nandi, convener of SlBC and general manager of UCO Bank said the banks had approved the annual credit plan pegged at `12,932 crore for the current financial year. At the meeting presided over by Shrikand Baldi, Principal Secretary Finance, the banker disclosed that by end of December quarter, banks had disbursed a fresh credit of `9,265 crore which was more than the budgeted target. Till December, the total number of bank branches in the State gone up by 54 to total at 1760, and there were 1305 ATMs installed at various places in the State.
BSU, HPU to work on collaborative projects
Shimla: A meeting on academic collaboration between Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) and Bath Spa University (BSU) of United Kingdom (UK) was held under the chairmanship of Prof ADN Bajpai, Vice-Chancellor here on Thursday. In the beginning of the meeting the Vice Chancellor apprised that the possibilities of handling joint research projects between Department of Geography, HP University and Department of Geography BSU be worked out and taken to the logical conclusions. The decision on award of joint degree and research programme between Bath Spa University and HP University was taken and agreed in principle. Details regarding the signing of MOU between both partners shall be finalised at the existing Institutional arrangements.
Vemb Retail launches men’s deo rover
Chandigarh: VEMB Retail has launched a new men’s deodorant brand — Rover. It has also launched a pan India contest — Khula Dhakkan Nikla Hero. Vemb Retail has entered the personal care business with the launch of six different variants — Cryptic, Brisk, Zeal, Greed, Fierce and Bond for men, depicting the different moods of a man. Rover deo variants are intended to target young consumers in the 18-25 age group, particularly the urban male go-getter. To enter in the contest, all that a one needs to do is to buy a can of Rover deodorant, fill an application form and he may get a chance of become the hero of Rover deodorant’s television ad. The contest rolled out on April 18 and will continue till May 17.
Pension adalat for ex-servicemen
Chandigarh: As part of the Army initiative to reach out to the veterans, Ambala based Kharga Corps had tasked a number of teams to visit ex-servicemen and have them mapped in terms of contact number and apprising them of ESM help lines established for their assistance. Based on the feedback of this Institutionalised Outreach Mechanism for Veterans (IOMV) teams, the issue of a large number of veterans having pension related grievances was highlighted. To have this important aspect addressed with minimum inconvenience to the veterans pension adalats under the aegis of HQ PH and HP (I) Sub Area, Ambala in coordination with CDA (PD) Meerut have been organized at Ambala and Karnal on April 24 and 25. The aim of these pension adalats is to redress all pension related grievances.
Air NCC enrolment campaign begins
Chandigarh: A two-day seminar on ‘Aerospace quality perspective’ will be conducted by 3 Base Repair Depot, Air Force, Chandigarh from April 28 to 29 at CII Conference Hall, Sector 31 A , Chandigarh under the aegis of Headquarters Maintenance Command, Indian Air Force Nagpur in association with Hindustan Aeronautical limited (HAl) and Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI). Air Marshal P Kanakaraj, Air Officer Commanding in Chief, Headquarters Maintenance Command Indian Air Force Nagpur will inaugurate the Seminar. It will go a long way in enhancing the Aerospace Quality in respect of maintenance, production and reclamation in the aviation industry. Key dignitaries and personnel from Indian Air Force, HAl and AeSI will be attending the seminar.
Seminar on waterborne disease held
Chandigarh: The 1st international “ZooPa” workshop on ‘Zoonotic waterborne and food borne parasites’ enters its second day on Thursday at PGIMER, Chandigarh. This workshop kicks-off a three-year educational exchange project between India and Norway, in which the Department of Medical Parasitology, PGIMER, Chandigarh is the Indian partner and the Department of Food Safety and Infection Biology, Norwegian University of life Sciences (NMBU) is the Norwegian partner. During the second day of the workshop, group discussions were conducted about risk ranking of foodborne parasites in the context of the Indian scenario. Prof. Rakesh Sehgal, Head of the Department of Medical Parasitology, PGIMER, highlighted the medical importance of zoonotic waterborne/ foodborne parasites. He emphasized that over 60 percent of human pathogens are considered to originate from animals.