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The Indian Express ,
Chandigarh, 8th March 2010,Scientist Jatinder Kaur Arora has
won the Indian Television Academy award for her contribution to
the empowerment of rural women in the State
AMONG the host of film stars, cosmeticians, fashionistas who
took to the stage to receive their award at the Great Women Award
by Indian Television Academy in Mumbai last week, there was also a
45-year old, whose profile was somewhat different from the rest.
Jatinder Kaur Arora, Additional Director, Punjab State Council for
Science and Technology, was conferred the award for her sustained
work in the field of genetic literacy programme that has helped
create awareness about female foeticide in the state.
Arora says she tried explaining the genetic code to the rural folk
in the villages of Punjab as simply as she could. "It's not
possible to explain the concept of X and Y chromosomes to
villagers, so I used the metaphor of threads. I told them that all
humans have 46 threads, and two threads determine the sex of the
child. While mother contributes green threads, father gives a
green and a red. The child with one red thread is a boy. So
eventually, it's the man who literally determines the gender of
a child. I called it the thread theory," she says.
For many of the rural women, this awareness became a boon to
emancipation, particularly in the face of domestic abuse and
societal pressures. 'At least they could tell their husband that
the responsibility lay with them, when they were beaten up for
not having a male child," she says. The attitude of the men too
underwent a change. "They said that they knew how the machinery of
a tractor worked. Now they could understand the human body better
too," she smiles.
Her study threw up other data too, such as how only about 11
percent rural women in Punjab were aware of the fact that
marriages among blood relatives contribute to genetic disorders
and only 17 per rural women were aware that genetic contribution
from father determines the sex of a child. Talking of Punjab's
abysmal sex ratio and spiraling foeticide cases, she wears a
pensive look. "I am the youngest of three sisters, and had always
thought that my parents were expecting a son, when I was born. To
overcome the feeling of being unwanted, I started educating
parents about gender issues," she says. A product of PAU,
Ludhiana, Arora has also worked on socio-economic empowerment of
women in the Shivalik foothills by promoting cultivation of
medicinal and aromatic plants.
Recalling the glittering evening in Mumbai, Arora says she didn't
know that the evening would be attended by the likes of Aishwarya
Rai, Sushmita Sen, Saroj Khan, Zoya Akhtar and Miss India Pooja
Chopra among others. "Most of the awardees had come with their
families. I wish my mother had been there with me," she says.
The Indian
Express, Chandigarh, 11th May 2010, Punjab scientists tip
innovators on protecting intellectual property :
Manufactuires of
farm equipment in Moga come up with unique technologies, but do
not know how to protect and cash in on their intellectual
property. A case in point is the paddy straw reaper that leaves
very little residue in the soil so that the next crop can be
planted with ease, and is customised according to the need of
Punjab farmers.
“Due to lack of
awareness, some unique technologies, when displayed at exhibitions
and fairs, get exposed to big and foreign manufacturers. So, it is
important to make manufacturers aware of their intellectual
property rights (IPR),” says Dr Neelima Jerath, Executive Director
of the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology (PSCST),
which had set up Intellectual Property Facilitation Centre (IPFC)
for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) last year.
The
IPFC has decided to focus its energies on Moga industries and MSME
is the driving force behind a large number of innovations and 90
per cent of the farm equipment used in Punjab is manufactured
here. The IPFC, which has received nine applications since
February this year from industries across Punjab, also plans to
guide clusters of sports goods in Jalandhar, cycle parts in
Ludhiana and bathroom fittings in Mohali.
“We
are planning to hold workshops, and have already held meetings
with CEOs of industries in Ludhiana. A helpdesk has been set up at
Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertaking (CICU) in
Ludhiana, where on every second and fourth Thursday an IPFC
official addresses IPR related queries. An innovator can also call
up at the IPFC office in Chandigarh, and an official will be sent
to his doorstep,” says Gurharminder Singh, an IPFC scientist.
About the initial
hiccups, another scientist, Vikas Asawat, says people are more
apprehensive of infringing upon intellectual property rights of
others than interested in getting their own. “We get so many
queries from manufacturers asking us to check if the technology
they are using is not patented by anyone else, as damages the IPR
holder can seek may be huge,” he says. Talking about trends,
Gurharminder says the sports goods industry in Jalandhar is more
interested in knowing the major players in the field worldwide and
the IPRs they have sought and own. “For them, we prepare a
technological scan report in Rs 5,000, covering trends in 110
countries.”
Dr Jerath says
with the assistance of the Centre, a steering committee has been
constituted in Punjab to monitor and guide IPFC. The committee,
which will have industries director as its chairman, will meet
once in three months. President of the Moga Agro Industries
Association is also a member of the panel, which will have a term
of three years.
IPR cells in all
varsities
Intellectual
property rights cells have been set up at all state universities
to facilitate students, teachers and other staff members, who have
an innovation under their belts, says Gurharminder. Financial aid
will be given to the cell where a nodal officer will be appointed
to get various clearances from the university authorities.
Types of IPRs &
registration fee
* Patents (eg: brake system in automobiles): Rs 1,000 for
individuals, Rs 4,000 for company.
* Trademarks (eg:Wheel, Swastik pipes): Rs 2,500 for goods and
services and textile trademarks.
* Industrial design (eg: jewellery): Rs 1,000
* Geographical indications (eg: Darjeeling tea): Rs 5,000
* Copyrights (eg: books, songs, software): Rs 50 for literary,
dramatic, musical and artistic work; Rs 400 for sound recording;
Rs 600 for cinematographic film
* Trade secrets (eg: business plans, financial data): No fee as
such. If there is an agreement, then attorney fee and stamp duty
as applicable.
Hindustan Times, Dated: November, 30,
2009,Workshop on ‘intellectual property rights for SMEs’
Chamber of
Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU) in association with
Punjab State Council for Science & Technology (PSCST), Chandigarh,
conducted a one day workshop on awareness/sensitatisation of
‘Intellectual Property Rights for MSMEs’ at CICU Complex here late
evening on Saturday.
Dr. Neelima
Jerath, Executive Director, PSCST, Chandigarh, in her introductory
remarks said the ‘objective of this initiative was to impart
skills to industry professionals to manage intellectual property
on day to day basis. IPR needs to be intertwined with all
technology interventions to enable Indian Industry to face global
competition”, she said, and stressed that India had a very good
patent law and it needed to be enforced properly and industry
needed to understand support available for intellectual property
protection.
A series of
technical and operational sessions ranging from Role of IPR in
MSMEs, Overview of IPR and Some Case Studies, IPR Related Schemes
of Ministry of MSMEs, Experiences of MSMEs in Punjab and
Trademarks and Brand Management were dealt in detail by Dr.
R.Saha, director Patent Facilitation Centre (TIFAC), Dr. Neelima
Jerath, Executive Director (PSCST), Anil Kumar, Deputy Director
(IPRs), MSMEs, R.C.Chopra, Director, MSME-DI-Ludhiana and Vikas
Asawat, Project Officer (IPFC).
Inderjit Singh
Pardhan, President, CICU and Chairman, Small Industry Development
Board, Punjab, expressed his gratitude to the Chief Guest J.S.
Kandhola, Additional Secretary, Department of Science &
Technology, Punjab for attending the workshop. In his inaugural
speech, he emphasized that Indian Industry was passing through
hard times. He said that CICU was regularly conducting
seminars/workshops so as to provide innovative and empowering
solutions crucial for development of MSME industry.
The welcome
remarks were given by Avtar Singh, General Secretary, CICU. He
said in the present economic scenario, MSMEs were to be encouraged
for enhancing awareness sensitization of IPR, so that they could
develop the right skills sets to face the challenges head on.
‘This workshop will provide a form to learn implications of
various important IPR tools, so that their units are in a better
position to take measures not only protecting their own ideas and
business strategies, but also avoiding infringement of the
relevant rights of others through their operations, he said.
Upkar Singh, Joint
Secretary, CICU in his concluding remarks said the workshop would
foster IP culture, create a system of IP facilitation, exchange of
best practices, enhancing knowledge regarding comparative analysis
of IPR enforcement techniques and to learn methods for
strengthening legal framework and chalk out strategies for
industry action. He expressed his gratitude to Dr. Jerath and high
officials of Ministry of MSME and Development of Science
Technology and Environment for sparing their precious time and
thanked all participants for lively and interactive discussion.
The Time of India, March 3,2010 , MRA Sr. Sec Model School,
Sec-27 , Chd
"Environment Day" was
celebrated with due fervour and spirit, Dr RC Mishra IPS, IG,
Admn
Law & Order Haryana was
chief guest and delivered his key note address. Director S Mahajan,
principal S Savant, all the staff and students were present in the
school. Dr Mishra gave his talk in a very simple terms and
language and guided the school children about the universal
problem of environment, the warning of the global warming. Dr
Satnam Singh Jt Director Punjab State Council for Science and
Technology also enlightened the audience on the subject. A
painting competition was also held in two different categories.
Dr RC Mishra gave away the prizes to the position holders in
each category. Director thanked the guests for their enlightening
talks. After the programme in the auditorium tree plantation
ceremony was also in the school campus. Dr RC Mishra, Dr
Satnam Singh, Director S Mahajan and Principal S Savant
planted saplings. Besides a good number of teachers and students
also planted trees.
The Times of India, March 8, 2010 --St Stephen's School,
Togan Bags GREEN SCHOOL AWARD, 2009
Green School
Programme, is conducted every year by Centre for Science and
Environment, New Delhi. All government and private schools
participate in this programme. A state-level Green School
Programme was conducted by Punjab State Council for Science and
Technology (PSCTC). PSCTC invited schools to submit their
environmental audit reports covering five main areas, viz, land,
air, water, waste and energy. They were to measure the parameters
according to a given scale.
National' Environment
Awareness Campaign (N'EAC), organized a guidance workshop on
"Climate change” at PSCTC office, Sector 26, Chandigarh. In this
programme lectures were delivered by ,Dr Arun Deep Ahluwalia and
Dr Satnam Singh Ladhar on environment and global warming issues.
The PSCTC presented
awards to top ten schools of Punjab, out of which St Stephen's
School, Togan was ranked 7th and also received a special award for
outstanding work pertaining to Water Parameters. It must be
mentioned that the school has its own Sewage Treatment Plant (STP)
for water conservation. Sewage water is purified and used again
for watering the plants, the playgrounds and the lawns. The solid
waste is treated and used for manuring the lawns and the gardens.
This helps in water conservation and makes St Stephen's School,
Togan, an environment friendly model school.
Chandigarh Tribune , February 6, 2010 -Seminar on
Environment
Under the National Environment Campaign, a one-day seminar on
"Reduce, carbon pollution and control seasonal changes" was held
at Govrnment In-Service Training Centre, Patiala, here today.
Padamshree Baba Sewa Singh, Khadoor wale, was the chief guest. The
seminar was organised by Punjab Sate Council of Science and
Technology, Chandigarh, with the help of environment and forest
department, Government of India.
Principal of the centre Inderjeet Kaur Gill welcomed the chief
guest. She stressed upon the need to preserve environment for
better living. She cited the example of Baba Sewa Singh who had
planted 50,000 trees in a campaign to save earth. Baba Sewa Singh
stressed on the need of planting more trees and preserving them.
He said: "Planting a tree alone was not enough. One should also
ensure that it is taken care of, so that it grows up into a
healthy tree."
Dr Charanjit Singh from the Punjab Pollution Control Board
supported his opinion. He thought human greed was the reason
behind air and water pollution. Our current lifestyle had already
led to an increase in the temperature of earth by 10C and further
increase would be deadly, he added. Gurnek Singh from the punjab
Energy.
Development Agency stressed on the need for preservation of
electricity. Project coordinator Archana Mahajan said tiny steps
could be helpful for preservation of air and water pollution. Ban
of polythene bags, using cloth bags, replacing meat by vegetables
were small things that were important.
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