Change priorities of governments

Demands BJGVJ

Ludhiana, October 7, 2012: Ludhiana District  Conference of  the Bharat Jan Gyan Vigyan Jatha (BJGVJ) held at Punjabi Bhawan here today.

The event was held on the completion of 20 years of organization.

It urged for changes in priorities of the governments so as to achieve sustainable development for the benefit to all citizens and preserve ecology.

The conference was held on the theme “Sustainable development - achievements, challenges and opportunities”.

Maj. (retd) Sher Singh Aulakh, President delivered the welcome address.

Dr.Arun Mitra, General Secretary, placed the report of activities, the achievements and the issues such as deteriorating environment, degradation of ecology, persisting false beliefs and biases, gender discrimination and glaring inequalities in the society for the future.

Inaugurating the function, Amarjit Kaur, National Executive Member of Bharat Jan Gyan Vigyan Jatha said these problems had been given least priorities by the successive governments. “Our natural resources are being exploited without any consideration of the needs of people and the flora and fauna around”, she said.

Adding, she said it was unfortunate that the International agencies too were being given open hand in this exploitation. There was need for fixing the priorities for sustainable development to meet the requirements of  our population, she said.

Dr. LS Chawla who chaired the inaugural session said that health and education were real assets. “We are spending huge amount on the arms while in contrast spending on health is much less”, he regretted.

Adding, Dr. Chawla said India with a large number of technically trained people had ample opportunities to  uplift the society.

Dr. Neelam Gulati Sharma, Additional Director Punjab State Council for Science and Technology said that the council was all for popularisation of science to develop innovative technologies at the local level which were essential for a developing country like theirs.

Adding, she appreciated the Jatha for inculcating scientific outlook among the people in general and students in particular.

Highlights of the event include deliberations on clean energy options, role of women in promoting  healthy environment, forward to clean and healthy Ludhiana and a quiz competition on environment among students.

The inaugural session was chaired by Krishan Lal Malik and Pardeep Sharma

The  session on energy was chaired by Dr Bharti Uppal and Dr Sanjeev Uppal gave a presentation.

Dr Balbir Singh and Dr Rajinder Pal Singh Aulakh were the panelists. They stressed the need for renewable energy resources to meet energy needs. The use of nuclear power was decried as it is neither safe nor economical. 

The sessin on women was chaired by Rajinder Kaur. Gurcharan Kocher, Dr Narjit Kaur  and Kusum Lata made presentations on these issues.

The session on forward to clean Ludhiana was chaired by DP Maur. Manjeet Singh S E, Municipal Corporation, Dr J S Bilga-advisor  Landscape Mohali and Er G S Gill, XEn, PPCB, Ludhiana addressed the gathering and stressed on the need for joint and concerted effort by the administration and citizens to make our city clean and environment friendly.

In the event 200 students and teachers from 15 schools and three colleges participated and took part in the quiz competition on environment and discussion.

Ranjeet Singh and Kusum conducted the quiz.      

MS Bhatia compeered the proceedings.

For the next term a team was elected with Maj. (Retd.) Sher Singh Aulukh as President and Dr.Arun Mitra as General Secretary. MS Bhatia as Organising Secretary, Dr.Balwant Singh, Gurcharan Kochhar, Krishan Lal Malik, DP Maur, Ranjit Singh and Pardeep Sharma, were elected Vice Presidents.  Dr Rajinder Pal Singh Aulakh,  S.Sohan Singh Dr.Jawinder Singh, Dr.Narjit Kaur, Kusum Lata and Amritpal Singh were elected Secretaries and Dr. Gurpreet Singh Rattan was elected as the treasurer. In addition an executive committee was elected to run the affairs of the Jatha.