Navjot Sidhu and O.P. Saini to inaugurate PITEX at Amritsar tomorrow

North India’s biggest international trade expo, PITEX opens  tomorrow at Amritsar’s Ranjit Avenue.

This is the 13^th edition of the trade show that is a premier event organised by national apex body, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry every year with Government of Punjab as the host state.  

Addressing the media at PITEX’s trade fair venue, PHD’s Punjab Chapter Chairman R.S. Sachdeva said that last year memoranda of understanding worth Rs.2,258 crores were signed that makes PITEX an event which is opening new doors of opportunities for the Punjab’s businesses and trade.

Endorsing PITEX success, Amritsar’s Deputy Commissioner Kamaldeep Singh Sangha remarked that this annual event is not only strengthening business ties with different participating and visiting countries, but also helping the localS economy too.

Punjab’s Minister for Local government, Tourism and Cultural Affairs,  Navjot Singh Sidhu and Minister of Education & Food Processing O.P.Soni, would formally inaugurate the exhibition at 11:30am and would address the industry on one of the most focussed areas of the state government, Tourism.

Some of the industry experts including the former head of hotel and restaurants association and prominent hotelier, Man Mohan Singh Kohli, and another stalwart pioneering the preservation of heritage monuments in the District Sangrur, Karanvir Singh Sibia, shall share the ground realities and way forward in this area.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Ranjeet Mehta, Principal Director, PHDCCI said this time exhibitors from Afghanistan, Turkey, Thailand and Egypt are also participating in PITEX. Pakistani products will also be on display & sale during the event. Apart from these, states like Jharkahnd, J&K and Rajasthan are also participating in big way in the event.

Vinni Mahajan, Additional Chief Secretary Industries and Commerce, shall share the new policy initiatives by Punjab government and Vikas Pratap, Secretary Tourism shall be sharing State’s vision

The Regional Director of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry,  Madhu Pillai informed that this time over 425 exhibitors are participating in an area spread over 30 thousand square meters in Ranjit Avenue.

Some of the major public sector corporations participating include NSIC, MSME, Ministry of Textiles and National Jute Board, PSIEC, GMADA, Punjab Agro Industry Corporation, PEDA,  Milkfed, Markfed, amongst others.

Rotary Chandigarh to setup India's first Health Education Centre

·     MoU signed between Chandigarh Administration and Rotary Club Chandigarh·     Rotary to spend nearly Rs.2.2 crore for the project
·       Governor of Punjab and UT Administrator Shri VP Singh Badnore offers all support to Rotary in various development projects

Chandigarh Administration and Rotary Club of Chandigarh have signed a memorandum of understanding for setting up one-of-its-kind Health Education Centre in the city.

The MoU was signed by B.L. Sharma, Secretary Education, representing the UT Administration and President of the Club, AP Singh in the presence of Shri V.P.Singh Badnore, Governor of Punjab and Administrator UT, Shri Parimal Rai, Advisor to the Administrator, DGP Shri Sanjay Baniwal, former world president of Rotary International Rajendra K. Saboo and other senior officers of the UT Administration.

Shri Badnore commended Rotary’s endeavours for this unique project and the first one in the country to be setup in the city, and said that this is a new beginning and Administration would like to partner with Rotary Club Chandigarh for its various other initiatives.

Former world president of Rotary International, RK Saboo said that the Club would be spending approximately US$ 300,000 (Rs.2.2 crores) for the Centre for which expertise, and know how shall come from US-based, McMillen Health Centre, located in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

This state-of-the-art Health Education Centre is meant to educate school students about fundamentals  of medical science, human physiology, and  would also serve as Training Centre to impart training to master trainers as well as teachers, informed former world president of Rotary International Rajendra K Saboo who had conceived the project.

Chandigarh Administration has decided to setup this Centre in Government Model High School, Sector 22C, in the first phase, and later a site would be identified by a committee comprising representatives of the Engineering, and Architecture departments and the District Education Officer.

It would also work as centre of excellence in providing basic medical education, health checkup and training, and would be managed by a team of administrative staff, team of doctors and experts under a society which shall have Advisor to the Administrator as Chairman while Home, Health, Finance and Education Secretaries of the Chandigarh Administration as members along with various other members from various departments as well as the head of the PGI, and two members of the Rotary Club.

Rotarians present on the occasion included past district governor Madhukar Malhotra, Past Presidents Baldev Agarwal, Charanjit Singh and Manmohan Singh Kohli, and incoming club president Surinder Pal Kaur, DPS Principal Reema Dewan, Head of Community Diseases PGI Dr JS Thakur, Vinod Kapoor, Abha Sharma, among others. 

Save Your Child from Tobacco: Citizens Awareness Group & Consumer Voice

40 lakh tobacco consumers in Punjab

Rinki Sharma, Head Projects for Consumer Voice briefed media about the increasing vulnerability of school children to tobacco products which requires strict implementation of COTPA

Citizens Awareness Group and Delhi-based NGO, Consumer Voice, underlined the need for strict implementation of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution Act, 2003 (COTPA) in the region to protect children from tobacco consumption.

Addressing media here today at Hotel Aroma, Rinki Sharma, Head Projects & CSR for the Voluntary Organisation in Interest of Consumer Education (VOICE) said that the need is to strictly ensure the implementation of the Act especially where the lives of school children and youth to tobacco products is at stake.

An Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) report says that tobacco use accounts for about 30 percent of all cancers in men and women in India while tobacco related cancer accounts for 42% of the male deaths and 18.3% of female cancer deaths.

According to National Family Health Survey 2015-16, in the past one decade, the number of men using tobacco products in Punjab has increased from 19.2% to 34%, and Chandigarh itself has 17 percent population consuming tobacco.

(L-R) Surinder Verma, Chairman, Citizens Awareness Group
with senior cancer specialist, Dr S M Bose, and Consumer Voice
Head-Projects Rinki Sharma.

Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) India in its 2016-17 reports that out of the total population in Punjab, 7.3% smoke tobacco and 8% use smokeless tobacco. 

Dr S.M. Bose, former senior professor and head of Surgery and Emergency in PGI, who has also authored a book, among others, on ‘Cancer’ said that tobacco is a slow poison and there should be total ban on its consumption.

Not only it causes direct cancer but also effects various other organs causing peptic ulcer, esophagus cancer, prostrate, urinary bladder, and pancreas, he said.

He lamented to increasing trend amongst urban women to adopt smoking which the studies have proved cause breast cancer too.

Author of book on cancer, Dr S M Bose, voiced
total ban on tobacco.

Dr Bose said 114 people die every hour in India due to tobacco use, and expressed his dismay at the results of a recent survey by PGIMER in 25 government schools of Raipur Rani where it found 25 percent children consuming tobacco.

Surinder Verma, Chairman, Citizen Awareness Group, informed that along with Consumer Voice special initiatives are being taken to sensitize all stakeholders and would be approaching the authorities to effective implementation of COPTA, by not only banning the use of its sale within 100 yards of the school premises as also making licensing of the vendors selling cigarettes and all type of tobacco products.

Rahul Mittra’s Production ‘Sahib Biwi aur Gangster III’ to be released on 27th July

The third edition of ‘Sahib Biwi aur Gangster’ with Sanjay Dutt on the lead is due for release in July 27 this year, informed award-winning producer Rahul Mittra, the Chandigarh-lad who made it big in the Bollywood.

Winner of best producer award at numerous international film festivals including Poland , Norway, Vietnam and winner of 2017's Amity Leadership Award among others, Rahul Mittra was in the city today to meet with his classmates from St. John’s High School from 1987 batch.

“It is always exciting to come to your home town where I spent my childhood and had great time in the school which taught me to excel in every field,” Rahul quips.

His next venture is on suicide-bomber kids with Sanjay Dutt in the lead as an army doctor posted in Afghanistan, called “Torbaaz”

The film has been shot in geographically isolated highly mountainous terrain, Kyrgyzstan, and would be released sometimes end of this year, Rahul informed.

“I must move on from one space to another, and next venture probably would be on the digital front,” he announced.

Sharing his memories of the school, he said: “I was a great story-teller always in school and started writing in my 9^th and 10^th for the school magazine, as well as for the local daily.”

Rahul lost his father, a senior IAS officer in Punjab Government,  in 1988 in a helicopter crash, and he immersed himself in studying hard and entered the field of journalism, and moved on to corporate communication, marketing, media and events management, promotions, before landing up in Bollywood to try his hand as film producer. 

“Without any godfather, I moved into the industry with professional communication skills having had tough grounding in varied aspects, getting into this complicated art of cine production somehow appeared easy for me,” Rahul said who is a well-respected studio head in Bollywood.  

His first production of Sahib Biwi aur Gulam (SBG) with Randeep Hooda was a box-office hit and thereafter there was no looking back, with SBG becoming a franchise of which the audience will see the third edition this July.

 His earlier movies that received people’s appreciation include Saheb Biwi aur Gangster, Saheb Biwi aur Gangster Returns, Revolver Rani, Bullet Raja, Sarkar 3, Daddy, etc., that gave him the opportunity to work with some of the Bollywood’s top actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Rampal, Irrfan Khan, Randeep Hooda, Jimmy Sheirgill, Kabir Bedi, Kangana Ranaut, Sonakshi Sinha, Chitrangda Singh, Mahie Gill, Nafisa Ali, amongst others.

Sedentary lifestyle and growing stress leading cause of heart attack among youth: Dr Rajneesh Kapoor

Dr Rajneesh Kapoor of Medanta shares case studies on structural heart intervention with medical fraternity

The growing incidence of heart disease among youth is an area of concern, said Dr Rajneesh Kapoor, Senior Director Interventional Cardiology at Medanta in Gurugram addressing the IMA Chandigarh and Physician Forum Chandigarh at the CME last night.

Dr Rajneesh Kapoor shared four case studies of patients suffering from serious heart ailment who could be treated with new technology of “structural heart disease interventions” at Medanta.

Dr Rajneesh who is a heart transplant expert, shared his concern over the growing cases of heart disease amongst youngsters, which, he said was resulting from not only sedentary lifestyle, bad eating habits, but more significantly, because of the sleep deprivation.

Sharing his study of 104 patients under 35 years,  at Medanta, Dr Kapoor found 67 percent of them were having less than 6 hours of sleep, and were also stressed out
because of competitive work environment leading to increased stress.

He advised that they should learn to take care of the stress, get minimum six hours of god sleep, change their eating habits, and should quit smoking.

Another study on 40 to 55 years patients revealed sedentary style as the main culprit, which can be countered through regular exercise that can help improve the heart fitness by 25 percent, control hypertension and diabetes, he said.

For Media Queries:
CJ Singh, M: 093161 33924

Chandigarh Literary Society to confer Lifetime Achievement Award on Ruskin Bond

Chandigarh, 22 November : The 5^th edition of the Chandigarh Lit Fest, Literati, organized by Chandigarh Literary Society (CLS) shall be held at the Chandigarh Lake Club on 25-26 November 2017.

Addressing the media CLS Chairperson and Festival Director Dr Sumita Misra informed that the trilingual lit fest shall have many prominent authors participating including world-renowned Padma Bhushan awardee Ruskin Bond, who will be delivering the keynote at the inaugural.

CLS is conferring the Lifetime Achievement Award on Ruskin Bond for his unparalleled contribution to the Indian literature, she said.

Canada’s Consul General Dr Christopher Gibbins informed that Canada is the partner country this year again after the last year’s success, and two celebrated authors Lee Maracle and Columpa C. Bobb would be participating in the second day session on “Roots and Wings” which he would be moderating.

Celebrated Hindi writer and Vice Chair of CLS Madhav Kaushik said that Literati’s major focus is to promote good literature in the region and nothing else, and this lit fest has gone from local to global with the participation of international authors.

The poster and the sessions schedule of Literati 2017 was also released by the Team Literati

In the two days back-to-back sessions will see authors sharing their insight on varied genres of writing vis-à-vis its social impact. The Team Literati also released the poster and the Sessions Schedule on the occasion.

The inaugural shall be followed by an hour-long session of Ruskin Bond in conversation with Dr Sumita Misra, while the post lunch sessions would span poetry, prose, stories, and history.

For those who enjoy history, “Lost and Found: History & Culture” shall get to interact with author of “Invisible City: The Hidden Monuments”, Dr Rakhshanda Jalil along with famous author of “Mr and Mrs Jinnah” Sheela Reddy.

Archana Saini, Saurabh Sharma, Vineet Bajpai, Vandana Shukla, Neel Kamal Puri are some of the authors featured on the first day.

Waseem Barelvi, Kunwar Bechain Naseem Nikhet, Gyan Parkash, Vivek Trilochan, Lochi Mahak, Bharti, Chander Trikha and  Madhav Kaushik are the eminent poets who would be presenting their latest creations in the trilingual mushaira on the first day evening.

The second day shall open with famous Panjabi writers Atamjeet Singh, Jasbeer Mand and Manmohan Singh, with Ravee Pandher moderating the session.

Neel Kamal Puri shall be moderating the session on ‘The Political and The Personal’ with celebrated author and biographers Khushwant Singh and Shantanu Gupta author of “The Monk Who Became Chief Minister”

The Mumbai-based celebrity nutritionist and winner of the prestigious 'Nutrition award' from Asian Institute of Gastroenterology and exercise science expert, Rujuta Diwekar  would reveal her insight into uncomplicating the process of eating.

On this occasion Ram Varma’s political memoir, “My Encounters with the Three Lal’s of Haryana”  shall be released, and in a special session on stories of officialdom, fiction writer and former bureaucrat Vivek Atray shall moderate the session withRam Varma and bureaucrat and author of “Memoirs of an Unrepentant Civil Servant” Robin Gupta on the panel.

The winners of this year’s CLS short story writing competition shall also be awarded prizes at the concluding function on Sunday.

Literati is supported by the Chandigarh Administration and the Department of Cultural Affairs Government of Haryana.

Hatil to expand to newer territories in India

Hatil, a  leading international brand in home and office furnitures, looking for franchisees

Chandigarh, November 1:  Hatil, the leading global furniture brand, which entered the Indian market with its first showroom in Zirakpur, is now looking for franchisees in Punjab and Haryana cities. 

We are looking for young, energetic and passionate entrepreneurs who have the zeal to be a part of the home and office furniture market, says Avan Goel, the CEO of Hatil India, whose company, Kratos Furnishers, holds the master franchise for the brand. 

With its 80 outlets across the globe and nearly 70 in Bangladesh itself, Hatil India plans to increase its footprint in India for its elegant and slim designs, said Avan Goel.

HATIL has gained acceptance in Australia, USA, Russia, Canada, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan and the Middle East because of superior quality, craftsmanship and a strong after-sales service.

HATIL traces its root in HA Timber Industries Ltd., a company established in 1966, while HATIL was established in 1989 by Selim H. Rahman, which uses state-of-the-art technical know-how from Germany and other countries, and making it the largest furniture manufacturing facilities in Asia.