Punjab's chess industry exports its products

Played by kings, emperors and potentates, chess is called the "royal game" and Amritsar in Punjab has upheld that royalty by manufacturing the finest quality of chessmen. The industry established some four decades back, by a group of craftsmen now exports its products to several European countries.

Presently some 50 such manufacturing units in Amritsar are into the business of making world-class chessmen, catering to the world some 100 to 150 designs of wood and board.

The chessmen are made mostly of rosewood, ebony, sheesham, bone and sandalwood. For the Amritsar chess industry, with a turnover of over two million US dollars, there is no problem with the exports, the only problem lies with the middlemen.

Cancer spreading out in Punjab Village, Unkalia

Residents of a once flourishing village, Unkalia, in Punjab have appealed for help as an unusually high incidence of cancer has left over 25 dead in two years.

Twenty villagers are still battling the deadly disease, which has afflicted more men than women in Unkalia, around 25 kilometres from Mansa district, a village of about 5,000 people. Locals say there is a pattern to the deaths and suspect contaminated water as the main cause of the disease.

Despite the high mortality rate, the village lacks facilities for treatment of cancer at the local health centre. Villages have also threatened to resort to agitation if immediate action is not taken

Plans to uplift Punjab Tourism

Punjab Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) has charted a roadmap with special emphasis on medical and heritage tourism and is encouraging participation from the private sector.

The government also has elaborate plans to spruce up Patiala through the Heritage Festival to be hosted in February 2006. The idea behind these plans is to uplift the status of tourism in the Punjab.

Punjab Government plan is to make Patiala a national tourists calendar and make the place a part of the international tourist itinerary. A light and sound show has been proposed for Patiala that is likely to come up in the next six months.

These efforts need to be co-ordinated with health and medical institutions, tour and travel operators, hotels and government agencies who are responsible for the upkeep of major tourist places in the state.

Fauji Mela in Amritsar on Army Day

In an attempt to encourage civilians to join the defence service, the Panther Division of the Army is organising a two-day Fauji Mela (Army Fair) in Amritsar.

The fair which kicked-off on Saturday, has been organised on the occasion of the Army Day. January 15 is celebrated every year as Army Day since 1948 when Lieutenant General K. M. Cariappa became the first Indian Commander- in- Chief (C-IN-C).

President APJ Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee have extended their best wishes to all members of the Army, to ex-servicemen and to their families.

20% Potato crop damaged in Punjab due to frosty weather

About 20 per cent of the potato crop in Punjab was damaged due to frosty weather conditions in Punjab, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said today.

Talking to reporters in Chandigarh, he said about 75,000 hectares of agricultural land in the state were under potato cultivation of which 20 per cent was damaged.

If the weather will not be under control in the coming few days, then more damages could be faced.

Live Grenades found in Golden Temple

A large cache of live hand-grenades was found in the Golden Temple complex on Tuesday when Kar-Sewaks were digging the ground here.

Numbering 114, the grenades, mostly live, were unearthed near the Nanak Niwas building which falls under the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee complex.

The police have cordoned off the area and were investigating whether these grenades were remnants of the 1984 Operation Bluestar or of current origin.

The 1984 Operation Bluestar was launched against Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a preacher turned separatist who ran his terrorist campaign from the confines of the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of the Sikhs, in Amritsar.