or more than 500 volunteers of the National Service Scheme (NSS), who camped at the sprawling lawns of GADVASU and PAU here for a week-long NSS Special Winter camp, it was all about spirit of brotherhood and social work. The seven day camp that got off to a colourful start on January 21, came to a close on Wednesday, with volunteers getting exposed to a blend of variety of activities including beautification of campus; yoga and aerobics sessions and lectures on varied subjects related to health. Jointly organised by Guru Angad Dev Veterinary ad Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) and Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), the camp with a theme "Swasth Aur Swatch Bharat” had participants carry out a special cleanliness drive in campus. “The campaign included whitewashing of trees and black and white painting on pavements besides collection and dumping of leaves and painting of flowerpots at their respective colleges”, informed NSS Programme Coordinator of GADVASU, Nidhi Sharma. Dr. Harmeet Singh, Programme Coordinator, PAU, mentioned that a total of 500 students from both universities participated in the camp and encouraged students to be eco friendly and to keep their surroundings clean to become better citizens of the country.
During the week, health awareness programmes and practice session of yoga and aerobics were conducted by Krishan Lal Gupta, President, Patanjali Yog Samiti (Ludhiana distt) and Parvesh Kumar, aerobics trainer at Lodhi club respectively. The experts dwelled upon the various life saving techniques of Yoga.
On the concluding day Ayurveda expert Dr. Gauhar Vatsyayan, Head of Department of Ayurveda at Deep Hospital, exhorted the participating students and faculty to adopt healthy lifestyle. He sought to familiarise the NSS volunteers with most effective Ayurvedic therapies and enlightened them about the divisions of day into 2 parts named as Dinchaarya (Day time routine) & Ratricharya(Night Routine) in Ayurveda. “Everyone has to strike a balance between both for good health and tune our bodies to this nature's cycle of day and night. This cycle further regulates the various other rhythms and processes in our body”, he told gathering. He also asked the students to shun bad food habits such as consumption of junk food to avoid heart attacks, obesity and other related diseases.
Earlier while a senior Biochemist Dr. Neena Chawla explained the ill effects of smoking; another expert Inderpal Kaur presented a lecture on female foeticide as she stressed upon the need to eliminate gender bias.
