Punjab, January 21: Although the world is finding itself deep into the recession, the global financial meltdown is coming up as a boon for small-scale industries in Punjab. “This slowdown in the economy has certainly proved a blessing in disguise for many small-scale units operating here. Various small-scale industries have started getting good business,” said K.S. Mahal, general secretary, Mohali Industries Association (MIA).As big units focus on cutting costs by resorting to various means, the small-scale sector is going to see its full potential. Adhish Bansal, who runs a small auto bearings manufacturing unit in the industrial town Mohali, about 10 km from Chandigarh said, “Our business has gone up by over 60 percent in the past three-four months. Many of our new clients are from Gujarat and Maharashtra. Our workers are working round the clock to complete orders.” This has led to an increase in demand and an excessive work load. With deadlines to be met, owners feel compelled to refuse orders. “Earlier, we only had clients in this industrial area and did not send our products to other states. It's different now,” said Atul Mahajan, owner of a small-scale precision engineering equipment unit in Mohali. However, there is another side to this story as the bigger units in Punjab’s Jalandhar industrial area are a suffered lot as they cannot run production on a lower scale to execute small orders, said a senior MLA official.

Punjab, January 20: Punjab is a land of rich culture and heritage with rural sports being a strong part of its cultural inheritance. The government is taking initiatives to inspire youngsters and encourage them to be a part of it. To take rural sports to new standards of excellence at both national as well as international levels, village authorities joined hands with the government and non-resident Punjabis to organize annual rural sports meet in Ludhiana. Thousands of spectators thronged the venue to enjoy the sports meet in which different competitions were organized including bullock cart race, dog race and horse race were held. They felt enthralled by the thrilling traits of the participants. “Rural sports is their in our blood, and it a part of our culture and tradition. People take part in various events like bull race. Even if they fall down and get hurt, it is like a passion and they get up and take part in the race again,” was how Gurbax Singh, one of the participants, felt about the competition which is a much-awaited occasion for NRI the world over.