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| Monday, September 11, 2000, Chandigarh, India |
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Can the PU Senate/Syndicate really govern? CHANDIGARH, Sept 10 — Any institution is as good as the decision-making ability of its management. And this fact applies to Panjab University also. The two governing bodies of the university, the Senate and the Syndicate have been given complete authority to decide on matters of the university, and as a practice, all major and a large number of even minor decisions are taken based on the discussions which take place in these bodies. As a result, the kind of people who get elected and nominated to these bodies is of great value to the functioning of the university, and what has been observed during the past one month is part of the four yearly affair of the constitution of the 85-member Senate, from which a Syndicate of 15 members will be chosen. A close look at some of the proceedings of the last Senate and Syndicate meetings shows how decisions at the university are taken. The issues which are taken up regularly and discussed routinely at these meetings pertain to promotion schemes, the pension scheme, the rules and regulations governing the service of staff. The fact that most of these issues have continued to be part of these discussions for almost two decades says a lot about the pace of working of these bodies. In fact it took 32 years for the government to decide that Haryana State should not have any ex-officio position in the Senate. For the discussion of a large number of issues which needed to be discussed but had not been mentioned in the agenda, a zero hour was created. But as it happened the zero hour extended beyond an hour most of the times and in the end most of the agenda items were rushed through. At the start of any such meeting the Vice-Chancellor gave long winding speeches about the university in particular and the education system in general, at times he would go on and on about the way he had invited a particular guest for a particular function etc. The Syndics and Senators did no better. The issues raised by many of them during the zero hour pertained to behaviour of the university staff or why they had not been invited to a particular function and that the facilities at the Guest House and Faculty House were bad or that they had not been given a room to stay when they had come to attend the meetings. At other times members of these governing bodies had long discussions on how much money be spent on the VC’s room furnishing. Since an exorbitant amount was being asked for, it was widely condemned. The much-discussed issue at each meeting is the decision of the selection committees made to appoint faculty and staff for the university. But although every one seemed to have a problem or the other with the selection committee’s decision, in actuality not a single suggestion to improve the system of selection or make it more transparent was given. All that was said was that the system was bad. Then there have been some occasions when these august houses were scenes of unruly behavior and it is on record that statements like “the university has become like a fish market by levelling allegations against teachers as had also happened in the case of Hindi and Punjabi departments” were made. It has also been noted that when discussions became too “hot”, the VC would simply get up and leave the meeting. At times, members of these governing bodies are simply not informed about what was going on . Some of them complained that they had not received the agenda before the meeting or had received it very late to make any worthwhile comments on the issue being discussed. Also there was the problem of recording the proceedings. Many members complained that their comments had not been recorded properly. Mr Anirudh Joshi had stated in the Syndicate meeting of July 18,1998, that he had been misinterpreted and that the names of Mr V K Bansal and Mr Hundal had been mentioned as being members of the Syndicate when they were not. A discussion ensued and some members advised that the members send in writing what they had meant, to which Mr Rajinder Deepa said “Senators do not have any time to go through the proceedings and send the correct version in writing. “Then the discussion moved to the regular demand that the proceedings be tape recorded or VDO taped so that there was no gap between what was being said and what was to being recorded.” In another instance, members of these bodies had no idea how to deal with an issue which was sub judice. A discussion commenced on whether a matter in the court be discussed at all and a large variety of views were expressed where no one seemed to have any idea what to do with the issue. Office employees of the university complained to the VC that senators had levelled “unwarranted and wild allegations against the clerical staff and demanded that the “university fellows may kindly be advised to follow the rules of the university” Then some senators had their set of problems too. When the university asked them to do certain tasks, Mrs Kuldeep Kaur Pannu replied that at times their principals did not give them leave to do work of this variety. The list of such instances is endless. The question that looms large at this juncture when the new governing bodies are being constituted is that will these be able to deliver the goods?
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Arya versus Bansal in PU Senate poll CHANDIGARH, Sept 10 — Two well-known figures of Panjab University come face to face in a crucial clash in elections to Senate in the category of teaching faculties on the campus tomorrow. Prof P.P.Arya , a former president of the Panjab University Teachers Association, is poised against Prof V.K.Bansal, chairman of the Department of Laws, in the professors of the arts faculties round. Prof Bansal is the Dean Student Welfare and a former Dean Alumni. Prof Bansal is understood to be in close contact with Mr Gopal Krishan Chatrath, a major power centre of the campus. Prof Arya has been a president of PUTA for three times and a secretary once. Prof Arya was elected once earlier as member of the senate. He remained a member of the house by virtue of his being the president of PUTA twice. The campaign is hectic not merely in this category but for all seats in separate categories,” a senior teacher said. Candidates in the science faculty for the professor’s category include Prof R.N.Vashisth (anthropology), Prof R.K.Kakkar (Geology) and Prof Rabinder Kumar also from Geology. Prof Rabinder Kumar is a former president of a university housing society. He was a member of the Senate for a small time before his promotion as professor. Prof Kakkar is a sitting member and Prof Vashisth is also a former member. The polls tomorrow witness elections to two seats in the professors category, — one each from the science and arts faculties. Another two seats have been marked for the lecturers and readers category — one each from the arts and science faculties. In the readers and lecturers category from the arts faculty, the runners include Dr Keshav Malhotra, Dr Pardeep Sharma and Dr K.K.Sharma, all from the evening studies, and Dr Kiranpreet Kaur from Sociology Department. The science category features Dr Harjinder Singh Laltu, a former PUTA secretary from the Chemistry Department, against Dr Tankeshwar from the Physics Department. Besides the local campus, voting in this category will also be held at VVBIS and IS, Hoshiarpur and the regional centre, Muktsar. The new Senate assumes office on November 1. The present Syndicate, however, carries on till the year end. September 17 will witness elections for 31 fellows in different categories. |
Sardool sings for serial CHANDIGARH, Sept 10 — Well-known Punjabi singer Sardool Sikandar has rendered his voice in a TV serial Kissa Puran Bhagat, which will be telecast on the Lashkara channel next month. According to a press note, apart from traditional songs, Sardool has sung kaliyans — a style of singing becoming extinct — written by Qadar Yaar. The music has been scored by Varinder Bachan. Sardool, who visited the Royal Creation Studio to watch a few episodes of the serial, hoped that the serial would be a hit as traditionalism and modernism had been blended in perfect manner in the folk fantasy. Ravi Sharma has directed the serial which has been produced by Prof Harnek Singh and his daughter, Navni Singh. Satluj Dheer is the programming director. |
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He’s more than Jaspinder Narula’s brother CHANDIGARH, Sept 10 — There is more to him that just the tag of Jaspinder Narula’s brother. And this “more” is reflected in the sales proceeds of Jaspinder’s album for which her brother Micky had composed music about two years back. Mundaa tu hai Punjabi sona, the famous song from that album, has still not faded from the memory, thanks to its fresh, lyrical notes by Micky. After a rich experience in compositions, Micky has now come with his own album, Nachle Punjabi Style, in which he tries to “underline the dance elements of the popular music,” in his own words. The album contains eight songs, of which three are duets with the famous singer sister Jaspinder. The forte of the artist, however, is novelty and sensible music. The album has a fusion of Punjabi, Latin American and South Indian rhythms, he said, speaking to The Tribune at Aerizzona where he performed for music lovers. The video emphasises the theme further, with a Punjabi boy running after a South Indian girl and offering a thousand confessions of his love. While the video starts with flashes of Bharatnatyam it ends with the girl falling to the powerful Punjabi beat as she joins her beloved in a Punjabi dance sequence. About the album, Micky says, “My objective was to offer something different, yet identifiable. So we have reversed Kala Sha Kala to sing Kali Sha Kali and see how the public reacts to the real funky sounds of music, apart from the very bold theme.” In the latest album Micky offers himself as a promising singer, reflecting the richness of music which the artist has inherited from his father, K.S. Narula, a well known composer himself. But what took him so long to come out with an album of his own. Answers the singer,"I wanted to send out positive vibes. There is no point in entering a field unless one knows the tricks of the trade. I worked very hard on music for a good about 18 years wherein I learnt to play various instruments like bongo, drums, tabla, dholak, and many more. I also took training in Hindustani classical and Western classical, apart from the Latin American style of music." Micky, who stayed in Canada for about nine years, also has a host of stage performances to his credit. “Stage has always been like home to me, and I have been comfortable with all the forms of music. I have about 1000 shows to count,” he said. In his new avataar, Micky is now composing music for big banners. He has already composed music for Woh bewafa thi, starring Sudesh Berry. Yet another project is on floor, he informed. Another artist who was introduced to the gathering today was DJ Amit who has just released his album titled Jhatka remixes in July this year. |
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