CAMPUS
A nostalgic trip down Partition lane
Gaurav Choudhury

The Hamdard Archives and Research Centre is organising a talk on “Reflection on Partition” by Dr Gopal Krishna on Tuesday next week. Dr Gopal Krishna was educated at Oxford, where he took honours in PPE and later his Doctorate for a thesis on the Congress Movement between 1918 and 1923.

In 1963, he returned to Delhi to found, with other colleagues, the now well-known social science research institute – Centre for Study of Developing Societies – to promote empirical research in the area of political sociology and related fields. He has been its Senior Fellow since. Dr Krishna has taught and lectured in sociology, politics, and international relations in the universities in Britain and the United States. He has been living and working in Oxford for the past many years. He was Fellow of Wolfson College and a member of the Faculties of History and Social Science.

His research interests focus on the formation of the modern state in India. He has published articles in learned journals in India and abroad and edited two volumes of essays on South Asian Studies. The talk will be chaired by eminent historian, Prof V N Datta, Professor Emeritus, Modern History, Kurukshetra University.

IGNOU plan

Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) in association with the Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver, Canada and in collaboration with the National Open Universities of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka has launched an Open Learning International Commonwealth Executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Public Administration (MPA) Programme commencing from July 2002.

The programme which shall be conducted in English, features a flexible learning system, affordable fees, intermediate exit points and awards (diploma, graduate diploma, graduate degree). Learning material provided by leading universities in the Commonwealth, relevant local case studies and credit transfer between participating institutions in the programme shall be applicable.

The admission criteria include a degree from a recognised institution and a minimum of two years of post-qualification work experience. Residency in India and a good working knowledge of the English language and satisfactory score in the admission test are essential.

Education level

Former Prime Minister I K Gujral has today termed the educational standards in Punjab as “poor” and regretted that the state was lagging behind Kerala and Karnataka by “at least a century” in levels of education.

Speaking at a function organised by Guru Gobind Singh College of the Delhi University, Mr Gujral said that Punjab had failed to keep pace with the changes in the educational system and observed that the state could not update the system of education and institutions in accordance with modern trends. Recalling that during his tenure as Prime Minister, he told Akali leaders Parkash Singh Badal and Gurcharan Singh Tohra to improve literacy levels in the state, Mr Gujral regretted that despite the appeal not much has been achieved.

“I told them that I accept all your demands, but you will have to promise me that within five years, you will raise Punjab’s literacy-level,’’ he said adding that developing the intellect was more important than buildings and facilities.

Job assistance

Prospective software professionals hunting for jobs need not surf the job websites or go through appointment ads in the newspapers. All one has to do is just make a telephone call on a toll-free line and get career counselling as well as information on the IT job openings all over the country.

The services are being launched by a Bangalore base IT recruiting firm, TVA infotech and is accessible from anywhere in India for IT professionals from 9 am to 9 pm on weekdays. The toll-free number is 160-444-929.

According to Mr Gautam Sinha, CEO of TVA Infotech, the service is the first of its kind in India and completely focussed on the IT sector. “We are looking at passive job-seekers, who will never respond to job advertisements or job postings and do not have the inclination to shift through company websites, and advertise key positions to key personnel who do not want to reveal their identity by communicating through e-mail,” he said.

This concepts sets new trends in recruiting and makes it the first company in the world to introduce a toll-free career information service, the IT career line, Mr Sinha said adding that this enables them to reach the professionals across the country and provide personalised career-related information.

The recruiting agency plans to promote the service in major IT cities – Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, New Delhi and Hyderabad in a big way soon. “Our idea is to offer a toll-free number accessible from anywhere in India for IT professionals to obtain career related information. The number currently is 1600-444-929 on weekdays. The counsellors, who are professionals and have experience in recruiting process, can access the callers within a minute or so and provide information on 3 – 4 job openings. Normally, each calls lasts two-three minutes,” Mr Singh said.

NIIT plan

IT training major, NIIT has decided to dedicate the month of March to bringing women and computers together. Swift Jyoti Women, a curriculum specially tailored to meet the needs of the fair sex, was launched by Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Sushma Swaraj.

Swift Jyoti for Women forms a part of series of initiatives NIIT has planned during the month, beginning with the International Women’s Day on March 8. “One of the biggest challenges faced by India, the gender divide, can be addressed by bridging the digital divide, since IT is perhaps the only field where both men and women compete on an equal footing – brains and not brawn,” NIIT Chairman Rajendra Pawar said.

MDI convocation

The Annual Convocation of Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon was held on March 9. Around 131 students were awarded the postgraduate diploma in management. The 24 participants of the National Management Programme (Executive MBA), which included the executives from both the public and the private sector, were conferred diplomas in management.

MDU staff cut up over delay in pay revision 
Jatinder Sharma

Rohtak, March 13
Teachers in Maharshi Dayanand University appear frustrated over the ‘lack of seriousness’ on the part of university administration in the matter of pay-fixation and promotions. The Maharshi Dayanand University Teachers Association (MDUTA), in a letter to the Vice-Chancellor, said that there were many teachers in the university who had rendered over 35 years of service and were still languishing in the old pay scales of Rs 3000-5000. The MDUTA pleaded for the enhancement of their pay scale by promoting them under Merit Promotion Scheme. The MDUTA reminded the university administration that the Executive Council of the university had on September 26, 2001 had resolved to put an end to this injustice through the Merit Promotion Scheme and Career Advancement Scheme. The association has expressed the hope that the university administration would look into this problem. 

Activist takes cable operators to court 
Bijendra Ahlawat
Tribune News Service

Faridabad, March 13
A social activist here has filed a complaint in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Jagdeep Jain against the district authorities and the cable operators here charging them with gross violations of the Cable TV Network Regulation Act and the Cinematograph Act. The court has fixed July 30 as the date of hearing in this connection.

In his complaint, Mr Krishan Lal Gera, resident of Sector 15-A here, has alleged that right under the nose of administrative authorities, various cable operators had been blatantly violating the provisions of the Cable TV Network Act 1995 and the district officials, including the District Magistrate, the SDM, the SP and the Head Post Master had failed to ensure the implementation of the Act. As a result, the operators had not only been overcharging the residents but their network had been obstructing proper relay of TV programmes of Doordarshan, which could be received through an antenna. Apprehending that the authorities concerned could be hand in glove with the operators, he has claimed that no action had been taken so far against the offenders.

The complainant has charged that cable operators had been operating without obtaining proper licence from the competent authority and the notifications of the official Gazette issued by the central and state governments had been ignored. Charging that the advertisements shown by local operators were illegal, there were several programmes on local news, views and other happenings shown on various channels without any permission or licence. He has also alleged that the majority of operators had been charging several times more than the cost that comes per consumer. No proper record had been maintained regarding the number of subscriptions and several of the operators had not been giving cash memo slips for the payments taken from the consumers, thus evading tax due to the government.