The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Friday, May 30, 2003, Chandigarh, India

M A I L B A G

VC, PVC and Registrar make a perfect team

I neither agree with Mr Johal that “the office of Pro-Vice-Chancellor is lower than that of the Registrar of the university” nor with Professor Gill that “Pro-VCs are appointed when the governments are not happy with the VCs” (May 20). The Vice-Chancellor (VC), Pro-Vice-Chancellor (PVC) and the Registrar of a university make a team. The PVC can play a vital role in sharing the administrative work and other kinds of relevant jobs responsible for a university’s promotion and excellence.

We have called the university the apex of educational edifice. It may also be called the most important shrine, embodying the best thoughts of the best minds, a fellowship which binds together by genuine and original research and knowledge the vast empire of human society. Therefore, the VC has a great and serious responsibility in a more real and active sense than any of his colleagues. He has obligations not merely to students and teachers engaged in teaching and research but still more towards the teeming population outside the university walls. He needs a helping hand, as the fulfillment of these obligations means immense work, organisation, openness, better management and the building up of “a staff of assistant missionaries.”

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

As far as I believe, every imaginative, scholarly and sagacious professor VC ( if not an IAS or military one), who is actively and decisively committed to seeing his university progressing, would like to share his power for its betterment and for providing himself with an opportunity to devote time to his own scrupulous scholarship and research to be internationally recognised.

At a university, the position of PVC is, therefore, created not because the government is unhappy with the particular VC, but because the PVC’s position creates an atmosphere of teamwork in a university and generates a sense of working together on the campus, which gives it a characteristic excellence. Moreover, this position offers a possibility for the kind of “objective” critical role essentially needed today for the development of any university. However, if both VC and PVC work together with sincerity, commitment and with a conviction that a virtue of the university’s progress is their mission, much of its “petty politics” and indulgence in amorphous sycophancy will almost pale into insignificance.

Dr B. L. Chakoo, Professor of English & Dean of Languages, GND University, Amritsar

Tackle the vagaries of monsoon
THIS year’s monsoon is likely to be weak. The Meteorological Department has forecast inadequate rainfall, which will create scarcity of water for drinking and irrigation purposes. Already water shortage has created problems in many states like Orissa, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Consequently, the Centre and the states should formulate contingency plans to meet the situation. Special attention should be given to drought-prone areas, especially Rajasthan, which is facing drought for the fourth consecutive year.
The million-dollar question is why we, in the cyber age, should depend on the vagaries of monsoon in spite of a decade of economic reforms? Why should not we develop alternative methods?
The country’s Ultimate Irrigation Potential (UIP) has been assessed at 139.89 million hectares. So far, 68 per cent of UIP has been harnessed. Thus, the remaining potential needs to be tapped to improve agricultural productivity. Water harvesting should be promoted with sincerity and earnestness.
Dr B.L. Tekriwal, Mumbai

Digvijay on Pandits

Apropos of the news item “Digvijay: Shifting of Pandits a historical mistake” (May 26), the Congress was responsible for the large-scale migration of the Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley to different parts of the country. The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister has, in fact, spoken the language of the Hurriyat and other anti-national organisations on the issue. Earlier too, he made similar utterances. The happenings in Punjab can’t be compared with those in Kashmir.

How could Kashmiri Pandits remain silent spectators to the continued massacres in the Valley? How could they keep watching their daughters being forcibly taken away or married? How could they remain there when on January 19, 1990, they were told to either convert to Islam, get massacred or flee the Valley, leaving behind their daughters and women?

The Kashmiri Pandits did not bother about their homes and belongings but left the Valley to save themselves. The few who remained there had to face massacres like Nadimarg, Pulwama etc. What has Mr Digvijay Singh to say on those butcheries? Had the Kashmiri Pandits constituted a vote bank for the Congress, the same Mr Digvijay Singh would have spoken in a different voice. The Congress has always thrived on vote banks. We agree that the Congress created a major historical blunder by taking Kashmir to the UN but the Kashmiri Pandits’ exodus from the Valley is not a major mistake. It is time Mr Digvijay Singh changed his views on the issue.

R.N. Kaw, Vice-President, Kashmir Pandit Sabha, Jammu, and Nancy Ganju, Trustee, Kashmir Sahayak Sabha, Chandigarh

Instal traffic signals

The main Patiala-Chandigarh road leading to the intersection opposite Punjabi University, Patiala, has become a very dangerous point. Accidents occur here with sickening regularity and valuable lives are lost almost every day. Surprisingly, however, neither the traffic nor the district authorities have taken cognisance of this.

There are no traffic signals at this intersection. As a result, accidents occur when students are in a hurry to return to the city by their vehicles. I would request the authorities concerned to take immediate measures like installing traffic signals so that no accident occurs on this point.

Parvinder Randev, Patiala

Waiting for AJTs

The recent statement of the Defence Minister in the Lok Sabha on the purchase of Advance Jet Trainers (AJTs) for the Indian Air Force (May 9) has not come as a surprise. We have been hearing regularly that the much-needed aircraft will soon be made available. How along will this be is anybody’s guess.

The frequency with which MiGs are falling from the sky, there will be no such aircraft left in the inventory after some time. Only then, the government will wake up to the needs of the Air Force.

After every crash, an official statement is made to the effect that the file for the purchase of AJTs has been forwarded to some ministry for expeditious disposal. What happens after that no one knows.

It is time to stop treating the Defence Forces, the Indian Air Force in particular, as a spoilt child clamouring for an expensive toy to play with. AJTs are urgently needed to save precious life and equipment. It would also be better if the recommendation made by various evaluation and price negotiation committees are made public. Mere assurance on the serviceability of the present MiG 21 is not enough. The much-awaited AJTs should fly in the Indian sky at the earliest.

P.C. Gupta, Shamshi, Kulu (HP)