CAMPUS
JNU polls: Political leaders adding zing to campaign
Smriti Kak

The rugged terrain of the Aravalli hills has begun reverberating with poll issues. As campaigning for the polls to the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) gets under way, major political parties and their candidates have begun the traditional interactions, both oral as well as through pamphlets during the weeklong campaign.

The NSUI keeping in with the “personalised touch” campaign claims to have written a letter to each student in JNU. “We have around 30-35 students doing the job of writing about 4,000 letters to the students. Our endeavour is to meet and speak with each and every student on the campus,” said the spokesperson of the NSUI, Kuntal Krishna. This apart, the NSUI has also gone “hi-tech”. “We are going to address the students through e-mail also. We have got the e-mail addresses of all students,” said Krishna.

Poll issues apart, the parties are equally concerned about the “patronage” of their party seniors. The political leaders are being roped in to add to the campaigning fervour. While the suave Amar Singh was the first from his fraternity to make an appearance, others are likely to join in soon. Amar Singh was invited by the Samajwadi Chattra Sabha, the students’ wing of Samajwadi Party.

“It is important to have a political leader turn up during the campaigning, because they attract the crowds. They have star value and also help boost the image and morale of the candidates. We are also negotiating with some of the leaders, including Rajesh Pratap Rudy, Vinod Khanna and Raj Nath Singh to make it to the campus,” pointed out the ABVP spokesperson, Jatin Mohanty.

The NSUI is also working out the details with its leaders. “We are interested in getting not just ideologues, but those who work and have performed. We are talking to chief ministers, Sheila Dikshit, Digvijay Singh and Ashok Gehlot to support us,” said Krishna.

Elections to the 30-member JNU students’ union have been scheduled for October 20, and around 4,500 students from JNU’s seven schools will cast their votes to elect four office-bearers and 26 councillors.

The highlight of the elections is the presidential debate, which has been scheduled for October 18, at the Jhelum lawns, and will see the candidates spew ideological jargon that merits them the votes.

The Students’ Federation of India (SFI), which won a majority in last year’s students’ union, will be contesting the election in alliance with the leftist All India Students Federation (AISF). Besides the ABVP and NSUI, there are a few other parties, which will stake a claim to the seats.

HR Summit

A two-day HR Summit 2003 on ‘Human Side of Organisations: From Promise to Performance’ organised by the Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management was held in the Capital. The event was inaugurated by Chairman of the Dalmia Group of Industries, Mr Sanjay Dalmia, who also released a book, ‘Leveraging Human Potential for Excellence’.

Over 30 speakers from across the country spoke on the issues affecting human resource policy of corporates in the emerging and highly competitive international economic environment.

The topics dealt with included, Leadership, Outsourcing, Wage Spiral, Ethical Dilemma, HR through Balanced Scorecard, Talent Management Downsizing and eHR.

In his presidential address, Mr Anil Shastri, Chairman of the Board of Governors LBSIM, said: “It is imperative to attach social aspects to organisational goals. Organisations, in order to succeed, not only need to align themselves with customers, but also with their human resources also.”

Editor of the book, Dr Renu Puri, said, “The book is a tribute to the principles of Lal Bahadur Shastri and is based on the reformulation of issues and deep interpretations of them as deliberated at the HR Summit to make it relevant for the practising HR managers of tomorrow.”

Theatre training

The National School of Drama is organising an eight-week intensive theatre training course at Kurukshetra in collaboration with the Department of Youth and Culture Affairs, Kurukshetra University. The course will be a residential course and is open to boys and girls in the age group of 18-30.

Open to students of the NCR, application forms for the selections to the course are available at the National School of Drama, New Delhi. The candidates should have keen interest in theatre, literature and related activities and have knowledge of Hindi, English and local language.

The application forms are also available NS, New Delhi and Director, Department of Youth and Culture Affairs, Kurukshetra University. An interview will be conducted on November 2, 2003, at 10.00 am at Department of Youth and Culture Affairs, Kurukshetra University. The list of the selected candidates shall be announced on the same day evening and they will have to deposit Rs 500 as fees.

Selected candidates shall have to stay at the campus for the entire eight weeks and the accommodation and DA for boarding expenses would be borne by the NSD.

GGSIPU student creates record

Abhigya Kushwaha, a student of LLB (H), Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, has created a new national record by clocking one hour 18 mts and five seconds bettering the previous record of one hour 20 mts 45 seconds. He created this record in the 10-kilometers 2nd National Long Distance Ganga River Swimming championship. Khuswaha beat 40 swimmers from across the country to claim the first position.

India akshar mission launched

Computer Society of India, in association with Aptech Computer Education and SSI Education, flagged off the ‘India Akshar Mission’, as part of its ‘IT for masses program’. This mass literacy mission aims to empower over 2.5 lakh Indian citizens from all walks of life with IT literacy across the country over 2003-04. As part of the drive, Aptech Computer Education and SSI Education will offer IT literacy programs priced minimally throughout the country.

As a special gesture, Aptech Computer Education and SSI Education will offer 10,000 courses absolutely free of cost to the underprivileged across the country. This national drive will be carried out through various NGOs, government and municipal schools throughout the nation.

The India Akshar Mission aims to empower all strata of society from the grassroots level upwards and contribute in a large way to the National IT Task Force’s mission of a complete IT literate India. It was pointed out that the mission is an attempt to create an environment, wherein the benefits of computers reach one and all. This movement will provide an exceptional thrust to the Prime Minister’s National Literacy Movement, whose momentum will enable India to catapult itself as the Information Technology superpower.

The movement is targeted towards working executives, government employees, self-employed professional, traders, housewives, farmers and students to create a massive base of competent computer users in all walks of life at the village, taluka, district and city level. The movement will also target children throughout the country and in the final phase, will impart computer literacy in the local languages.

Workshop for directors

The International Institute of Management and Governance (IIMG) is organising a six-day workshop for company directors. The workshop, which began on October 13, will address issues of transparency, accountability, equity, integrity and social and environmental responsibilities of company directors.

Participants at the end of the six-day programme will be given a PG Diploma in Company Directorship. The programme is divided into 12 modules. These include Duties, Responsibilities and Liabilities of Directorship, Board’s Role in Strategic Planning and Managing Innovation among others.

The faculty for the programme includes Justice M. N. Venkatchaliah, former Chief Justice of India, Dr P. G. Apte, Director IIM Banagalore, Mr C. P. Jain, Chairman NTPC and Mr M. Damodaran, Chairman of UTI.

Engg students should be taught law, finance: LG Delhi Lt-Governor Vijai Kappor today underscored the need for teaching engineering students law, finance and economics. He said entrepreneurial skills are a must for engineers, whereby finance, economics and corporate law should be taught to them. Mr Kapoor was speaking at the Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology, Dwarka. L-G exhorted the faculty members to optimise the turnover and intake of students in proportion to the rich endowment and large reservoir of infrastructure available to the institute. Mr R. S. Sethi, Principal Secretary, Department of Technical and Training Education, promised all help for the speedy development of the Institute.

COURTS

HC asks for details on basic facilities in jail
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 15
The High Court today asked the Delhi Government, the Delhi Police and the Tihar Jail authorities to state what basic facilities are being provided to the prisoners in the Capital.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice B C Patel and Justice A K Sikri called for an affidavit enumerating the conditions and the facilities being provided to the inmates in Tihar.

Ms Mukta Gupta, counsel for the state government, city police and Tihar said three new jails, two in Tihar complex and one in Rohini would be ready by next year.

Plan for constructing six jails in Mandoli (North-West Delhi) had also been sanctioned, she said and added that all these would reduce the over-crowding in jails and also the pressure on infrastructure.

The court was hearing a petition filed by advocate L R Luthra, which claimed that as the number of convicts and undertrials was much more than the capacity of the jails, they were forced to live in inhuman conditions.

The petition also sought the provision of basic facilities so that the prisoners could undergo their sentence with ‘dignity’.

Earlier, a District and Sessions Judge, who inspected the Capital’s Tihar Jail complex on the High Court’s directions, had said that living conditions of inmates needed improvement. Denying allegations that the jail inmates were being meted out inhuman treatment, Judge J P Singh in his report said their living conditions, however, would have to be improved. Mr Singh hoped that the three new jails under construction would reduce the problems due to overcrowding.

The report made suggestions to improve the living conditions of the jail inmates, provide them with basic facilities and do away with the cumbersome practice of transporting the undertrials and prisoners.