Shimla, July 11
The 2,300-odd private schools in the state will not be able to arbitrarily increase fees and other charges or close down any classes with the government proposing to enact a new law to regulate the functioning of such institutions.

According to the draft Himachal Pradesh Private Educational Institutions (Accounts, Fees and other Matters) Bill, no private institution will be allowed to increase fees or collect any additional fund without prior approval. It will first have to put up any such proposal before the general body of parents and teachers, along with the details of the existing fees and other charges, with complete justification.

The party aggrieved by the decision of increase or non-increase in the fees can file an appeal with the Deputy Commissioner concerned, who will decide the matter within a month.

Further, the increase in the fees has to be commensurate with the “salary being paid to the staff, the requirement for development of infrastructure and facilities being provided to the students and a reasonable surplus”.

The schools will be allowed to collect fees only under four heads - tuition fee, refundable security, student fund for specific requirements and development fund to be utilised strictly for the same institution. No private educational institution and no class in such institutions will be closed without a notice and without justification.

Private institutions will have to maintain accounts as applicable to non-business organisations or “not-for-profit” organisations, with the details of receipts, payment, the profit-and-loss account and the balance sheet. The accounts will be audited by a chartered accountant and the report submitted to the competent authority within six months of the end of the academic year.

They will also annually furnish the details of teachers, student enrolment, infrastructure and other statistics in the prescribed format.

Contravention of any of the provisions will attract a fine, which may extend to Rs 2 lakh and in the case of continuing contravention, an additional fine of Rs 500 per day. Also the competent authority can recommend the withdrawal of the recognition granted to run the institution, de-affiliation from the board concerned and refund of double the amount of unapproved fees charged.

The proposed law will also incorporate the provision for recognition of institutions in accordance with the Right to Education Act and with its enactment the existing Himachal Pradesh Private Educational Institutions (Regulation) Act, 1997, will be repealed. Education Minisnter ID Dhiman said the Bill would be given a final shape after receiving suggestions from the public and the stakeholders. 

Proposals on the Anvil

z The 2,300-odd private schools in the state will not be able to arbitrarily increase fees and other charges and will have to seek prior approval

z Any party aggrieved by the decision of increase or non-increase in the fees can file an appeal with the Deputy Commissioner concerned, who will decide the matter within a month

z The increase in the fees has to be commensurate with the salary being paid to the staff

z The schools will be allowed to collect fees only under four heads - tuition fee, refundable security, student fund for specific requirements and development fund to be utilised strictly for the same institution

Keylong/Udaipur, July 11
Himalayan glaciers that feed the Chenab and Beas valleys are alive and kicking, and may “ring in an era of slight cooling”. Reason: The longest glacier, Mayar, and the largest glacier, Bara Shigri, and the monsoon-fed Parbati glacier have been receiving “better snowfall” for the past three years and have stabilised, say glaciologists.

Contrary to popular belief, snowfall in the Himalayas, in fact, has been on the rise and avalanches can be seen near the Chandra-Bhaga-Mayar rivers here in June. The major glaciers in this part of the Himalayas have shown a positive trend and it bodes well for hydropower projects and farmers in the region, say scientists.

The snowfall in 2010-11 was the heaviest since 1979 in the Mayar-Chandra valley. “It was not dry snow, but was heavy with moisture content that improves the formation of glaciers”, said the glaciologists.

However, its impact on glaciers will be visible after 10 years as a glacier’s “response time is more then 10 years”, says Prof Milap Sharma, a geomorphologist at the Centre for Regional Development, JNU, New Delhi, who has been studying glaciers over the years here.

Professor Sharma studied four major glaciers - Manthora, Karpat, Ulthampu and Tharong in the Mayar valley last month and found that the first two have stabilised and, in fact, Manthora has increased in size. “However, the last two have reduced, but Ulthampu is a hanging glacier and does not matter much,” he observes.

Professor Sharma says the Mayar glacier is the longest and it has shrunk by just 120 m since 1975. “However, the snowfall has improved during the past three years and is bound to have an impact on the ice cover. But we need 32 years to see its impact on climate change,” he adds.

Similarly, the Bara Shigri glacier, which has the largest ice cover - 192 sq km - in the Himalayas, has witnessed no change so far. The 4-km-long Pin Parbati glacier in the Beas valley has been stable for years, Professor Sharma says.

The scientists say that climate change has shown a cyclic change after 27 years, alternating between “slight global cooling and slight global warming”. “The trend since 2008 is towards “slight cooling”.

But we need another 30 years to draw a conclusion on climate change”, Professor Sharma cautions.

On the other hand, the Snow and Avalanche Establishment (SASE) observes that the snowfall in the Bhaga valley at Patsio and the Beas valley at Dhundi has increased during the past five years.xThe Director of SASE, Dr Ashvaghosh Ganju, said Dhundi received 1,358 cm of snowfall in 2010-11, almost double than the 708 cm received in 2009-10. “However, in the Bhaga valley, we recorded 448 cm of snowfall in 2007-08 while it was 444 cm in 2010-11. The snowfall shows a cyclic trend from year to year and hence no analysis can be done, the SASE Director adds.

Mandi, July 11
Relatives and family members of an Army man, Yashpal, who was admitted to the Mandi zonal hospital in a critical condition, met the Superintendent of Police, Mandi, today following which the police registered an attempt-to-murder case under Section 307 of the IPC at the Sarkaghat police station against the accused, including a pradhan, a relative of Transport Minister Mohinder Singh Thakur.

According to the complainants, Yashpal was attacked by three persons, including the pradhan of the Dhavali panchayat, the native village of the minister, without any provocation on Friday night.

He was thrashed mercilessly and was found in an unconscious state on the road. He was taken to a hospital in Sarkaghat. He was admitted to the zonal hospital here yesterday, his family members said.

The accused tried to kill Yashpal and he sustained serious head injuries, they alleged. Yashpal was on leave for the past week.

The Transport Minister has reportedly assured the family members that the law will take its course and the guilty will be punished.

Mandi SP Pupal Dutta said the police had registered an attempt-to-murder case against the accused.

Shimla, July 11
The hill state has done exceedingly well in containing the population growth by curtailing the decadal growth rate to half over the past four decades.Stating this while speaking at a state-level World Population Day - 2011 function here today, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said in 1971, the total population was 34.6 lakh and the decadal growth rate was 23.04 per cent as compared to 24.82 per cent at the national level. As per the latest census data, the decadal growth rate had declined to 12.81 per cent which was far better than the 17.64 per cent at the national level.

Similarly, the birth rate had come down from 37.3 per cent to 17.2 per cent and the death rate from 15.6 to 7.2 per cent over the period. The fertility rate stood at 1.9 per cent as against 2.62 per cent at the national level. The state had a relatively better sex ratio with 974 females to 1,000 males as compared to the national average of 940. He said concerted efforts were being made to further improve the sex ratio in the 0-6 age group, which increased to 906 from 894 in 2001 and the state was on the way to achieve the national norm of 952 soon. The tribal district of Lahaul and Spiti had set an example with a female sex ratio of 1,017, the highest in the country.

Dhumal said women empowerment was the top priority of his government and it had given various incentives like free education, textbooks, uniforms and scholarships. He said 50 per cent reservation provided to women in panchayati raj and urban bodies’ elections had yielded encouraging results as 58 per cent women got elected. He said the Beti Hai Anmol and Mukhya Mantri Kanyadaan Yojna were two such schemes launched for the girl child of poor families.

Hamirpur, July 11
Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Minister Ravinder Singh Ravi has accused Kangra BJP MP Rajan Shushant of interfering in the functioning of his department.Talking to mediapersons here today, Ravi said, “The MP is trying to create a controversy by unnecessarily interfering in the functioning of my department; his comments about the state government are not in good taste and are harming the interests of the BJP and the government.”

He said, “An FIR has also been lodged in one such case and the truth will be revealed after the investigation.”

He said, “State BJP leaders have sent Shushant’s case to the disciplinary committee, but it is surprising that the BJP committee of his area is maintaining a silence over his activities.”

The minister criticised Congress leaders for their opposition to the opening up of new private universities in the state. He said, “Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibbal has been saying that there is a need for opening about 1,000 more universities in the country but his colleague in the Cabinet, Virbhadra Singh, and other Congress leaders have been attacking the state government for opening new universities here.”

He said, “The state government has not given land to open any new private university in the state and all of these have purchased private land from local people.”

Clarifying the state government’s position on the Opposition’s allegation regarding misuse of Section 118 of the Land Tenancy act, Ravi said, “It was the previous Congress government which had amended this Act five times and which gave permission to maximum number of people to purchase land by relaxing this Act. 

Shimla, July 11
Sore over the continuing trend of Indian Forest Service officers intruding into their domain, the HP IAS Officers Association has decided to once again convey its displeasure to the government over the appointment of forest officers against administrative posts in the state Secretariat and in boards and corporations.

With the tally of Indian Forest Service officers at present occupying administrative posts, normally held by IAS officers, having risen to 10, the association is feeling slighted. More so because the government recently appointed four more Indian Forest Service officers in the Secretariat, completely overlooking the reservations expressed by the association against this trend some time ago.

“We had conveyed our concern to the government through the Chief Secretary some time ago, but with four more Indian Forest Service officers being given postings held by our men, we are feeling anguished,” said a senior bureaucrat. He said the fallout of this trend would be that the Centre would not increase the cadre strength when the review is done which would ultimately lead to shortage of IAS officers.

Of the total 129 state-cadre IAS officers in Himachal, 90 are through direct appointment while 39 are through promotions. The central deputation reserve of IAS officers stands at 28. “Though many of these Indian Forest Service officers are holding non-cadre posts, but normally most of these posts in boards and corporations were earlier held by IAS officers,” says the association.

Barely a fortnight ago, the government appointed four Indian Forest Service officers - BD Suyal (Power), Amitabh Gautam (Finance), PL Chauhan (PWD) and Archana Sharma (Industries) as Special Secretaries.

Other Indian Forest Service officers holding IAS posts include Vineet Kumar, Managing Director, HP Tourism Development Corporation, Nagin Nanda, Director, Environment, Harsh Mitter, CEO, HIMURJA, RK Sood, MD, Small-Scale Industries and Export Corporation, Lalit Mohan, MD, Handloom and Handicraft Corporation, and Suresh Kumar, Member Secretary, Pollution Control Board.

Dismissing the concern of the IAS lobby, members of the Indian Forest Service Officers Association said there was no justification in their logic as in other states too their counterparts were holding important postings. “In some states like Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, Indian Forest Service officers have been appointed Principal Secretaries and given significant postings, so it is not something unusual in HP,” they contest. They say the Centre has made it clear that the IPS and Indian Forest Service will have parity while IAS officers will be two years their senior. 

Shimla, July 11
Activists of the ABVP today held demonstrations in all colleges in the state against the privatisation of education and the alleged indiscriminate opening of private universities by the state government.

The ABVP activists held demonstrations at Himachal Pradesh University, Rajkiya Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Sanjauli College and all other colleges all over the state. The students also demanded that the results must be declared at the earliest and 10 days’ time must be given to the students to seek admission after the declaration of the results.

The ABVP has been opposing the commercialisation and privatisation of education by its own regime in the state. “In case the government grants approval for opening even one new private university, the BJP will intensify its agitation,” said state secretary of the ABVP Ajay Bherta.

He said the ABVP would register its protest against the privatisation of education by observing a hunger strike in all colleges in the state on July 12. “Such a wrong move on the part of the government is making education unaffordable for the common student, which we will not allow,” he warned.