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Students expelled for ‘exposing irregularities’
Govt finds it difficult to open colleges for women in all dists
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Few takers for agriculture, veterinary courses
Kisan mela-cum-exhibition held at Machil, Keran
Minister stresses on use of renewable energy
Mir asks rice growers to
go for organic farming
jammu
DIARY
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Students expelled for ‘exposing irregularities’
Jammu, September 27 The warden has expelled hostellers Nizam Din, Mudassir Ahmed and Yasir Khan. Nizam and Mudassir have alleged that their headmaster who is a friend of their warden has rusticated them from the school on the latter’s insistence. Nizam, a student of class IX of Government Boys City High School, Udhampur, said: “I have been expelled from the school just because I was away for six days”. One of the brilliant students of his class, Nizam said, “I secured 80 per cent marks in Unit I test and I was not allowed to sit in Unit II tests this month. On September 15, the headmaster, Omkar Sharma, gave me the school-leaving certificate, telling me that I would be allowed inside the school only after the warden, Shakeel Ahmed, agrees”. Another student, Mudassir Ahmed, a student of class X in the same school, has also been denied entry into the school for similar reasons. Both the students said: “We had submitted an application seeking leave for four days in connection with Eid festival. Our families were camping at Panjtarni, near Amarnath shrine in Kashmir. Due to rain, we could not come back within four days”. Yasir Khan, a student of class VIII of Government Central Middle School, Udhampur, was expelled from the hostel on September 15 on the charges of theft. “I am not allowed inside the class. My headmaster says that if I do not apologise to the warden I won’t be allowed to enter the class”. “I had raised an alarm when some employees of the hostel were stealing goods. The charges levelled against me are flimsy and unfounded. I am being victimised for raising voice against irregularities and mismanagement in the hostel,” Yasir said. Pleading anonymity, many students have alleged that the present staff of the hostel has been browbeating them by using abusive language. “Nizam Din and Mudassir remained absent from the school and the hostel for more than 10 days without any information. They might be involved in any suspicious activity so they have been expelled from the hostel,” said Shakeel Ahmed, warden, and added, “Yasir was involved in many theft cases so he has also been rusticated”. “Whenever I enforce discipline, hostellers start raising hue and cry. This is exactly what they did last month when they staged protest demonstrations,” he added, denying the allegations. SK Gandotra, chief education officer, Udhampur, said: “A student cannot be rusticated on the basis of absenteeism. In the given situation, a student can be imposed fine”. However, he added, “The students should meet me. I will certainly look into the matter”. Bashir Khan, Udhampur DC, said, “An inquiry is going on and it would get completed in a week.” Earlier, the students last month staged protest demonstrations against the alleged mismanagement and irregularities in the affairs of the hostel. Meanwhile, tribal students boarding at government hostels in Srinagar, Baramulla and Jammu also took to streets over similar issues. Bashir Ahmed Naz, vice-chairman, Jammu and Kashmir Gujjar Bakarwal State Advisory Board, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. |
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Govt finds it difficult to open colleges for women in all dists
Srinagar, September 27 This was disclosed by Minister for Higher Education Abdul Gani Malik while replying to a query of National Conference member Khalid Najeeb Sohrawardhy in the Legislative Council. The Minister said his department would soon conduct a survey to ascertain the total number of girls from the remote areas who had taken admission to women colleges in the cities due to the non-availability of such facility in their respective areas. Besides additional financial burden on their education, these students face a lot of hardships in both the capital cities due to the non-availability of hostel facilities in women colleges. Despite these hardships, they prefer women colleges instead of taking admission to coeducational institutions functioning in their own areas. The Minister said the government wanted to open women colleges in 22 districts of the state, but financial constraint was the main reason for delay in implementing this project. In the erstwhile Doda district, comprising of three districts, there is no women college and girl students are left with on other option than to pursue their studies in Jammu or Srinagar or study in coeducational institutions. “Girl students of the Chenab region, comprising the erstwhile Doda district, are pursuing their studies from the colleges located in the surrounding cities,” the Minister said and informed that two more coeducational degree colleges at Marwah and Thathri were likely to be functional during the next academic year. He said due to a steep rise in the number of students pursuing higher education, creating infrastructure was the biggest challenge before the government. He said recently the Higher Education Department had acquired 11,000 kanals of land for constructing degree colleges in different areas. “Still more land is required to develop the buildings of newly sanctioned degree colleges,” he said. “The state government has approved the establishment of 22 new degree colleges in the state during the current year. Providing land and faculty to these colleges is the biggest challenge before the government. These newly sanctioned degree colleges are likely to be made functional in the next academic session,” the Minister said. On the availability of infrastructure in the already functioning colleges, Malik, however, claimed that all the colleges established up to 2004-05 had provided the requisite regular faculty against the sanctioned posts except for some vacancies which were manned by the candidates on academic arrangement on a session to session basis so that the teaching of students do not suffer. “The colleges established after 2007-08 are presently functioning in makeshift arrangements,” he said. |
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Few takers for agriculture, veterinary courses
Jammu, September 27 This has happened more so after opening of a number of engineering colleges in the state both by government and private organisations during the last five years. While students find it easy getting a job outside the state in the private sector after graduating from engineering colleges, back home, they feel a total stagnation and dearth of scope in the agriculture and other related streams. As a result of this, two agriculture universities, one each in Jammu and Srinagar, have been unable to fill all the seats at the undergraduate level since 2008. On the contrary, a bulk of students have opted for courses like information technology, computer sciences and telecommunications in newly established colleges within the state as well as outside. Expressing concern over the declining trend in the agriculture sector, sources said even the Agriculture College at Wadoora near Sopore, where seeking admission was considered a dream fulfilled in the past, was presently without a good number of students on its rolls. They said out of the total 60 seats, only 26 students had opted for B Sc agriculture stream in both these universities this year. The same was the case during the last two years, as a result of which only 23 students had preferred to seek admission for postgraduation as against the total strength of 90. Similarly, only 13 students are pursuing their doctoral course in the subject after registration during the last five years, as against the intake capacity of 26. No student had applied this year for PhD from the Jammu campus of Sher-e-Kashmir University for Agriculture and Technology
This alarming issue was recently raised during the 21st University Council meeting of the SKUAST held in Srinagar under the chairmanship of Governor NN Vohra in the capacity of the Chancellor of the university. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was also present during the meeting. Both Vohra and Omar emphasised the need for restructuring the courses to lure the students to pursue their careers in agriculture and veterinary sciences. It was pointed out that those who had obtained degrees from SKUAST during the last seven to 10 years were still unemployed. Some of the passouts had cleared the Kashmir Administrative Services or IAS exams and were now doing nothing to promote the agriculture sector. The Governor stressed upon the need for urgently working out modalities for filling up all available seats and posts in the university. He also stressed on revising the existing admission system to reverse the declining trend of admissions in two farm universities.
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Kisan mela-cum-exhibition held at Machil, Keran
Srinagar, September 27 The Minister was addressing the gathering after the inauguration of a one-day Kisan Mela-Cum-Exhibition at Machil and Keran areas of Kupwara district recently. In the history of agriculture, it is for the first time that Kisan Melas-cum-Exhibition were held in such areas which lie on the zero line of the LoC. MLA, Lolab Abdul Haq Khan and Ex MLC, Nasir Khan, were also present and spoke on the occasion. The Minister directed the director, Agriculture, Kashmir, to send a team of officers of the Agriculture and its allied departments, along with the research scientists of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Kashmir, to Keran and Machil areas at the earliest to assess the introduction of diverse crop rotation according to the local climatic conditions. He said these areas need to cultivate such crops and plantation of fruit-bearing plants which could produce the crops during short period. Mir called upon the officers of the Agriculture and its allied departments to make a regular feature for the awareness camps of various schemes beneficial for the farming community in these far-off and remote areas. Mir said: “The introduction of agri-technology in the hilly terrains, where farmers have little land holdings, should be the thrust area for our agriculture universities and extension departments to produce maximum crop production”. He said this would help to generate cash income for the local farmers which would provide security to the livelihood of the people of these areas. At Kearn, the Minister announced that the whole area was being covered under organic farming where no chemical fertiliser would be utilised and the government would provide Rs 10,000 per hector for three
He also announced two poly houses per panchayat for them, besides hybrid maize seed be provided free of cost. The Minister also distributed on the spot 500 hybrid vegetable seed packets of different vegetables among the farmers. At Machil, Mir announced that the department would provide marketing facility to whole potato crop produced this year to encourage the farmers. He said the farmers would get hybrid potato seed on the subsidised rates in the next year and hybrid maize and vegetable seed would also be provided free of cost to farmers and would be stocked here before the onset of winter. He also announced 24 polyhouses for the area. He asked the director to cover some area under organic farming. While encouraging the hybrids and exotic varieties, the Minister said: “We must not forget our traditional crop varieties. Hailing the farmers of Machil and Keran, the Minister stressed on using hybrid varieties and latest agri-technology in their farms for producing quality potatoes”. He said the potatoes produced in the Machil area were being marketed as a Kashmiri brand and exploited it commercially, owing to their taste and table value in the local and national market. He said such traditional crops had enormous potential at the national and local markets. The Minister underlined the need of marketing of agriculture produce, saying that good market prices would attract more and younger people to adopt agriculture as a means of livelihood. He said the government was trying to restore the glory and prestige of the farming community. He asked the youth to take the benefit of the schemes and programmes in the Agriculture sector launched by the government from time to time. Mir also stressed for the use of latest technological innovations and other sustainable options favorable to the local climatic conditions in the respective agro-climatic zones in
the state to increase productivity. He asked the scientists and research scholars to implement new researches in agriculture and allied sectors in fields to make the state self-sufficient in agriculture and horticulture produce. Director Horticulture, Ghulam Hassan Shah, Director Agriculture, Kashmir, Farooq Ahmad Lone, Director Command Area, Kashmir, Tariq Ahmad, Deputy Commissioner, Kupwara, MS Rather, and other heads of departments were also present on the occasion. Various departments, including Agriculture, Horticulture, Floriculture, Animal and Sheep Husbandry, Sericulture,
Poultry, Fisheries, etc., had installed their stalls in the Mela-Cum-Exhibition which were also inspected by the Minister and
asked the companies to give demonstration of the machines in fields today. |
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Minister stresses on use of renewable energy
Srinagar, September 27 The Minister was speaking at a seminar on “Solar Water Heater” organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Energy Development Agency (JKAEDA) and the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) here recently. Among others, Director, MNRE, AK Singhal, Chief Executive Officer, JAKEDA, Fida Hussain, Assistant Chief Executive Officer, JAKEDA, Mohammad Muzaffer Mir, Director, Greentech Knowledge Solutions, Sameer Maithel, and representatives from Inter Solar, Chandigarh, Tata BP Solar, Srinagar, and Aksay Urja Shops were present on the occasion. Syed Ruhullah said though the use of conventional source of energy was hazardous, the non-conventional source of energy was eco-friendly, cheap and globally acknowledged. He said the state had a vast potential of using non-conventional energy source, adding that the need was to explore it fully. “There is rich solar radiation in the state,” said the Minister, adding that the schemes approved by the Centre would benefit a large population in meeting their electricity needs, particularly during the winter months. Aga said the weather condition of the state demanded the use of hot water throughout the year, adding that the adoption of non-conventional source of energy would not only save money, but also help in conserving energy. The Minister said for making this technology popular among the masses, the primary need was to make people aware of the schemes approved by the Centre for the use of solar source of energy. He said the need was to remove the illusion of people about the system, adding that the technology was viable and runs even in sub-zero temperature. Ruhullah said this technology had been installed at several religious places and were working satisfactorily. Singhal, while speaking on the occasion, said Renewable Energy Technology was commercially viable and stressed for involving big business concerns, hotels and educational institutions to use this source of energy. He said: “The use of conventional source of energy has badly affected our environment by way of increased global temperature resulting in melting of glaciers and rise in the sea level”. He said the National Solar Mission launched in 2009 was aimed at bringing energy efficiency, protecting environment and conserving energy in the country. He said the Centre had offered subsidy on the purchase and installation of solar energy system ranging from 30 to 60 per cent. “There are 150 manufacturing units producing solar system,” said the director, adding that the new technologies introduced were working in sub-zero temperature. Fida Hussain said once the schemes approved by the Centre were implemented, they would benefit a large number of families. He said with the augmentation of electricity, the conservation of energy was equally important. He said solar energy was working well in Ladakh round the year, while in Kashmir it worked for nine months. “We can reduce the use of hydro electricity by adopting the sources of solar energy,” he said. Hussain said hotels, educational and health institutions, government offices and business establishments were being targeted to adopt this technology for which necessary training would be imparted to the concerned. Representative of Akshay Urja Shops (AUS) Abdul Salam Dar, while appreciating the efforts of the JAKEDA, said AUS would play a good role in introducing solar water heater system in the state. He also demanded the release of financial incentives already sanctioned by MNRE, besides capital incentive to the consumers to make it more popular. He said the organisation had played a vital role in making people aware of the benefits of the use of solar energy. |
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Mir asks rice growers to
go for organic farming
Jammu, September 27 While addressing a gathering of farmers here recently, Mir informed the rice growers that the government was trying to popularise the organic cultivation of Basmati rice so that the growers of the RS Pura, Kathua and Samba areas could take interest in the cultivation of organic products, which were much in demand at the global level. Impressing upon the farmers to go for organic farming, he said after adopting organic farming, farmers could get more dividends as there was a growing demand and awareness for organic agricultural products in the national and international market. Mir said: “To popularise the cultivation of organic Basmati rice, various steps are being taken up on a large scale across the state.” He hoped that the farmers would achieve major breakthrough in agriculture through organic farming of Basmati rice with the innovative collaboration of the Agriculture Department and with the scientists. He further congratulated the rice growers of the state for the inclusion of grains of Basmati rice-370 and Ranbir Basmati varieties of RS Pura by the Union Ministry of Commerce in its list of exportable items. He added: “As far as the Jammu region is concerned, the farmers of RS Pura and the surrounding areas take pride in projecting the traditional Basmati rice as a geographical indicator crop.” Ajay Khajuria, director, Agriculture Department, also appreciated the sustained efforts of the RS Pura Rice Growers Association to promote the interests of traditional Basmati rice growers of the state. Khjaura further said the promotion of organic farming was being done by the department under the Centrally sponsored schemes, namely Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Technology Mission for North East and Himalayan States and the National Vegetable Initiative for Urban Clusters.
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jammu
DIARY Though the authorities of University of Jammu have been trying hard to beautify the campus, yet its centrally located departments are still crying for immediate attention. The Department of History, which is located opposite the office of Dean Students’ Welfare, looks like a board of scrabble where the letters h, i s, t are arranged in a horizontal row, whereas o, r and y are dangling vertically (see photo). The poor maintenance by the authorities is also causing inconvenience to those visiting the university campus, as it has become a difficult task to find any department. Navratras
begin today As the Navratras are in the offing, different committees organising Ramleelas are gearing up. The venues where Ramleelas are to be staged are being spruced up, whereas markets are flooded with the articles used in the enactment of the epic. Chidren are quite enthusiastic as they can be seen purchasing toys like swords, bows and arrows, besides and masks of demons and different Gods. The enthusiasm is also remarkable amongst the volunteers who organise Ramleelas in the city. Actors and audience are eagerly waiting for beginning of the Navratra festivities. (Contributed by
Archit Watts and Ashutosh Sharma)
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Though the authorities of University of Jammu have been trying hard to beautify the campus, yet its centrally located departments are still crying for immediate attention. The Department of History, which is located opposite the office of Dean Students’ Welfare, looks like a board of scrabble where the letters h, i s, t are arranged in a horizontal row, whereas o, r and y are dangling vertically (see photo). The poor maintenance by the authorities is also causing inconvenience to those visiting the university campus, as it has become a difficult task to find any department.
