Solan, March 31
With financial viability being a major issue of concern, private universities are shifting unviable courses to their campuses located in other states or merging departments having similar course curriculum.

Since there are few takers for Information Technology courses, its students have been shifted to computer science in one of the universities, while another MBA course, which had begun with much fanfare, has been discontinued after the first session.

Lack of student intake has forced ICFAI University to shift its 18 students to its Dehradun campus as the university has failed to attract adequate number of students in its first session.

Though four educational groups in the Atal Shiksha Kunj had got their letters of intent in 2007 and they were supposed to start their campus by 2008, apart from Chitkara none could begin their session by 2008.

ICFAI University, which had begun its first session in July last year, could barely manage with 18 students while Maharaja Agrasain University had just begin its first session and IEC University was also yet to begin its session.

“It was the poor condition of roads leading to Atal Shiksha Kunj, which was deterring students from Chandigarh and its surrounding areas to seek admission here. Students with good score in CAT and MAT did not opt for these universities as they preferred better connectivity to their campuses,” opined a university official.

He added, “Admitting students without national-level eligibility examinations has affected quality, thus defeating the purpose of providing quality education. It is for this reason that the MBA course has been discontinued in its Baddi campus.”

The lower intake of students in turn has affected the financial viability of these universities and dues worth about Rs 9 crore are pending from Chitkara and IEC University towards the purchase of land from the Himachal Pradesh Housing and Urban Development Authority.

University managements, however, rued that running an institute with little infrastructure like roads was a Herculean task and, more so, as the available land was government land belonging to the neighbouring Haryana where no work could be undertaken to upgrade or improve them.

Though these universities were set up with the intention of attracting a sizeable number of students from neighbouring places like Chandigarh, success was limited and universities were forced to discontinue unviable courses in the current session.

Manali, March 31
The state government will ensure 33 per cent reservation to women in cooperative societies. This was stated by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal while presiding over a women’s awareness camp here today. The camp was organised by the Himachal Pradesh State Women Commission.

Dhumal said the state government had taken effective steps towards women empowerment and implemented various schemes in this direction. Under the Beti Hai Anmol Yojna the government had increased the deposits in the name of the girl child of poor families from Rs 5,100 to Rs 10,000 at the time of her birth. He said the Mother Child Tracking Scheme, Atal Swasthya Sewa, Free Institutional Delivery in Government Hospitals, Mata Shabri Mahila Sashaktikaran Yojna, Mother Teresa Yojna, Kishori Yojna etc were the other schemes being implemented to benefit women.

The Chief Minister said under the Atal Swasthya Yojna, free ambulance service was being provided for institutional delivery to women. Besides, 50 per cent subsidy was being given to poor women of SC families for the purchase of LPG connection under the Mata Shabri Mahila Sashaktikaran Yojna.

Professor Dhumal appreciated the role of the Women Commission in solving cases pertaining to the exploitation of women and had played an important role in making women aware of their rights.

The Chief Minister said efforts were afoot to maintain the natural grandeur of Manali town and appreciated the efforts of local womenfolk for launching cleansing campaigns to make the Rohtang Pass and the Solang Nallah free of plastic wastes.

He also honoured various mahila mandals with cash prizes for their active participation in the Total Sanitation Campaign and also distributed LPG gas stoves.

MLA Govind Thakur welcomed the Chief Minister to his home segment and thanked him for getting a vision document prepared for Manali. He thanked the Chief Minister for granting Rs 51 crore for the Manali Tourism Circuit and giving approval for setting up of a Hotel Management Institute in principle.

Earlier, Dhaneshwari Thakur, Chairperson, State Women Commission, thanked the Chief Minister for protecting the interests of women. She gave details about the activities of the commission and said various women courts were held to provide relief to aggrieved women. Such camps would also be held at the sub-divisional level, she added.

The Manali Press Club thanked the CM for launching a health insurance scheme for journalists and grant-in-aid to the club.

Khimi Ram Sharma, Forest Minister, Kishori Lal Sagar, MLA, Ani, Kunj Lal Thakur, former minister, Chander Sen, former MLA, Trilok Kapoor, Chairman, Wool Federation, Ram Singh, District BJP president, Yuvraj Bodh, vice-chairman, BJP SC/ST Cell, Bal Mukund, president, Manali BJP, representatives of various mahila mandals and senior officers were present on the occasion.

Kangra, March 31
Over 25,000 pilgrims today paid obeisance in the Brajeshwari temple here in connection with the Maha Ashtami of the Chaitra Navratra taking the number of pilgrims who visited the shrine during this festival to 1.5 lakh.

Today the temple was opened at 3am and pilgrims in a large number started thronging the temple from the wee hours of this morning.

Pilgrims were seen waiting in long queues during the day today to have a glimpse of the goddess.

Ram Prasad Sharma, chief poojari of the temple, said “sat chandi mahayagya”, which started on the first Navratra on March 23 in the temple, would culminate tomorrow at noon with “pooran ahooti”. Free langar was also organised by the temple management for pilgrims. The temple officer was not available for briefing about the offerings given by pilgrims in the temple today.

The Chaitra Navratra will culminate tomorrow coinciding with the Ram Navami.

Shimla, March 31
A leading state in women empowerment, Himachal today created a record of sorts by achieving a hat-trick of women Chief Secretaries with the elevation of Harinder Hira to the top post.

A 1976 batch IAS officer, Hira replaces Rajwant Sandhu who retired today. However, she will have a very short tenure at the helm as she is due to retire on April 30.

In a related development, Additional Chief Secretary, Forests and Environment, Sudripta Roy, a 1978 batch IAS officer, was made OSD (Officer on Special Duty), Coordination and Monitoring, making it amply clear that he will take over the reins from Hira after one month. Roy is the senior-most officer, after Hira, currently serving in the state. He will continue to hold the charge of Forests and Environment.

Principal Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment, SK Dash, has been promoted to the rank of Additional Chief Secretary. Hira is the third in seniority after S Vijay Kumar and S Behuria, both of whom are on Central deputation.

The first woman to become the top bureaucrat was Rajendra Bhattacharya who remained in office for about a year before retiring in September 2003. Asha Swaroop was the second woman to don the mantle and retired in July 2010. She was followed by Rajwant Sandhu.

Hira is the fourth woman Chief Secretary of the state. A postgraduate in political science, she had her schooling in the local Convent of Jesus and Mary and graduated from St Bedes College in Shimla.

She remained Deputy Commissioner, Chamba, and Director, Welfare, and as Principal Secretary held the charge of various departments, including Irrigation and Public Health, Food and Civil Supplies, Science and Technology, Welfare and Urban Development, Financial Commissioner, Revenue. She also had a stint at Deputy Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India. She was appointed Additional Chief Secretary on October 23, 2008.

Hamirpur, March 31
A young girl, working as a forester with the Forest Wildlife Division, Hamirpur, has spotted and identified a rare species of butterfly. The species, golden emperor, was spotted by Reetu Patial in the Trambadi forest, near Sundernagar, recently during her excursion.

The golden emperor butterfly with botanical name Dilipa Morgiana (Westwood) had been placed among the rare species of butterfly by the World Butterfly Society.

Belonging to the Nymphalidae family of butterflies, the golden emperor is found in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, Sikkim and Uttarakhand in India, besides Nepal, Bhutan, Vietnam and northern Myanmar.

With a wingspan of 70 to 82 mm, adults are rich dark or golden brown with transverse central and discalapical bands of larger golden-bronze spots having white apical spots on the UPF that is golden bronze, with base and variable marginal area dark brown.

Its female is rare but has three generation in a year, with adults on wings in March, June and from August to October.

A strong flier, the adult golden emperor is fond of over-ripe fruits like apricot, peach and mango and is attracted to Buddleia blossoms. It is seen more often on damp patches and flies between 700 and 2340m.

Talking to The Tribune, Patial said: “I was undergoing training at the Forest Training Centre, Sundernagar, when I spotted the golden emperor in the Trambadi forest.”

“I used to venture in the forest during the wee hours of the day and has identified 35 species of butterflies, but spotting a golden emperor was a real delight,” she added.

Bilaspur, March 31
Kutehlla gram panchayat president Purushottam Chand was injured seriously when he was attacked by four youths with sticks at Kutehlla village, 35 km from here, on Wednesday.

He was rushed to the Primary Health Centre at Suharghat where he is said to be improving. The khair contractor had called Purushottam to the spot and complained to him that some persons were preventing him from loading his truck from the khair depot which was on Purushottam’s land. As the president intervened, the youths attacked him. The police has registered a case against them who have been identified as Devender, Virender, Pyare Lal and Sunil under Sections 341, 323, 504 and 506 of the IPC.