Shimla, May 24
President Pranab Mukherjee said today it was only by imparting quality education that we can arrest the disturbing trend of moral degradation in society and ensure the safety and security of women and children.

He was speaking at the 20th convocation of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) here today. He recalled that it was for the third time (1982, 2009 and 2013) that he had the honour of delivering the convocation address in HPU.

“We need to find answers for reversing this trend of degradation of values and it is only such temples of higher learning which can play a vital role in meeting these challenges,” he said. He expressed happiness over the fact that 18 of the total 21 gold medalists at today’s convocation were girls.

Mukherjee, while recalling the tall academic stature enjoyed by universities like Taxila and Nalanda, regretted that today not even a single Indian university figures in the list of top 200 graded educational institutions in the world.

“We do have the capacity to revive our lost position and once again become world class universities but for this we require quality faculty,” he opined. He said despite having 33,000 colleges and universities in India, there was a shortage of quality educational institutions.

He exhorted the teaching fraternity to prepare youth for taking on major challenges as by the year 2025, two-third of the country’s population would be in the working age group. “They need to be prepared to take on this challenge through quality education and proper vocational training,” he said. He expressed happiness that the HPU had decided to adopt choice-based credit system which would improve the academic standard.

He lamented that even today enrolment in higher education for the 18-24 age group in India was a mere 7 per cent as compared to 24 per cent in Germany and 34 per cent in the US. “We can effectively use e-education to address the problem of accessibility and transmit important lectures so as to reach out to people in remote areas and at the same time also make education affordable,” he emphasised.

Speaking on the occasion, Governor Urmila Singh, who is also the Chancellor of HPU, said as was evident from the good performance of girl students, Himachal had made great strides in the education of women and was second only to Kerala in the country.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said Himachal was the first state in the country to have made education for girls free and several other steps had been taken to provide them with equal opportunities.

A total of 526 degrees were conferred on students, which included 204 gold medals and 261 PhD degrees.

Shimla, May 24
Attributing the increasing violence in society to erosion of moral values, President Pranab Mukherjee said today that the “moral” man was fast making the way for the “limited purpose” man, an individualist and a pleasure maximiser, unconstrained by the norms governing public interest and the common good.

Delivering the Rabindranath Tagore Memorial Lecture at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study here, he said, “The status or rather the nature of our public morals and the forces that undermine and weaken them has been a matter of concern for me for some time now. Tagore’s views on modernity that the moral man (the complete man) is more and more giving way, almost without knowing it, to make room for the political and the commercial man, the man of the ‘limited purpose’ is more true today”.

There was not enough discussion among scholars in India on the implications of the emergence of a consumerist society and its consequences like climate change and the pressures on natural resources that it entailed, he said.

“If the Tagore Centre can help in decoding the ‘limited purpose’ man, map its topography, identify the processes that produced it and give guidance on what can be done, it will be a valuable contribution to our understanding of human condition in a situation of modernity. The ‘shadow of the soulless organisation’, as mentioned by Tagore, which is growing and obscuring morals, also needs to be explored,” he said.

The time had come to draw from the intellectual heritage the insights of thought and of practice that the world needed to understand. The study of India’s heritage had to go beyond ‘Indology’ and become the intellectual resources that mainstream studies in philosophy, aesthetics, drama, linguistics and ethics, across the world draw upon, the President said.

The world of knowledge, to use Tagore’s brilliant phrase must be ‘illuminated by a festival of lights’. The Indian Institute of Advanced Study and its Tagore Centre could be at the forefront of this exercise, he said.

Tagore’s belief that “wealth is not a precondition of wisdom” and that “moral leadership comes not from power or riches, but from ideas and truth” had to be assimilated. The requirement of the present times for intellectuals was to engage with moral issues and provide guidance to people. In such troubled times of moral uncertainty, it was imperative to go back to great minds such as Tagore to see what direction to follow, he added.

Earlier, he inaugurated the Tagore Centre for Study of Culture and Civilisation in the institute.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said Tagore was a rare genius and a multifaceted personality, a philosopher, a playwright, a poet, an artist and a composer. He was the only writer whose poems were adopted by two different countries, India and Bangladesh, as their national anthem.

Shimla, May 24
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh presented a memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee here today, drawing his attention to unfavourable award of the 13th Finance Commission, which recommended an increase of only 50 per cent grant for Himachal Pradesh against an average increase of 126 per cent for other states, thus causing financial hardships to the state.

He said had the commission recommended grants on a par with other states, Himachal would have been entitled to additional funds to the tune of Rs 10,725 crore for the 2010-15 period. The commission underestimated the committed liabilities on account of salary, interest and pension payments. He urged the President for providing Special Plan Assistance to tide over financial problems.

The Chief Minister was accompanied by Irrigation and Public Health Minister Vidya Stokes, Forests Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri and Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma.

He stressed that there should be uniformity in funding pattern among special category states and Himachal Pradesh should be treated on a par with other such states.

He also urged the President for the restoration of industrial package for the state as it’s withdrawal had hindered the industrial growth. Stressing on extension on railways, the Chief Minister said the Bilaspur-Leh rail line via Manali be declared as project of national importance and pointed out that since Independence only 44 km of railway line had been added in the state. He also urged the President for speeding up work on the Nangal-Talwara railway line and broad gauging of the Pathankot-Jogindernagar railway link. The Chief Minister also stressed for conducting a survey on Baddi-Chandigarh railway link in view of its economic importance.

He said the Supreme Court had accepted the state's claim on BBMB project and directed the Centre to work out the amount that came to Rs 4,250 crore. He said it should be released at the earliest. Besides, he urged the President for expediting his assent on the HP Electricity Act, 2011, to enable the state mobilise additional resources.

Dharamsala, May 24
With GS Bali, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Transport and Technical Education, sending his resignation to the party high command, another battle seems to be brewing within the Congress from Kangra.

The district has a history of rebellion within the Congress with leaders at various intervals alleging injustice with the lower areas of the state. Earlier, Vijay Singh Mankotia, former Minister for Tourism, openly rebelled against then Congress Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

He rebelled against Virbhadra Singh after being dropped from the ministry. He traded charges of injustice against the lower areas of the state by the Chief Minister and launched a Kangra cap to counter the green cap that is a symbol of predominance of the upper areas in the state Congress.

Mankotia went ahead to launch an audio CD against Virbhadra Singh during the 2007 Assembly polls that helped the BJP come to power in the state. Though Mankotia made Kangra the centre point of his fight against Virbhadra, most of the Congress leaders from the district did not support him and he was left alone in the battle and had to leave the party.

However, during the last Assembly elections, Mankotia mended fences with Virbhadra Singh and unsuccessfully contested the Assembly election from Shahpur. Though Mankotia has been maintaining in the media that he had buried his hatchet against Virbhadra, the later had been maintaining that his case against Mankotia would go on.

Former minister and a leader from Kangra Sat Mahajan also remained at loggerheads with Virbhadra. He also contested the election for the post of the HPCC president against Virbhadra and lost.

Mahajan also later mended fences with Virbhadra and remained as a minister under him in the Congress government from 2003 to 2007.

Former Rajya Sabha member and president of the HPCC Viplove Thakur also had strained relations with Virbhadra.

Now with Bali also sending his resignation to the Congress high command and Virbhadra, another battle seems to be brewing within the party. Bali is a senior leader from Kangra and won four times consecutively from the Nagrota Bagwan Assembly Constituency.

His son Raghuvir Singh Bali also contested election for the post of the president of the State Youth Congress but lost. The elections were later declared null and void by an agency hired by the youth Congress.

The election created bitterness between Bali and Virbhadra. However, after the Assembly elections, both the leaders were seen getting closer courtesy a few mutual friends. However, in case the current controversy escalates and Bali exits the Cabinet, the Congress might witness another fight between the upper and lower areas with Kangra in focus.

The Congress has done well in Kangra district during the last Assembly elections winning 10 out of 15 Assembly segments.

Bilaspur, May 24
More than 1,100 families that were ousted due to the Kol Dam project in Bilaspur, Mandi, Solan and Shimla districts will get a cash amount of Rs 20,000 every month from the Virbhadra Singh government for the next 10 years after which the amount might increase.

This was stated by local Bilaspur Sadar MLA Bambar Thakur while talking to mediapersons here recently.

Bambar said this was the result of a written agreement between the Kol Dam (NTPC) authorities and state government in the presence of public representatives, including him and the State Planning Development and 20-Point Implementation Committee Chairperson Ram Lal Thakur, after oustees started a peaceful agitation a few weeks ago.

Bambar said the agreement was signed after the direct intervention of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who bluntly told the NTPC that it must share at least 1 per cent of the project income with the oustees which presently came out to be about Rs 480 crore.

The MLA said the Kol Dam management had also given an assurance to give preference to the oustees and local population in employment, while it had also provided funds worth Rs 2.17 crore to the government for repairs and carpeting of the broken road from Harnoda to Jamthal in the project area for the benefit of the oustees.

Shimla, May 24
The HP High Court on Wednesday dismissed a PIL challenging the approval given by the government to the proposed Bajoli-Holi Hydroelectric Project at the Ravi in Chamba. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 each on all the five petitioners namely Mangni Ram, Desh Raj, Vinay Kumar, Rangila Ram and Vinod Kumar of Chamba for filing irresponsible and frivolous litigation.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice RB Misra observed, “We have already noticed that the allegations and/or grounds urged in the respective petitions are not only untenable but irresponsible, frivolous and vexatious. These petitions have been filed with purpose best known to the petitioners therein. The filing of such petitions inevitably causes confusion among the stakeholders. Such action must be held to be against the larger public interest, and is not genuine public interest litigation”.

The Bench further observed, “The petitions being motivated and being an attempt to stall the project, which is being set up in larger public interest and has been variously supported by the locals in all the respects except the petitioners or a few other disgruntled persons acting at the behest of the petitioners”.

The state government opposed the petition and contended that each action of the state government was in conformity with the state hydro policy prepared by the project proponent, 2006.

The state government contended that a DPR was prepared by the project proponent and the same was scrutinised by expert bodies. The matter was referred to Central agencies for requisite permissions. The state government contended that the HPSEB had conducted a feasibility survey and not spot surveys and later, a DPR of the project was accepted by the HPSEB and other technical experts.

Solan, May 24
In a bid to enhance the employability of engineering graduates, the Baddi-based Baddi University of Emerging Sciences and Technology (BUEST) has collaborated with IBM to offer joint BTech Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) programmes.

The course will offer technology specialisations as per the needs of the information technology industry and will also introduce a practical aspect to the curriculum. This will enhance their employability and will help the students gain a first-hand experience about the industry.

Dr Lovi Raj Gupta, Vice-Chancellor, BUEST, while elucidating on this unique programme said as a part of the partnership, IBM would design and deliver the new set of technology and domain courses and train the faculty accordingly. The university would engage with students and deliver these courses as well as provide the marketing and infrastructure support to run these programmes. This US-based Multi-National Company would provide a web-based course wares and subject matter expert would visit the campus.

The Vice-Chancellor said the upcoming batches of BTech CSE students, which includes about 1,000 students over the next four years, would also be offered the BTech course. This tie-up with IBM, which is ranked as the largest firm in the USA with regard to market capitalisation, would open vast professional avenues for the students.

This joint initiative of the IBM and the Baddi University would provide job-ready graduates, who will also help to fill the gap within the IT industry, where fresh graduates take long unproductive time to get deployed on customer sites or projects. The courses are already a part of the university’s BTech CSE curriculum.

Elaborating about the significance of such tie-ups, Subram Natarajan, executive - Systems Solutions Centre, Deep Computing and STG Education, IBM India South Asia said, “Today, there is a greater demand for skilled-technology professionals. This initiative will equip the students to adapt to the dynamics in the industry and drive technology and business innovation. These courses will imbibe deep theoretical knowledge in students, coupled with broad-based industry alignment, interaction, talent expose as well as excellence in their professional practice.

Various programmes that will be offered by the University in collaboration with IBM, in a phased manner, include BTech CSE with a specialisation in cloud computing and virtualisation, BTech CSE with specialisation in the open source software and open standards, specialisation in the Telecom Informatics, business analytics and optimisation and in the mainframe technology.

Kangra, May 24
The Kangra valley had been experiencing hottest days from the last three days with mercury touching 43 degrees in the town today.

Scientists from the Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya (CSKHPKV) station said mercury had touched 43°C during the last three days which was six degree above the normal temperature. There was a lucrative sale of ACs, coolers and fans in the town from the last three days.

Earlier, people rarely used coolers, but now ACs and coolers have become a dire necessity.

Water resources have started drying up. Fires have destroyed forests due to hot weather, thus causing a financial loss to the state.