Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today stressed upon the need of skill development among women and welcomed the decision of Union Government to provide 50% reservation to women in Panchayats.

The Chief Minister said after launching Post Graduate Course (Face to Face) in Gender and Development Studies in IGNOU. She also inaugurated a Friday Seminar Series on ‘Women in Power’. Dikshit presented course material to the students of new course on this occasion. Rajya Sabha MP Brinda Karat also expressed her views. Acting VC Dr. D.K. Chaudhary presided over the function. IGNOU has earned a special recognition as it has enrolled 2.5 million students across the country.

Dikshit expressed her pleasure to be associated with IGNOU, which is starting a new PG Course and Friday Lecture Series with an aim to highlight gender issues. Smt. Dikshit referred to a report of International Labour Organization (ILO), which reveals that women are doing 76% of total work being done in the world and they are holding just 0.01% of the assets. Their contribution has not been really evaluated. The women have started getting out of her housewives role and have risen to important positions. Our constitution granted equal adult franchise and equal pay to women without any demand being raised by any Women Organization. In few European countries, even today, the women have been receiving less salary than men.

Dikshit further stated that there is a need of change in mindset. There was a big gender imbalance in Delhi which has improved after implementation of ‘Laadli’ scheme. In 2008, 1004 girl births were registered against 1000 boy births in Delhi. The Stree Shakti Programme and Gender Resource Centre (GRC) have provided an opportunity to vulnerable women to become self-reliant. The GRCs have been able to impart useful training to around five lakh women. Our Mission Convergence Program is a step forward in this direction as vulnerable sections of the society are being offered different benefits through Single Window Service.

There have been exceptional women leaders in India since history. They have been able to mould the future of our country and are recognized as icons. The Freedom Movement in India has brought forward women in large numbers who fought shoulder to shoulder with men. In present times there have been women leaders in the national level, but there are also hundreds and thousands of women leaders who are emerging as grassroots leaders. Women in India are today becoming leaders in the Corporate space, in Bureaucracy, as Doctors, Lawyers, Police women and even in the armed forces. This is an encouraging picture.

Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE) in India has given its approval for preparation of Core Curriculum. A Committee of Experts has been set up to prepare the outlines of the core curriculum for science and maths for XI and XII class. The committee has been given two months to prepare outlines of the proposed core curriculum.

Apart from the curriculum some more states have shown interests in the grading system for the school examination. In the meeting it was pointed out that some states such as Kerala, Haryana and Nagaland already have grading systems in place, the other boards are also in agreement with grading in principle and will start the system in time.

Though the COBSE expressed appreciation for this proposed initiative of CBSE for making Xth exam optional most of the member boards were in wait and watch mood. The Boards said they will try this after observing CBSE experience in this regard. (Once CBSE implements optional board exams for class X).

Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) has been assigned to prepare for the Centre for Disaster management (CDMS) for 2010 games. This has been told by the Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit during a workshop on “Application of Geospatial Technology for the Water Crises Management” at newly constructed Campus of GGSIP University at Dwarka. She said that the university is preparing Center for Disaster Management Studies (CDMS) for forthcoming Commonwealth Games. Vice-Chancellor of Geospatial Technology has vital role in solving the water crisis problem in Delhi.

Dikshit stated that the population of Delhi has seen phenomenal growth and crossed the figure of 17 million. It is also fact that the total demand of water has increased to 1100 MGD per day, however, the water production currently is 750 MGD. Smt. Dikshit appealed to the people to conserve water and power as these are limited resources.

The Chief Minister highlighting the importance of Geospatial Technology said that it is important that some innovative techniques to be used for sustainable utilization of water. Geospatial Technology comes to the rescue at this juncture. Geospatial Technology and tools can be effectively deployed to mange the risk within the water system, exploring ground water potential zones, determining the quality and quantity of surface water. It would be also used to map the water distribution system and link them to a database defining each element including reservoirs, pipe segment and other services.

Smt. Dikshit expressed her pleasure to know that research works in different fields using Geospatial Technology have been adopted by the officers of the Government of Delhi and Central. She appreciated the efforts of Vice-Chancellor for preparing the CDMS for forthcoming Commonwealth Games by encouraging the students to take up the dissertation works related to security issues, crowd management, transport/Delhi Metro, environmental issues, health issues and emergency/management using GIS as a Decision Making Tool.

Vice-Chancellor Prof. Bandyopadhyay informed that CDMS has contributed by doing research in various areas of water crisis in the form of dissertation. So far 20 dissertations have been prepared by the senior officers of DJB taking various issues related to it. Extensive works have been carried out for various critical issues related to ground water status, water supply efficiency, analysis of STPs and CETPs, water technology & their impact, introducing Decision Making Tools for reducing vulnerabilities and enhancing system security of water network of Delhi, study to introduce inline fleet tracking and logistic management system, pollution abatement of River Yamuna (Delhi stretch) in view of CW Games, strategic option for waste water management in rural area of Delhi, provision of water supply in unauthorized colonies, power supply position in Delhi and power harvesting, management of water supply in disaster scenario, sewage problem in walled city area, and water conservation practices of Delhi. The Chief Minister also planted saplings in the campus. More than 1000 saplings would be planted in the campus during this year.

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is conducting Entrance Tests for Management Programmes (Openmat-xxvi) and Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) Programme for the sessions starting from January, 2010 on Sunday 16th August, 2009. The Entrance Test will be held between 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. (Openmat-xxvi) and between 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM (B.Ed.).

The Entrance Test is being organized in 262 Examination Centres accommodating 1,46,968 candidates for Management (Openmat-xxvi) and B.Ed. Programmes.

The Hall-tickets have already been dispatched to the candidates by the University. The particulars of Hall-tickets are also available on the IGNOU Website www.ignou.ac.in . In case of non-receipt of Hall-ticket by any candidate, the Hall-ticket can be downloaded from the University Website by entering Name and Date of Birth of the candidate and report to the Examination Centre. In case candidates are unable to download the Hall-ticket, they can contact the Regional Centre and obtain the information of Examination Centre allocated and report to the Examination Centre with a proof of submission of Entrance Test application form along with recent passport size photograph. In such case they have to submit an undertaking at the Examination Centre stating that in the event of information furnished by them found to be incorrect, their candidature will be cancelled. Candidates must report at the Examination Centre 45 minutes before commencement of the Entrance Test.

University has deputed Central Observers in all the 262 examination centres to ensure smooth conduct of the entrance test.

Book based on real life story of scavengers will be released by the Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Monday at Balyogi Auditorium of the Parliament. Two books comprising real life stories of 56 liberated scavengers titled “New Princesses of Alwar” and its Hindi version,”Alwar Ki Nai Rajkumariyan” in a function.

The book is a collection of reports about the liberation of scavengers from the sub-human practice in Alwar and efforts made by Sulabh International in this regard. According to Vindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh International “To relieve them from their sub-human practice of manual cleaning of human excreta, two technologies were developed by me: one for the individual households and the other applicable to toilets at public places, so that the practice of manual cleaning of excreta is dispensed with.
After relieving them from the demeaning practice, we have imparted to them education and vocational training, to enable them to become self-employed. Apart from other things, these scavengers now prepare eatables, like papads, noodles, pickles, which are bought locally by the people, a phenomenon unthinkable in the Indian society”.

We took some of them to New York to attend the event Mission Sanitation to mark the International Year of Sanitation-2008, where ministers and officials from more than 150 countries were present. They even got the chance to meet the President of India, Pratibha Devisingh Patil at Rashtrapati Bhawan besides meeting Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, he says.

Now, a group of around 200 liberated scavenger women are all set to visit Parliament to attend a function which is being organized specially to celebrate the victory over ‘untouchability’. The Speaker of Lok Sabha, Meira Kumar has agreed to meet them besides releasing two books.