The collectors of free passes, Delhites, especially students are (in)famous for it in the capital city, and a large number of office-goers have disappointed due to unexpected and embarrassing calling off the fifth One-Day International at Ferozshah Kotla Stadium in Delhi due to poor pitch condition.

While office-goers, whose number in Delhi in millions, will have to find out some other way to spend Sunday rather than gluing with the TV screen or watching the match in the stadium, the collectors (of free passes) are facing a kind of embarrassment among their invited guests or boyfriend/s or girlfriend/s to enjoy the match on these passes so that they could be impressed.

P K Singh, one of such collector says “It is not just embarrassment but also invitation of additional expanses for the day on the invited guests”.” What is the other way to impress your friend? Mood of all of us is already off,” he asks.

The problem is not just limited to it. All places close to Ferozshah Kotla Stadium are already crowded due to this development. “You go to India Gate, Central Park of Connaught Place, Cinema Halls like Golcha, Rivoli etc. every place is packed even restaurants too as it is Sunday”, says Aarti, who came with her husband to see the match for the first time. It is wastage of money as well as time too, she says.

But Rahman, a student of Jakir Hussain College is not worried. I did not spend a single penny to see the match, he says. But the match should not have put off this way, he adds.

The match had called off after 24th over due to bad pitch. This has happened after 12 years in the history of Indian Cricket when a match was abandoned in 1997 in Indore.

Winter vacations! It may be a season of celebrations for some people but the students of Delhi University and other educational institutions are busy to give their studies a final touch. While elders (Post Graduate and research students) are trying to mug up everything of their text books and notes by today the undergraduate students are trying to put their attention on their notes and libraries.
Seats in the libraries are almost full throughout the day as the UGC-NET is scheduled on Sunday, says Ravindra Das, a research scholar and regular visitor of South Campus Library. “It is difficult to get suitable seat sometimes as more and more students are coming to study here for their NET examination”, he says adding that the new pay commission has attracted a good number of students for teaching profession and serious study. It is notable that NET is mandatory for the post of lecturer.
Situation of undergraduates too are not much different. As Sunil Pradhan, a III year Commerce student of SRCC, says “Though it is season of winter vacation but we can not enjoy and celebrate. There is internal examination just after the vacations. We need to prepare for that.” However, he says that he and his friends will organize a small party in the SRCC hostel on 31st December to celebrate New Year.”
Ashu of Dayal Singh College too is in the same mood. “I’ll go out to celebrate, probably Noida, on the eve of New Year. But I have to concentrate on my studies as the internal examination is going to start from 8th January,” Ashu says while interacting with fachcha.com.
Both of them (Sunil & Ashu) say that they could not go outstation due to their examinations. They even not planning for movies or clubs in the vacations. But everybody is not like them as Sunita of Bharti College says “I am going to Chennai on Sunday on a week long trip. Some friends are also there during the trip. We’ll party and celebrate the vacation. I do not take tension for exams.”

While Telangana issue is not ready to clam down the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) too has joined the demand for Telangana. Students belong to the Telangana area have formed a ‘JNU Forum for Telangana’ (JNUFT).

The forum has already submitted a memorandum to K. Rosaiah, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. The JNUFT, claims backing of teachers and students of Delhi University, IGNOU and JNU including JNU Stuedents’ Union (JNUSU), is also planning to submit a memorandum to the Home Ministry in this regard.
Sunitha Eluri, a member of JNUFT, told fachcha.com that students of Osmania University and other universities protesting in support of the Telangana states are being booked under non-bailable cases. “We demand to immediately withdraw such cases against them through this forum”, she says. According to her police resorted to lathi charge and using rubber bullets in University campuses. Several students were arrested and Police forces are claiming they arrested the students as a preventive mechanism. This attitude of the state government is yet another example of discrimination towards people of Telangana, she says adding that JNUFT strongly condemns such acts.

55th National School Games has started in Delhi today. 6800 players from different states are participating in the 6-day mega school event. These players will participate in 13 different sports categories including Baseball, Netball, Wrestling, Kho-kho, cricket and several other games.

Inaugurating the National School Games Delhi’s Education Minister Arvinder Singh said that the event is important considering the coming Commonwealth Games. He said that Delhi is the host city for the 2010 Games and Delhi Government is taking all possible steps to keep alive sportsman spirit and winning instinct to inspire the budding sportsman. It has been made mandatory for all students of government schools to participate in games, offered by the school, he said.

Olympic wrestler Sushil Kumar and other senior officials of Education Department of Delhi were present on the occasion. The event is being organized by Education Department of Delhi.

Responsibilty to be fixed and grievances to be addressed
Students of Delhi University can cheer up now. The complex and continuous evaluation system of internal assessment will be more accountable and transparent now. Delhi University has given approval to introduce an accountable mechanism for internal assessment. The much-hyped meeting of Executive Council of Delhi University on Wednesday has unanimously passed a resolution in this concern.
According to the resolution the internal assessment of the students will be placed on the university website. If college receives any grievance regarding the internal assessment it will be addressed and responsibility will be fixed in this regard that whether any teacher or staff is responsible in this concern. The details of the outcome in this concern will be placed on the website. “The idea behind the whole exercise to remove the discrepancy in the internal assessment system and make the concerned people accountable so that students could not suffer due to laxity of teachers or staffs”, says Rajib Ray, Member of Executive Council.
Principals of the colleges too have extended their support in the meeting chaired by the Vice-Chancellor Prof. Deepak Pental. Students have welcomed the move and said that it would help to remove discrimination in the assessment. Ranjini Basu, Central Councillor of Miranda House says that it is a positive step to improve internal assessment system. She also demands to make student-faculty committee more functional.
Shalini Singh, a LSR College alumnus and IInd year student of Law Centre-I says that this will obviously improve the situation. “Though there is no internal assessment system in the Law Centre but we have experience that how some colleges mark leniently in comparison with LSR. This will help to remove this discrepancy too”, says Shalini Singh, a student of II year LLB and President of Law Centre-I.

After a long agitation of dharna, protest marches and campaign 7000 teachers of Delhi University have ultimately got a relief today when the proposal to introduce biometric system of attendance for teachers has been dropped finally in the Executive Council’s (EC) meeting today.
Amid the strong protest and dharna of teachers outside the venue of the EC meeting the Vice-Chancellor Prof . Deepak Pental announced about dropping the item of multiple attendances through biometric system (putting thumb impression before biometric machine for attendance) from the agenda of EC meeting and assured the council that it will not be discussed in the EC meetings in the future.
“It has not been deferred but dropped finally from the agenda of the EC’s meeting”, EC member Rajib Ray told fachcha.com. According to him the semester system too has not been placed in the agenda of the EC meeting. He says that the same system was proposed in 2000 also but could not be introduced at that time.
Earlier, DUTA organized a dharna in front of Vice-Chancellor’s office today. A large number of teachers have participated in the dharna. DUTA has also marched to the Parliament in protest of the introducing semester system in under-graduate courses and proposed new service conditions for teachers. According to DUTA President Aditya Narayan Mishra it is big victory for teachers. “I hope the VC, as an educationist, will understand the concern of teachers of the university and will not behave just like an administrator”, said Aditya Narayan Mishra.

In a big relief to the teachers of Delhi University the proposal to introduce biometric system of attendance for teachers has been dropped in Executive Council’s meeting today in the university. This is considered a big victory of teachers’ movement in the university. Though the meeting was continue till the story was being written…