Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has announced its admission programme for various courses and discipline. Admission in JNU is now open for undergraduate, post-graduate and M.Phil and PhD level courses in disciplines like humanities, Social Sciences, Life Science, Law and Governance, Computer Science, Biotech and other disciplines. Prospectus will be available for sale from 1st February and application will be submitted till 15th March 2010. For more detail please visit http://www.jnu.ac.in/

Books on sports will be the main attraction during the 19th New Delhi World Book Fair (NDWBF), being open on 30th January and will continue to 7th February. 700 titles based on different genres of sports of various countries will be exhibited during the Book Fair on the occasion of XIX Commonwealth Games 2010, Delhi.

According to Bipin Chandra of National Book Trust the theme of the book fair will be “Reading Our Common Wealth: An International Rights Exhibition of Books on Sports”. The book fair will be inaugurated by HRD Minister Kapil Sibal.

After Xth the CBSE is now preparing itself to introduce grading system for XII too. Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal today said that the ministry is considering the modalities of introducing grade system in senior secondary classes.
The Ministry has already discussed the issue with the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangthan, Vice-Chancellors of Central Universities apart from CBSE. Sibal said that a committee on this issue has already been made. After the committee’s report the ministry will take view of CABE and CoBSE in this regard.
“Several issues are involved in introducing the grading system for 12th. The biggest hurdle is to get recognition from universities for it for admission in the undergraduate courses”, said a senior official of HRD Ministry. This is the reason that Ministry wants to introduce SAT-type test for admission in the undergraduate courses, he adds.

Over 20,000 teachers of various central universities today went on two-day strike demanding better service condition for the teaching community. Federation of Central Universities Teachers’ Association (FEDCUTA) had made a call in this regard opposing new service conditions being imposed by the University Grant Commission (UGC) and Ministry of HRD.
“We had no option but to go on strike as UGC is not ready to give an ear to our demands” Aditya Narayan Mishra, President, FEDCUTA, told fachcha.com. According to him several humiliating changes are being made in service condition of teachers without their consent, he adds. There are over 24 Central Universities in the country including Delhi University, JNU, Jamia, Aligarh University, BHU and others. Over 7000 teachers belong to Delhi University alone.

Students wish to get admission in various professional and other courses after 12th may have to clear SAT – type test to get their choice of course and institute. In a roundtable meeting at Ministry of HRD, attended by several vice-chancellors, principals and representatives of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangthan, CBSE and other officials reached to a conclusion, in principle, to organize SAT like test for admission in undergraduate courses.

SAT (formerly known as Scholastic Aptitude Test and Scholastic Assessment Test) is widely used in US for admission in the undergraduate courses. According to sources, it was also discussed about modalities of such examination. The representatives also discussed the issue of grading system in school and assessment of schools. The HRD Minister Kapil Sibal has already said that such type of examination is necessary to bring uniformity in the system. In a meeting of vice-chancellors of newly formed central universities Sibal had categorically said to organize such examination for admission in various courses.

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) wants that one year rural posting of medical graduates should be made mandatory. The commission has written to the Ministry of Health too in this regard. The commission will raise the issue during the meeting of Health Secretaries of states and Union Territories on 29th January. The meeting is being organized on the issue of ‘Illegal medical practice and health care facilities in the tribal area’.

It is notable that Sambasiba Rao Committee had recommended that one year rural work shall be made mandatory for medical students who wants to do post-graduation. But NHRC wants to extend it to all medical graduates.

The Commission has also planned to raise the issue of non-availability of national data about the registered medical practitioners and issue of quacks. The meeting will be inaugurated by Justice G P Mathur, Chairperson of NHRC. Representatives of Medical Council of India, Health Ministry, Delhi Medical Council and other institutions will attend the meeting apart from the health secretaries of the states.

R B Singh, Senior scholar and teacher of Geography at prestigious Delhi School of Economics (DSE), Delhi University and Secretary General of National Association of Geographers, India (NAGI) has worked a lot on Himalaya region, climate and glaciers. He has been guide for several projects and researches related to glaciers too. In an exclusive and detailed interaction with fachcha.com he revealed various aspects about climate change, glaciers and Delhi’s environment. Excerpts:

fachcha.com: We are facing unusual winter this year. Is the cycle of weather or season is changing?

RBS: Whatever signals and signs we are getting indicate that it is changing. 90’s was the hottest decade in the history. It has been proved by records too. There is increasing tendency of extreme weather. Events like cloud brust, flash flood, heavy rain, drought, devastating flood etc. have increased.

fachcha.com: What is the role of global warming in it?
RBS: See, increase in such kind of trend is not limited to India only. It has no boundary. Several countries in Europe, Latin America, Asia and other continent are affected by these developments. This is a clear sign that global warming has a big role in it.

fachcha.com: How would you describe the changes in weather and climate?
RBS: One thing is very clear that it is extending further. In other words it is moving forward. For example, there were 2-3 Western disturbances in Delhi and surrounding areas few years ago but it has increased upto 5-6 Western disturbances. Last year, the Western disturbances were appeared till May and caused rain. But earlier it used to appear in December, January and February only. I would like to use the term ‘climatic variables’ for these. These ‘variables’ have been increasing.

fachcha.com: There are four seasons in India – Summer, Monsoon, Winter and Spring. With the extended winter do you think that spring or India’s favourite ‘Basant’ has been vanishing slowly?

RBS: It needs a long time to predict about such kind of change in climate or season. We need at least 30 years’ observation to reach to some concrete conclusion. But yes, on the basis of observations for last six-seven years I can say that the span of spring has reduced by at least six to 10 days. We start facing hotter days much earlier after winter. On the other hand span of winter has increased.

fachcha.com: Would you say that it is again related to global warming?
RBS: Certainly. It relates to global warming. Global warming has some relation with extreme weather and uncertain behaviour of nature.

fachcha.com: What would you say about recent controversy on the issue of global meltdown?
RBS: This IPCC controversy is unnecessary and unwarranted. The situation of climate, glaciers are changing so the assessment too. We are lacking infrastructure to get accurate conclusion. Even, we are unable to do exact forecast of daily weather despite having such a huge infrastructure. The approach of research and availability of infrastructure too influence it.

fachcha.com: But the prediction was made that glaciers would disappear by 2035?
RBS: It is true that glaciers are melting but its speed and life depend upon region to region and place to place. It can not be said that it (glacier) will be totally disappear but you must remember that the report was made in few years ago when the situation was very bad. Lot of changes have been made through human or say government’s efforts.
As far as glaciers are concern one part of the Himalaya is different from the other part of the Himalaya. The central part of the Himalaya is more fragile while western part of the Himalaya is comparatively in better position in terms of meltdown. Though the exact figure is not available but there are about 8000 glaciers in the Himalaya. Glaciers at the central part are melting fast than the other part of the Himalaya.

fachcha.com: Is it in the defence of the mistake (made) about the prediction of meltdown?
RBS: First thing it is just a small part of global meltdown. The conclusion of complete meltdown of glaciers like Gangotri etc. may be wrong, as IPCC head R K Pachauri has already accepted but you must remember that there are chances of human errors also in the findings. That is the reason that some get meltdown speed of 130 meters per year of a glacier while other gets 12 meters. Some find that there is no meltdown in western part of the Himalaya. Moreover, there are some other factors also work in it like research tools, methodologies, available infrastructure and others. But it does not mean that for this a larger cause should be ignored due to undue pressure. And, one thing you must remember that efforts bring positive changes in environment and climate. You can just compare Delhi’s present environment with 15 years’ old environment. It does not mean that the prediction, plans and researches were done 15 years ago about Delhi’s future were wrong. In fact, efforts have changed the situation.