Centre has finalized a legislative proposal to make accreditation of any higher education institution mandatory. Till now it is not mandatory for the institutions. According to Ministry of HRD the proposal is subject to the law being approved by the Parliament.
Till now 159 universities have been accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). There are several universities including Delhi University, JNU and other Central Universities who have not been opted for accreditation.
Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia has been appointed the new Chief Justice of India. Justice Kapadia, currently a Supreme Court Judge, has been appointed by President of India Pratibha Devi Singh Patil. He will be Chief Justice of India with effect from 12th May 2010. Born on 29th September 1947, Justice Kapadia started his career as a lawyer at Bombay High Court. He became Chief Justice of Uttranchal High Court in August 2003 and later on elevated to the bench of Supreme Court in December 2003.
Admission seekers for the undergraduate courses can get their queries answered through ‘Live Chat’ with Delhi University from today evening. As per schedule students can participate in ‘Live Chat’ every Friday and Tuesday till 14th May. Those, who can not participate in ‘Live Chat’ may get their queries answered through ‘Open Days’ organized by several colleges of Delhi University on 15th May and thereafter.
As the admission season is coming closer and Delhi University has decided to bring admission seekers of various courses, especially vocational and professional courses, on internet platform to answer their queries. Considering the increasing number of netizens (or internet surfers) among the student community the university administration has been working in the area so that the students could get answer to their queries without reaching university physically through web or live chat.
“At present we have made arrangement for live chat for the courses regarding Journalism and Media, B.Ed., Bachelor of Business Studies and Bachelor of Business Administration and some other courses apart from traditional undergraduate courses”, says a senior official of the University. Admission seekers of such courses can get their queries answered through live chat, he says.
The session is going to begin on coming Friday 30th April. The concerned students or parents may interact through live chat between 4.00 to 5.00 PM.
Higher and advanced level studies and research activities related to atomic or nuclear radiation will be affected severely in Delhi University after the recent episode of Cobalt-60 as Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) of the country has asked to suspend ‘all activities involving use of radiation sources’.
There are several departments like Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Zoology, Molecular Biology, Genetics and some others use radioactive materials for research and advanced level studies. The recent episode will hamper the research process, even for a longer time, says a senior teacher of Science Faculty of Delhi University. “Whosoever is responsible for this goof-up but researchers will have to pay for this as AERB’s instruction is mandatory to follow in this regard”, he says.
AERB has already served a show cause notice to university for the violation of safety norms regarding disposal of radioactive material and asked to reply in two weeks. DU Vice Chancellor Deepak Pental has taken ‘moral responsibility’ in this regard but it is yet to know that how and why such incident happened. The three member committee comprising of S C Pancholi former DU teacher, NC Goomer of BARC and Dr. Dwarka Nath form Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) to probe into the matter. Though no timeframe has been decided but as AERB has asked to reply in this regard within two weeks it is expected that committee may file its interim report within this period.
Chandan Sharma
Delhi University has formed an expert committee to look into the careless handling of the radioactive material Cobalt-60. The committee will probe that how the radioactive substance reached to the local scrap dealer. If believe on the university sources, about 20 truck scrap were sold in the last week of February 2010, which ultimately created killer radioactive exposure to the scrap dealer and its workers.
But the million dollar question is that whether the DU, Vice Chancellor Deepak Pental has already taken moral responsibility of the incident, itself is the competent authority to look into such a serious issue. The biggest Central University of the country, that could not even handle the unused radioactive substance carefully, is ready to probe firstever incident of such kind related to the university that led the death of one person and injured some others seriously. If believe on the Delhi University teachers, more scrap of radioactive substance are also there in the university which need to be probed.
Experts say that Atomic Energy Regulatory Body (AERB) is the only authority in the country which has mandate to probe such kind of incidents. Moreover, he has expertise into incidents related to radio-activities. So, the probe should be referred to the AERB in this regard. It will look into lapses into safety measures and other aspects of the incident. It is notable that Delhi University may have to pay heavy penalty for such kind of safety lapse, if it is proved.
But only glitch is that any outer agency needs approval of Visitor of the university to initiate such kind of probe. The President of India is the Visitor of Delhi University. And, in this case Visitor should order a free and fair enquiry in this regard. Institution of an enquiry by Delhi University itself is like Ham hee chor aur ham hee kotwal (We are the culprit and we are the judges too). Incidents like these needs a reliable and free enquiry and not just eyewash because it is not just a matter or to find out fault and culprit but also a matter of life and death of many common people, not just scrap dealers and workers but also teachers, students, researchers too.
Over 3000 Eco-clubs in Delhi have been concentrating on conservation of the natural resources. Delhi’s Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today told children of various schools came to participate in social initiative to sensitize the youth through ‘Kids for Green-Clean Delhi’.
The Chief Minister exhorted everyone to work together to make an eco-friendly world and told people to conserve all natural resources as these are not going to last for ever.
‘Kids for Green-Clean Delhi’ focuses on fun-learning and hands-on environment workshops for school children. The aim is to capture the imagination of the children and build their enthusiasm through fun-filled activities and practical projects within the school premises. A competition for school children was held at Delhi’s India Habitat Centre also present were Principals of various schools and children participating in the program. 7500 children from 150 participating schools competed in three categories- dance/drama/song; as well as poster painting and declamation on ‘What I can do to keep Delhi Green and Clean’.
Delhi University has constituted a ‘three-member committee’ to probe that how radioactive ‘Cobalt-60’ has been auctioned to a local scrap dealer. Interacting with media today Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Deepak Pental has also taken ‘moral responsibility’ of the blunder which has created such a serious radioactive exposure among the common people and killed one person due to radiation.
However, he said that he was completely unaware of the fact that any radioactive substance was being sold on the name of waste disposal. “There is a waste disposal committee to look in to such matters but I was never been told that the scrap was radioactive substance”. However, he was mum on the fact that why the university administration was mum on the issue for last one month when the issue came into limelight and why he was speaking on the issue when police has leaked out Delhi University as main culprit in this episode.
Pental said that the expert committee will look into all aspects regarding the matter. Meanwhile, Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) has demanded Pental’s resignation on the issue.
CM on Cobalt-60
On the other hand Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has said the government will look into the matter that how the radioactive scrap reached to the local scrap dealer in West Delhi.