Delhi’s Lt. Governor Tejendra Khanna today termed the students of Art as the best mind and genius of the student community. Inaugurating the biggest exhibition of students’ art and painting at College of Art in New Delhi the Lt. Governor appealed students to start journey toward harmony from the disharmonious world though their art and paintings.

Addressing the students and guests Vijay Mohan, Principal, College of Art told about the journey of College from a small department to an institution of international repute. He said that over 2000 art and paintings have been shown in the exhibition. The exhibition will remain open till 19th March.

Junior Bachchan, Abhishek and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today launched WWF’s Earth Hour 2010 at World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) office in New Delhi. The Earth Hour is being observed on March 27, 2010 from 8:30 P.M. to 9:30 P.M this year.
As a concerned individuals for the planet, Abhishek along with Sheila Dikshit lit the ‘candle of hope’ encouraging citizens of India to ‘switch on’ their minds and showcase solidarity and commitment towards climate change and energy conservation by ‘switching off’ the light for one hour. They also took pledge to intensify campaign for this purpose. They were joined by Ravi Singh, CEO of WWF India. Earth Hour 2010 is expected to be a culmination of over one billion people around the globe, in more than 6000 cities and towns worldwide, turning off lights and showing support for action on climate change.
Interacting with media Abhishek Bachchan said, “as responsible citizens of this planet, it is extremely crucial for us to address the colossal problem of climate change through ensuring responsible action and adopting a sustainable way of life. It is time that we take a collective pledge to ‘switch on’ our minds and take one simple step to ‘switch off the lights’ on March 27, 2010 from 8:30 P.M. to 9:30 P.M.”
According to Ravi Singh, CEO, WWF India, the campaign will be joined by 92 countries and 878 cities.

Chandan Sharma

Guess, where did Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit get brilliant ideas? During her office of the Chief Minister for over 11 years or in the her alma meter’s cafeteria?

Believe or not but the Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit believes that it was Miranda House’s cafeteria where she used to get brilliant ideas during sip of coffee and chatting with friends. It is another matter that her tenure in the college was much less than that of the Chief Minister’s office. The frank admission came during her nostalgic visit during the founder day of her college, Miranda House at Delhi University. Addressing and interacting with students of the Miranda House the Chief Minister shared her delicate memories of colleges with students during late sixties that how she used to enjoy ice-cream, spicy shakarkand (sweet potato) and so on.

Girl of the Miranda House too enjoyed the moment and kept on whistling a lot during the Chief Minister’s address to show their support and joy to the Chief Minister. She said that at first she is a Mirandian, Chief Minister later on.
The Chief Minister also used the moment to put some demand in favour of woman by saying that time has come to respect the work of women by quantifying the out put in terms of monetary gain.

Stressing upon the fact that more than 75% of work was done by women but it goes unrecognized and unacknowledged because of the fact that most of it is in the unorganized category. Giving detail about the role of a woman in the family, the society and their contribution to productive activities she said that these should be recognized and respected among the society.

IGNOU’s Vice-Chancellor VN Rajasekharan Pillai has praised UK Open University. Citing its example Pillai has said that IGNOU too would give emphasis on quality research. “Many Open Universities in the world, like the UK Open University, the Open University of Netherlands and Hong Kong Open University support extensive doctoral and post-doctoral research. They have excellent research portfolios and vibrant research communities which are enhanced through collaborations with top-ranking research institutions worldwide”, said Pillai in a release issued by IGNOU. However, he has not given any roadmap for Indian model for research through distance education.

However, he has said that strict enforcement of quality criteria, following international benchmarks in research, is the only way to curb these undesirable practices. He further added that, ”We cannot take a stand that the Open University and Distance Education system will not be able to provide the facilities and ambience for High quality research. State-of –the –art research laboraties, even in sophisticated science and technology areas, are available in the Open University system”.

About 400 students of Deen Dayal Upadhaya College have joined Commonwealth Games as volunteers. This has been informed during the annual function of the college. Addressing the students and teachers of the college Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today said that no area can progress until it has enough educational Institutes.

Dikshit said people all are now well-informed by historic standards, thanks to the explosion in education, training, media and travel. They are able to access the world’s finest and most invigorating ideas, inventions and discoveries, due to the advancements in print, sound, and visual media.

Principal S K Garg appreciated the students for registering themselves as volunteers through the NSS for 2010 Games. The Chief Minister also gave away prizes to the meritorious students on the occasion.