“Many students with lower scores have made it to the list, while those with higher marks have been left out,” said Anurag Tripathi, a PhD scholar from the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

The UPSC preliminary exams results were declared last week. The UPSC conducts a three-tier exam yearly for entry into country’s higher administrative services.

The students are demanding greater transparency in the procedure of conducting the exam and revelation of the cut-off marks.

“I scored 84 in Geography and 56 in General Studies but my name was not in the list, but I know students with lesser marks who have made it to the list,” said Kapil, another student from JNU.

Disclosure of marks and the cut-off has been demanded by students in the past as well. The commission has also rejected Right To Information applications demanding the disclosure of marks.

“We want the UPSC results to be revised. They don’t reveal the information in RTI, there is no transparency,” said Ashok Kumar, who has done his masters from Jamia Millia Islamia University.

The students also displayed placards and banners and shouted slogans against the UPSC.

IANS

Symposium on semester system

Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) has organized a symposium on the semester system in the North Campus. Speakers said that the system itself is not bad but the way it is being imposed without any proper infrastructure and without increasing number of teachers will hamper the career of the students and would also give a bad reputation to the undergraduate courses of Delhi University.

Staff Council meeting in Hindu College

Staff council at Hindu College has proved a stormy affair on Wednesday. Principal Vinay Srivastav postponed the meeting in the midway without taking any decision. The meeting called to discuss allegations related to admissions under the ECA quota.

Examination schedule for semester system

Despite all opposition from the all quarters Delhi University has finalized its examination schedule for undergraduate semester courses. It is different matter that most of the colleges have already preferred to stay away from the new system in the undergraduate courses.

JNUTA’s protest

After Delhi University’s teachers’ protest JNU teacher’ body JNUTA too has decided to protest against the UGC’s new service condition. According to JNUTA teachers will wear black badges on 30th August in protest of new service conditions.

Film festival at Makhanlal Chaturvedi University

Four-day film festival inaugurated at Noida campus of Makhanlal Chaturvedi University on Wednesday. The festival will include screening of short films, documentaries, directed and produced by its students.

They also activate and people by planting saplings along its banks and holding workshops and street plays. On Saturday, the students planted dozens of saplings along the bank of the river at Wazirabad in north Delhi.

The students initially plan to clean up the banks at three places – Wazirabad, Kudusia and Nizamuddin – and later all the places in the city the river passes by before the Oct 3-14 Games, said Manas, a student participating in the event. The group has plans to continue with the cleanup mission even after the Games.

Thousands of students took part in a signature campaign held last week in Delhi University’s north campus. The group also held a 15-day workshop to prepare a team of artists who will perform street plays in various parts of the city. The workshop was attended by volunteers from the Maulana Azad Medical College, several colleges of DU and Faridabad’s management institute NILM.

“With the help of around a hundred volunteers from DU, Jamia Millia and other institutes, we will have a signature campaign to cover schools and colleges across the capital to garner support of the youth,” said Gautam, one of the campaigners.

Students from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)- Delhi, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Maulana Azad Medical College and other premier institutes are being invited to join the mission.

The group plans to hold street plays at Dilli Haat, India Habitat Centre, the DU campus, Noida Film City, JNU and other places later this month, Gautam said. They will also interact with those living near the river bank and hold meetings with representatives of various residents welfare associations.

“We’ll encourage community members to clean up the river. Students are ready to roll up their sleeves to clean up the river,” said Karishma, another member of the group.

The river, which provides 70 percent of the city’s water supply, covers 48 km in Delhi.

(with inputs from IANS)

Later on a delegation of teachers’ representatives met the union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal too and presented a representation in this regard. According to Aditya Narayan Mishra, President, FEDCUTA, the minister has assured the teachers to look into teachers’ demand. The minister also instructed ministry officials to look into demands.

It is a miracle that a script like “Peepli Live” has been turned into a movie and has got a commercial release. It is certainly surprising that a mainstream filmmaker like Aamir Khan decided to invest money in a movie that puts the spotlight on grave issues like the plight of Indian peasants.

And, of course, kudos to journalist-turned-director Anusha Rizvi for penning down a story that focusses on rural India and its problems at a time when most Bollywood filmmakers are busy luring NRI audiences with mindlesss comedies and designer dramas.

According to a report, 200,000 farmers have ended their lives since 1997 and it is said that the rise in indebtedness is the root cause of farmer suicide. Anusha’s directorial debut follows this theme in “Peepli Live” – albeit as a satire.

The film also takes a look at how media and politicians use such tragedies to up their TRPs and votebanks respectively. The real issue dies under their rat race.

Set in a small village, the film follows the plight of a farmer’s family. Natha (Omkar Das) and Budhiya (Raghuvir Yadav) are brothers who had taken a loan against their land. Their only source of livelihood is put under the hammer when they fail to repay the money.

They try to seek the help of a local politician, whose job is to serve the people. But he shoos them away saying the government gives compensation to the families of those farmers who commit suicide. Initially, the brothers ignore the suggestion, but Budiya convinces Natha to sacrifice his life for the sake of the family.

It’s election time in the region and a local newspaper owner sends his reporter Rakesh (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) – who otherwise doesn’t want to budge from his comfort zone in search of stories – to the village. Rakesh comes to know of Natha’s decision to end his life and reports it.

The news creates a sensation in the political arena and before it can be brushed under the carpet, somebody gives the lead of the Natha story to Nandita Malik (Malaika Shenoy), an elite English channel journalist. She grabs the opportunity and dashes off to Peepli as the news promises good TRPs.

As soon as her report is flashed comes an avalanche of reporters to the village and there begins a media circus as every journalist vies to sensationalise the issue.

Rakesh, who actually filed the story, becomes a mere puppet in the hands of Nandita and when he tries to tell her about another farmer’s death, she refuses to report it as she doesn’t see it as a TRP booster for her channel.

The irony is that nobody – be it reporters or politicians – tries to know why Natha decides to take his life. In fact, no one is interested in solving his problem as they have their own agendas.

“Peepli Live” is a satire that shows the reality behind media houses, politicians, bureaucrats and their apathetic approach towards problems. But the script is written in a such a manner that it makes the audience laugh.

India promotes itself as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, but the film shows the miserable condition of farmers who continue to end their lives after living in extreme poverty. A report says the highest level of farmer suicides has been reported in Vidarbha, Maharashtra – reportedly 4,000 farmer suicides per year. In recent times, farmer suicides in Chhattisgarh have been hogging the limelight as well as in Punjab.

First time director Anusha has not only written a taut script but also executed the story effectively. It seems the film is her attempt to enlighten viewers about the social dilemma that our country is facing and her experience as a journalist is quite visible in her storytelling.

The actors — from Omkar Das, Raghuvir and Shalini Vatsa as Natha’s short tempered wife Dhania to Malaika Shenoy and Vishal Sharma — are brilliant too.

If Omkar and Raghuvir bring forth the sufferings of farmers, Shalini, an M. Phil from Jawaharlal Nehru University, should be applauded for playing the role with such ease and perfection. Malaika and Vishal fit the bill of English and Hindi channel reporters respectively. (IANS)

According to the MOU MTNL will be preferred telecom service provider in the university. The MOU was signed in the presence of Sachin Pilot, Minister of state for Communications and Information Technology and Prof. B.B. Bhattacharya, Vice-Chancellor, JNU. According to Pilot students will have to pay only Rs.199 in place of Rs. 599 per month to talk and avail other telecom related services through MTNL.

MTNL would provide Wi-Fi connectivity to all the hostels at its own cost to access Internet anywhere in the hostels. It will also setup four additional 3G towers on campus to cover the JNU Campus.

Vice Chancellor Bhattacharya said that academic resources, journals, research publications are shifting to the use of digital media with online access – for which the university’s subscriber cost is over four crore rupees per year. Using this facility the students will be able to access the various journals, research articles and other literature-resource available with JNU from any place in the campus including the hostels, canteen etc. and also when they are outside the Campus or even travelling outside.

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.