“I can not say about percentage of turnout as it will take time to receive EVMs from different centres. The university will be able to tell exact figure by late evening only”, says DU’s Chief Election Officer Gurmeet Singh.
Gurmeet Singh was satisfied with the turnout and declared the polls a success. He said not a single untoward incident had been reported during the election.

Colleges in the both South and North campuses were heavily guarded and intensively patrolled by policemen. “The election process was absolutely peaceful” Gopi Nath, Maurice Nagar SHO said.

Inaugurating the golden jubilee celebration of Delhi University’s Sri Venkateswara College, Patil said: “The mismatch of skills leads to low employability ratio of our higher education graduates. This needs to be corrected and a broad based system of education that caters to all subjects is needed.”

She said there was a massive requirement in the country for a skilled workforce in sectors like information technology, infrastructure, tourism, media and health care.

The president also asked the management of educational institutions to constantly upgrade their training methodologies and curriculum.

“Interaction between the industry, business and academic institutions would be useful in framing syllabus that are contemporary and relevant. Apart from this, development of entrepreneurial skills is important for creating self-employment opportunities,” Patil said.

She praised the college for being one among the four pilot centres identified by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) to set up a techno-business skill development centres.

DU teachers’ demonstration at V-C office on Tuesday
As the term of Prof. Deepak Pental, Vice Chancellor of Delhi University is being completed in less than two weeks the teachers’ community of University is not still ready to give him any reprieve. The teachers of the university, under the banner of DUTA, will demonstrate at the Vice Chancellor’s office on 17th August against the proposed introduction of semester system at the undergraduate level and irregularities made by the Vice Chancellor during his tenure. According to DUTA teachers have planned a series of protest this month against the Vice Chancellor and his ‘misdeeds’.

Golden Jubilee of Sri Venkateshwara College
Sri Venkateshwara College of Delhi University will take off a series of events including cultural, educational and others throughout the year from August 17th with the celebration of its Golden Jubilee. The college is completing its 50-year of establishment on August 17th. Main function will be organized at Vigyan Bhawan New Delhi. President Pratibha Devisingh Patil has given her consent to inaugurate the golden jubilee celebrations on the occasion. The ceremony will also witness commemoration of special stamps related to the college.

Jamia’s Bio-tech deptt. among top-10
Biotechnology department of Jamia Millia Islamia has been rated one of the top 10 public institutes of India in a survey conducted by BioSpectrum, a scientific journal. The department of biotechnology offers M.Sc. and Ph.D. courses in biotechnology and molecular biology.

Orientation Programme at Dwarka Campus of IP University
Indraprastha University organized an orientation programme for new students of the university at its Dwarka campus today. D K Bandopadhyaay, Vice-Chancellor of the university addressed and welcomed freshers on the occasion. He given introduction about the university, its history, courses, discipline and faculty of the university on the occasion.

Programmes of NSUI & ABVP at North Campus
As Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) election is not much far away the students organization have increased their activities. While Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has organized a meeting at north campus of the university the NSUI has organized a prize distribution function for meritorious students at Delhi University on Tuesday.

The inauguration ceremony will also witness commemoration of special stamps related to the college. Meritorious students of the college too will be awarded during the function.
According to Hemlata Reddy, Principal of the College, the golden jubilee celebration is jointly being organized by Staff Association of the college and alumni association. Both the association and college administration have planned a series of events throughout the year in the college and other places.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, Union Minister S. Jaipal Reddy and noted scientist M.S. Swaminathan will grace the function on the occasion at Vigyan Bhavan in the capital.

Deshbandhu College (Evening) of Delhi University has decided to not celebrate its Foundation Day. The college administration has taken the decision in this regard considering the fact that the college is in the process of separation with its parent Deshbandhu College (morning). But the staffs and college students are nor happy with the move. The college used to celebrate its Foundation Day on August 3rd.

FEDCUTA welcomes government’s move

The FEDCUTA has appreciated the move of the Central Government to increase the age of retirement of High Court judges from 62 to 65 saying that it would bring uniformity in the retirement age of High Court judges and Supreme Court judges in the country.
“This move is positive in many respects. Firstly, it is only very few High Court judges, who become Supreme Court judges. Therefore those who do not get chance to become Supreme Court judge retire earlier. Secondly, this would give more time to experience senior judges of High Court to deal with their work / cases. Thirdly, position or seniority in the employees in the Government Organizations does not make difference in the retirement age”, the teachers’ body of all central universities said in a statement. FEDCUTA urges the Central Government to finalize and implement its announced move at the earliest.

BBE: Fresh counseling after the allegations

Several admissions have been cancelled in Bachelor of Business Economics (BBE) during the counseling at South Campus after the allegations of irregularities in the counseling. Parents and students alleged that the university was considering the candidature of those students who did not participated earlier during their turn. On this the Director, South Campus intervened into the matter and stopped counseling. The process will take place on Wednesday once again.

Even those belong to science group ask that whether they could apply for art or commerce or not.

“They do not want to go for science as after the implementation of semester system this branch has become more unattractive”, Rashmi Paul, a parent says, who came with her daughter to fill the form. There will be no time for preparation for other competitive exams due to it, she says.

This is not the only reason. Actually a big number of science students have been waiting for their counseling for various exams like IIT, AIEEE, PMT and other exams, says Shreya, another student who wants a seat in Daulat Ram. According to her their friends are also waiting for exam of IP University which is scheduled on 5th June. Most of the Science students will apply after the exam, she adds.

Actually, there are a lot of opportunities for science stream as hundreds of engineering and technical colleges are opened. So good students not very much interested in pure science courses which require more time and attention and provide lesser opportunities, says a Lokesh a career counselor. The semester system has worsen the situation in this regard as students are taking the new system as additional burden, he adds.

However, teachers say that the form submission will increase once IP exam is over. Since the number of applicants is much high in Commerce and Arts than science courses so the queries too high for Arts and Commerce, says Dinesh Varshney, Deputy Dean South Campus. He too believes that the applicants in science stream will increase when examination for IP University is over.

According to S K Vij, Dean Student Welfare, all arrangements have been made for the smooth admission process. However, the best strategy will be to reach nearest centre on time to buy and submit the form. It will be better if students use metro rather than their own vehicles as the strict traffic management will be there. Chances of traffic jam is high as construction regarding Commonwealth Games are already on and roads in north campus are not in good condition to carry heavy traffic load.
Application forms will be available from 28th May to 11th June for 2010-11 session. Delhi University has set up 16 Admission Information Centres located in different parts of the city for sale and receipt of Common Pre-Admission Forms and Information Bulletins. Students can obtain these forms and bulletins from these following centres. Completed forms can be submitted at any of these centres :

North Delhi:
1. Office of the Dean Students’ Welfare, Main Campus, Delhi University
2. Kirorimal College
3. Faculty of Arts, Main Campus
4. Swami Shradhanand College Alipur

South Delhi
5. Office of the Deputy Dean Students’ Welfare, South Campus, Benito Juarez Marg
6. Deshbandhu College, Kalkaji
7. ARSD College, Dhaula Kuan
8. Gargi College, Siri Fort Road,
9. PGDAV College, Nehru Nagar, Ring Road
10. College of Vocation Studies, Sheikh Sarai

East Delhi
11. Shyam Lal College, Shahdara
12. Vivekanand College, Vivek Vihar
13. Maharaja Agrsen College, Mayur Vihar
West Delhi
14. Rajdhani College, Raja Garden
15. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee College, Punjabi Bagh (West)

Central Delhi
16. Zakir Husain College, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg

Fumed over Sunday’s episode of physical assault on teachers at South Campus a large number of teachers in the university have stopped evaluation work in protest of the incident. Teachers have not participated in the evaluation work at atleast four centres today. These include centres at Kirori Mal College, Miranda House, Hansraj College and Khalsa College, said an official of Delhi University. According to him three to four hundred teachers have been associated with all these centres.

However, Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) office-bearers say that this is a kind of temporary suspension of the evaluation work. We have appealed them to join evaluation work as students must not suffer in the whole episode.

AC Members dharna enters into 5th Day:

Meanwhile, members of Academic Council today continued their dharna on fifth consecutive day. Some of the members have started facing health related problems due to the prolonged dharna. “Some of our members have already facing various ailments the dharna has increased their problems”, R S Dahia, an AC member told fachcha.com over phone. According to him Vice Chancellor has still not come to talk with us though he had promised to do so. “We received a message from V C’s office on Sunday at about 12.30 pm that V C was coming to talk with us but nothing has happened till now”, he said.

VC’s letter for talk
Meanwhile the V C Deepak Pental has sent a letter to agitating teachers to talk on the issue on Tuesday but putting a pre-condition that the discussion can take place only if agitation is stopped. Teachers have yet to take decision on the issue.

“University teachers Sanjay, S K Mishra and Surendra Kumar have been injured in this attack”, Aditya Narayan Mishra told fachcha.com who himself got injury in hand.

“We are really stunned and shocked at Vice-Chancellor’s behaviour. No member of teaching community can expect such move by an academic head of the country’s largest central university. We went there to request him to meet the members of Academic Council, who have been sitting on dharna for last four days, the longest dharna by the AC members.

The Vice-Chancellor has now come on violence to prove himself right and mighty and to hide his malfunctioning like Cobalt-60 and autocratic imposition of semester system in some of the subjects by unilaterally passing the agenda despite dissents in the Academic Council meeting on Thursday night, said another teacher.

However, Vice-Chancellor, who later on met the teachers and promised to meet agitating members of Academic Council members, has not met the members as yet till evening. Members allege that the passed restructured course is different from the course passed by the department and it is clear violation of university acts too.

Remember those days when you cleared your 12th standard. Whatever the result students achieved in the school it used to be a matter of great joy for them. Not because of result but due to the feeling and imagination of joining a college leaving a disciplined, examination obsessed, and period-packed life of schools. Students used to go different colleges with their friends and elders to see the building, infrastructure, ambience and other facilities of the colleges.

But from this academic session the joy of joining college may be absent among the students of Delhi University. This will be true for the students of Science and Commerce at the undergraduate level. The Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University has unilaterally announced to implement semester system from the coming academic session by using his ‘emergency powers’ despite all protest from the teachers and students community and pushed the students community in the another tough cycle of exams, experiments, projects and other tests throughout the year rather than giving them space for free thinking.

Students have become a victim of the crossfire between Delhi University administration (read Vice-Chancellor) and Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA). The joy of joining a college is going to become as tedious and tough as joining an engineering institution or professional courses. The recent episode of Cobalt-60 has proved a catalyst in the process as there is no escape of Delhi University administration from the guilt as the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and Science and Technology Minister Prithvi Raj Chavan in Lok Sabha have clearly said that Delhi University has violated norms in this regard. But to save own skin from the episode the university administration has fuelled the issue semester system by announcing ‘half-baked’ implementation. The university administration, who has moved to Delhi High Court recently in this regard, has not even patience to wait judiciary’s decision in this concern as if it has no faith in the Indian Judiciary system. It is notable that the court has decided to hear the case on 20th May.

This shows that how an academician like Prof. Deepak Pental converts into an administrator, who does not have time to listen its students, teachers or even members of Executive and Academic Councils of the university or judiciary to implement the guideline provided by the UGC or Ministry of HRD at the time of completion of his term.

Prof. Deepak Pental was different man when he used to be the Director of South Campus of Delhi University. When I had a meeting with him at the Director’s office at South Campus about 13 or 14 years ago he talked about students, researches, their concerns and many other things.

But priority has changed now. As a retiring Vice Chancellor he has to prove his administrative capabilities anyhow so that future could be secured. Students are nowhere in the mind. That is the reason that the timing to make such announcement has been chosen when the students’ concentration is very thin the university so that the administration could face least opposition in this regard. Though, Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) has already opposed the system. The Vice-Chancellor talks about quality improvement through semester system but the teachers of Delhi School of Economics (DSE) have opposed the system saying that best universities like Oxford and Cambridge have not been following the semester system.

In such a situation what has compelled the Vice-Chancellor to implement the system by using his emergency powers. He should tell everybody. If it is a result of fight between DUTA and university administration please do not make students scapegoats. Leave them to grow in an atmosphere of openness. Do not make a pawn in the fight between teachers and administration. Please restore their college life and do not send them in school again on the name of educational reforms. Restore their era of college life.