Tag: University

One killed in clash between Patna University hostel students, locals

Source: indianexpress.com

A 45-year-old man, a bystander during a clash between Patna University hostel students and local residents, was killed after a stone thrown by one of the parties hit him on the head.

The police have arrested 20 students in this regard.

The clash took place after eight students were earlier arrested for passing objectionable remarks against a local girl.
According to the police, around 12.30 am on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, over a hundred students living in Cervantes and Minto hostels of Patna University and local Lalbagh residents began pelting stones at each other. Mohammed Shoukat, who had been standing at a tea stall, was hit by a stone on his head, and died on the spot.

His death sparked fresh protests from locals, forcing police to raid the hostels. Twetny students were arrested around 2 am. To avoid further clashes, police have been deployed at Lalbagh and near the hostels.
Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Garima Malik said: “We are taking stern action. The police deployment will continue and more arrests can be made”.

The chain of events started on Saturday, when inmates of the two PU hostels took out a protest march against the “poor quality” of food served in hostel canteens. During the protest, some students allegedly passed objectionable remarks against a local Labagh girl. After some locals protested this, one resident was beaten up. Police later arrested eight hostel students for passing the remarks and for assaulting the local resident.

The Monday night protest was triggered after students learnt that three Lalbagh residents had recorded their statements with the police against the arrested students.

Meanwhile, Patna University administration has taken stock of the situation and might take action against the students after an internal inquiry.

Patna University teachers to go on strike against new salary payment system

Source: hindustantimes.com

With thousands of teachers and employees of schools, colleges and universities still awaiting their monthly salaries and struggling with backlogs, Patna University teachers’ and employees’ associations have announced to go on a two-day strike on August 2 and 3, against the likely move to stop the old system and follow a new one.

Under the new centralised finance management system (CFMS), the salary to university and college teachers and employees will be paid through the treasury, instead of earlier system of releasing grants for varsities.

A couple of months ago, there was problem in salary payment in many universities after the old system was stopped for many universities without putting the CFMS wholly in place. PU is the only university that somehow manages timely salary payment through internal resources,  

“The CFMS system has not been successful in ensuring timely payment of salaries in any university. Alarmed by this, we had approached the Patna high court and the matter is pending there. Prior to this also, the teachers’ association had approached the HC. The HC had directed PU to ensure salary payment to its staff on the first day of every month by any source,” the leaders of two associations have written to vice-chancellor RB Prasad Singh.

The leaders have said that they would continue their protest against Bihar government’s unclear policies and the new system of salary payment, as it was unlikely to ensure timely payment. “At present, at least PU manages timely payment through internal resources to spare the teachers and employees from hassles,” they added.

The leaders have also voiced concern over the delay and mode of payment. “If the government will make net salary payment and not gross payment, it might again take months to get back the lawful deductions,” they added.

Officials in the department of education, however, said once the CFMS becomes fully functional, salary payment would be streamlined. 

Retired Ranchi University teachers demand dues

Source: telegraphindia.com

Around 150 teachers under the aegis of Retired Ranchi University Association staged a demonstration on the varsity campus on Saturday to demand their dues.

The demonstration began around 11 in the morning and continued till 2pm till the protesters met Vice Chancellor Ramesh Kumar Pandey and discussed the issue with him.

A university official confirmed the stir by the retired teachers and said the situation reflected the sorry state of higher education in the state.

“It was painful to see the retired university teachers agitating in the same campus where they used to command respect. Though only 150 ex-teachers took part in the agitation, the actual number of sufferers is not less than 500,” the university official said requesting anonymity.

Ram Eqbal Tiwary, retired head of the department of mathematics of Ranchi University and president of the association, said they were left with no option other than taking recourse to agitation.

“Teachers, who have retired during 2006-10, have not received their arrears so far. Moreover, the fixing of pension in accordance with the recommendation of Seventh Pay Commission has also not been done so far. Several retired teachers have not got their leave encashment and gratuity amounts as well,” Tiwary said.

Vice Chancellor R.K. Pandey said he gave a positive assurance to the teachers.

“The demands of the retired teachers are justified. The money for payment has to be released by the state government. The university is not in a position to do anything. But I have promised my full co-operation to them,” Pandey said.

Set up in 1960, Ranchi University is the oldest varsity in the state and has produced many bureaucrats and technocrats.

Ranchi MP Sanjay Seth had recently raised the demand of converting the varsity into a central university in Lok Sabha.

Asked about the sufferings of the retired teachers, Seth said he would look into the matter.

“I will talk to government officials and see how the problem can be solved. It is unfortunate that they have to agitate for their genuine demand,” he said.

Director of higher education department Dinesh Prasad said the payment of dues and pension in accordance with the Seventh Pay Commission were awaiting approval from the finance department. “Efforts are underway to get the approval soon,” he added.

Ranchi University Admission 2019: RU to launch new admission system for academic session 2019

Source: jagranjosh.com

Ranchi University Admission 2019: For the new academic session 2019-2020, the Ranchi University is going to launch a separate admission system for students willing to take admission in various under graduate and post graduate courses. Kamini Kumar, who is the Pro vice-chancellor, said that “the university would release the schedule for admissions on Monday.” Students of Ranchi University welcomed this decision of admitting students through its own system of individualized web portal and offline admissions.

In 2018, to promote transparency and streamline admissions, state universities directed students to register themselves on the governor’s/chancellor’s web portal without which they couldn’t secure admission in various courses. But students faced various technical glitches in the web portal during registration. As a result, the academic session was delayed. Thereafter, students had demanded a separate portal for every college along with the provision for off-line submission of admission forms.

On June 4, the vice-chancellor of Ranchi University, RK Pandey had met the governor and informed him about the various issues faced by students in the centralized portal in the last year. After this meeting, on June 8, the principal secretary to the governor had issued a representation to all vice-chancellors and secretary, department of higher technical education and skill development.

In the representation, all the VC’s of various universities are directed to set up an urgent meeting with the department of HRD in order to remove the difficulties through chancellor’s portal within a week. In case of removal of all the technical glitches is not feasible, then universities may proceed to start admission online through their respective websites and upload the data on chancellor’s portal.

In the meantime, 5 universities including Sido Kanhu Murmu University, Nilamber Pitamber University, Vinoba Bhave University,  Kolhan University and Binod Bihari Mahato Koyalanchal University have already commenced the admission process for under-graduate courses the automated portal. A total of 59,873 applications were already received at these five universities. On the other hand, the admissions process is being conducted through the university’s web portal at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee University (DSPMU).

Ranchi University to launch new admission system for academic year 2019

Source: hindustantimes.com

Ranchi University will not admit students for various under graduate and post graduate courses in the academic session of 2019 through the centralized and automated system on the chancellor portal, university officials said on Sunday.

Pro vice-chancellor, Kamini Kumar said that the university would issue schedule for admissions on Monday. “For the new academic session, the university would admit students through a separate system. The data of admissions would be later uploaded on the chancellor portal,” she said.

In a bid to promote transparency and streamline admissions, all universities in the state in 2018, had issued notifications that students could secure admission only after applying through governor’s/chancellor’s web portal. The portal ran in trouble shortly with several glitches during online registrations. The errors in the automated system had resulted in the academic session being delayed. Students had then demanded a separate portal for every college, besides the provision for off-line submission of admission forms.

Last Tuesday, RU’s vice-chancellor, RK Pandey had met the governor regarding the issue of admissions through the centralized portal. Following this, on Saturday the principal secretary to the governor issued a representation to all vice-chancellors and secretary, department of higher technical education and skill development.

“All the VC’s are directed to convene an urgent meeting with the department of HRD to remove the difficulties through chancellor’s portal within a week…In the event of admission through the portal not being feasible by removing all practical difficulties, universities may proceed to start admission online through their respective websites and upload the data on chancellor’s portal,” it said.

However, the representation directed the vice chancellors to ensure that admission, in the next academic session, were conducted through the portal as a policy decision.

Meanwhile, admissions for under-graduate courses have commenced through the automated portal for the other 5 universities in the state. A total of 59,873 applications were received for Sido Kanhu Murmu University, Dumka, Nilamber Pitamber University, Palamu, Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribag, Kolhan University, Jamshedpur and Binod Bihari Mahato Koyalanchal University,Dhanbad. At Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee University (DSPMU) in the city capital, admissions are being conducted through the university’s web portal.

Students at RU welcomed the decision to admit students through its own system of individualized web portal and offline admissions. Poonam Kumari, secretary of Ranchi University students’ union said that unless the technical glitches were resolved, admission through the automated portal remained unfeasible.

Nalanda University’s crucial board meeting in Delhi on Thursday

Source: hindustantimes.com

Nalanda University (NU) is set to hold its first governing board (GB) meeting since February 2018 at its Delhi office on Thursday.

The 17th GB meeting is crucial as it will pave the way for shifting of academic activities to its upcoming sprawling 455-acre campus to the north of Rajgir hills, besides approving new proposals and reviewing ongoing admissions.

The varsity’s board was re-constituted in November 2016 with all new members. The lone member of the Nalanda Mentor Group (NMG) retaining his position and the Indian government’s representative in the new GB was former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament N K Singh, presently chairman of the 15th finance commission.

In January 2017, the university also got a new Chancellor in Dr Vijay Bhatkar, following the resignation of George Yeo on November 25 in the wake of dissolution of NMG. In May, Prof Sunaina Singh also took over as the new vice-chancellor.

Set up in 2014 to recreate the glory and academic excellence of ancient Nalanda and serve as an intellectual bridge between India and East Asia, the NU witnessed a flurry of activities in 2016-17, which led to a complete change of guard.

There were also reports of faculty attrition in NU, but the V-C played it down, saying it was nothing abnormal.

“Some people have left as their term ended, others left as they got better avenues in locations of their choice, while there were also those who found it tough to continue in the disciplined atmosphere that we are striving to enforce on the campus. We have enough faculty members of quality for our schools and new ones are also coming in,” said V-C Sunaina Singh, who took over in the wake of sexual harassment slur on the NU.

However, the biggest plus for NU is that it is now set to move to its campus. Former President Pranab Mukhejee had laid the foundation stone of the campus on August 27, 2016.

“The work is on schedule and the first phase comprising five main buildings has been completed. The campus, likely to be fully ready by 2020, will go beyond the highest green building features as per government guidelines, i.e. a rating of 5 under GRIHA. We plan to start teaching this year itself from the new campus, as adequate facilities are ready now,” said the VC.

At present, NU has four schools, but a few new centres are in the pipeline, including one on the Bay of Bengal Studies, which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the member states of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) at Katmandu on August 31, 2018.

The Government of India would also cover 30 scholarships to member states (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand) to conduct research on Bay of Bengal region at the NU. Another centre in the offing is on sustainable development.

At present, admissions in NU is on and the first cycle has been completed, while the second cycle is set to begin.

NU also plans to start Ph.D programmes from this year, which was earlier approved by the academic council.