Education Notes

Rajasthan Law college vacancies The principal’s post in all the 15 government law colleges in Rajasthan is vacant. Replying to a question in the state legislative assembly on April 19, the minister of state for higher education, Dayaram Parmar, said the matter of departmental promotions, through which these vacancies have to be filled, is sub judice. “So promotions are due and the principal’s post in the 15 law colleges is yet to be filled,” he said. However, according to Parmar, all the 15 colleges are “functioning normally” with students attending classes on a regular basis. Besides government law colleges, there are 43 private colleges in the state, he informed the house. In reply to another question, medical and health minister A.A. Khan informed the assembly that a recruitment drive to fill 21,000 new posts under the National Rural Health Mission will be initiated this year. Jammu & Kashmir IAUA preconditions for 2nd green revolution At a special meeting of the Indian Agricultural Universities Association convened in Srinagar on April 27, vice chancellors of agricultural universities countrywide demanded a five-fold increase in Central government grants, and setting up of an Agriculture Educational Research Commission (AERC) to address issues confronting these institutions. “We demand the setting up of AERC to address the issues facing agricultural universities so that a sustainable second green revolution is started,” C.S. Chakrabarti, president Indian Agricultural Universities Association (IAUA) told the media. Among the other demands of IAUA are greater academic and financial autonomy for agricultural universities, and enhancement of financial assistance so the basic needs of teachers and researchers in these institutions are met. Chakrabarti suggested that state governments should directly allocate grants from their finance ministries to agricultural universities. “Agricultural universities need to be given importance as it is these institutions which will provide the next generation technology and manpower for making the second green revolution happen,” he added. Punjab Admission quota row In a statement issued in Chandigarh on April 23, Punjab’s deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal took strong exception to a reported initiative of Thapar University to amend the varsity’s rules to abolish the admission quota of Punjab students in its engineering and polytechnic colleges without prior permission of the state government. According to Badal, Thapar University, Patiala, earlier known as Thapar Technology Campus, was allotted 250 acres of prime land at a highly concessional price by the Punjab government in 1956, with the objective of providing quality technical education to students of the state. “Now Thapar University cannot be allowed to tweak rules, regulations and guidelines denying the legitimate admission quota of the state government without taking our permission,” said the statement, adding that the deputy chief minister’s office has issued directions for taking all preventive, corrective, legislative and legal measures to stop Thapar University from denying legitimate admissions to students from the state. Currently, Thapar is a deemed university controlled by the Centre under UGC guidelines. Bihar Mid-day meal monitoring system Bihar’s chief minister Nitish Kumar launched an interactive voice response…