B.Tech in Humanities gets overwhelming response: Delhi University

New Delhi: Delhi University said its much-talked about B Tech in Humanities course opened to "overwhelming" response from students, forcing it to extend the dates for submission of forms and admission.
 
The course, to be conducted by the university's Cluster Innovation Centre (CIC), will offer flexibility to students in chosing their subjects and will be taught under the 'meta college' concept.
 
The admission process started on July 25 and according to the University the response was "overwhelming" in the first week.
 
Given the loads of queries and interest shown by students, the University has decided to increase the ambit of the course to students currently enrolled in any programme of the University.
 
The last date for submission of forms is now August 17, the entrance test date has been rescheduled to August 26 from August 5.
 
Following a written test and an interview, students will be admitted to this four-year course which has 40 seats on offer.
 
The course is spread over eight semesters, and classes for the first and the last semester will be held at CIC.
 
In the intervening semesters, students can opt for courses in various colleges and can pursue a maximum of two semesters in one college. They will also be required to prepare innovation projects every semester. 

AMU's Murshidabad campus given go-ahead

Kolkata: The West Bengal government gave the go-ahead to Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to set up its  Murshidabad campus on a plot of 273 acres.  

Announcing this here, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said though the foundation stone of the AMU's Murshidabad campus was laid during the rule of the erstwhile Left Front government, dispute over a part of the land was preventing its construction.

The AMU campus at Murshidabad district was scheduled to come up over 288 acres of land, but there was a dispute over 15 acres. Now the campus would come up over 273 acres of land, leaving aside the disputed 15 acres, the chief minister said.

Official clearance would soon be issued by the Higher Education Secretary, Banerjee said adding that the decision has been taken at a meeting attended by Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh.

Setting up of the Aliah University and Nazrul University in the state were in progress, she said, adding that the foundation stone of a private university would be laid on August 7.

Final decision on cartoons in textbooks likely tomorrow

New Delhi: NCERT held "exhaustive" deliberations with the textbook development committee on political science on the issue of removal of certain cartoons and objectionable content from CBSE textbooks, a final decision on which is expected tomorrow.
 
The meeting comes amid indications that the controversial cartoons on B R Ambedkar and the one relating to  nti-Hindi agitation in Tamil Nadu could be removed.
 
"There were exhaustive deliberations and a final decision is expected tomorrow after the last round of discussion," a source said, adding, views of the national monitoring committee was also taken into account.
 
A statement issued after a meeting of the committee on July 14, an apex group of experts which approves  textbooks, to discuss the Thorat panel recommendations had said changes if any would be done keeping in mind the public debate on some cartoons.
 
The apex national monitoring committee had expressed its dissatisfaction over the panel recommendations on deletion of certain number of cartoons on the grounds that there were many inadequacies in the report and the grounds given for removal of the cartoons were not very satisfactory.
 
The Thorat panel was set up following the row over the Ambedkar cartoon in the CBSE class XI political science textbook.
 
The panel has sought removal of about 21 cartoons and recommended some changes in words and phrases with negative implications. 

SSC exam fiasco: probe ordered

Kolkata: The West Bengal government ordered a probe into the delayed arrival of question papers of the School service Commission examination yesterday at several centres in five districts, due to which a large number of examinees could not appear for the test.
 
Two simultaneous inquiries- one by the district administration and another by the education department- would be made to identify the cause of the delay and fix responsibility, state Education minister Bratya Basu said.
 
He said that arrangements would be made to hold tests for those examinees who could not appear.
 
Basu told reporters that the delay in the arrival of question papers occurred in centres in Burdwan, Howrah, Hooghly, South 24-Parganas and Malda districts.
 
The minister said he had talked to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the issue.
 
SSC Chairman Chittaranjan Mondal said there would be zone-wise re-examination, but the minister differed and said there would be no zone-wise re-examination.
 
Mondal alleged that there was a conspiracy to disrupt the recruitment process in schools.
 
The SSC conducted the examination to appoint teachers in secondary and higher-secondary schools. 

NIT to be set up in Sumari: Bahuguna

Dehra Dun: A National Institute of Technology (NIT) would soon be set up in Sumari area of Pauri district, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has said. 
 
Bahuguna told a delegation of Sumari residents, led by MLA Ganesh Godiyal, that appropriate land is being identified for the purpose, an official release said here.
 
The residents have been on a dharna for the last 90 days over their demand of setting up an NIT in Sumari.
 
Principal Secretary, technical education, Rakesh Sharma also handed over to Godiyal a letter in this regard.
 
Bahuguna asked the MLA to ask the agitating residents to end their stir as there should be no doubts about setting up of an NIT at Sumari.
 
He said the Centre has already provided its approval in principle and Rs 100 crore have already been sanctioned for the purpose.
 
The Chief Minister said Commissioner of Garhwal and the Pauri District Magistrate have been asked to identify land for setting up the institute. He expressed hope that all formalities in this regard would be completed within a period of three months.