City page for July 3

WEATHER

Forecast (July 3): Rain and thundershowers at isolated places in low hills and few places in middle hills, rain and snow at isolated places in high hills

Temperatures:

Shimla: 25.4 (max) 18.1 (min) Degrees Celsius Sunrise: 5:22am, sunset: 7:29 pm

Dharamshala: 29.6 (max), 18.8 (min) Degrees Celsius

Manali: 29.6 (max), 14.0 (min) Degrees Celsius

READERS SAY

Stray cattle crowd Palampur streets

The stray cattle population, which is increasing every day, continues to crowd the streets, roads and highways in Palampur. The state government being in deep slumber, the municipalities, village panchayats and the Animal Husbandry Department have failed to impound stray cattle till date. The cattle can be seen loitering in busy bazaars, narrow streets and highways, causing accidents and inconvenience to the pedestrians and commuters. The cattle flock in large numbers near the old and the new vegetable and fruit markets, as well as where there is congregation of hawkers on both sides of Gurudwara road. The animals often create chaos for the residents. The situation in Ghuggar, an important hamlet of Palampur, is even worse. Herds of stray cows and bulls gather near Kalibari Temple, giving a torrid time to senior citizens and school-going children. – Rakesh Kumar Sood, Palampur

Road leading to HPU girls’ hostel in bad shape

The main road leading to the girls’ hostel of the Himachal Pradesh University, namely Renuka and Gargi hostels, is in bad shape and full of potholes. The road got damaged within one year of metalling. The potholes and cracked payments pose threat to commuters, and vehicles plying on the road are often damaged due to bumpy rides. The HPU authorities have become a mere spectator and no steps have been taken to repair the road. Poor infrastructure itself explains why the university has slipped down in the NIRF ranking released recently. – Atul Kaistha, Summer Hill

EDUCATION NOTES

Varsity gets another patent

The Department of Biotechnology (BT) and Bioinformatics (BI) of Jaypee University of Information Technology (JUIT), Waknaghat, has been granted a new patent in the field of innovations, research and development. The current patent awarded is on A halotolerant and thermostable lipase enzyme from Staphylococcus arlettae. One BTech student and another pursuing PhD from the department were among the inventors. Sudhir Syal, HoD, Department of BT and BI, talked about the lipase, an enzyme that has several applications in various industries and has a good commercial value. Prof Samir Dev Gupta, Dean, Academics, and Prof Vinod Kumar, Vice-Chancellor, congratulated the inventors on their achievement and praised the department. The university has been granted 11 patents from the government.

University declares end-term result

Shoolini University declared results of the end-term semester examinations within the scheduled time, becoming the first university in the north to do so. Vice-Chancellor Prof PK Khosla guided the passing-out students to join jobs or take up higher studies. The process of registration for the examinations and preparation of results was done online under the assistance of the Controller of Examinations, Rohit Goyal. The end-term examinations were conducted online from June 1 to 12, on a secure and safe server provided by the Aaddoo Softech Pvt Ltd. A total of 2,985 students took the exams. As per the result, 97.9 per cent of the undergraduate students and 99.9 per cent of the postgraduate students passed the exams. The university used eUniv and Big Blue Button platforms to deliver online lectures within the three days during the lockdown.

NCC training programme to help students join Army

AP Goyal Shimla University will offer NCC training programme on behalf of the Army. The Army NCC wing offered about 80 seats to the university. The aim of the programme is to motivate students to serve the nation. After completing the NCC training, Vice-Chancellor AP Goyal Shimla would give NCC certificates to the eligible students, which would help them to join the Army. The university constituted an NCC committee, whose chairman is Dean Academics, Prof Kuldeep Kumar, a veteran of the NCC training, the commanding officer and other officials will visit the university to observe the training process.