City page for Nov 12

WEATHER

Forecast (November 12): Weather will be dry in plains and low hills, middle and high hills

Temperatures:

Shimla: 19.6 (max) 9.8 (min) Degrees Celsius Sunrise: 6:46 am, sunset: 5:25 pm

Dharamshala: 19.8 (max), 10.0 (min) Degrees Celsius

Manali: 19.6 (max), 2.8 (min) Degrees Celsius

Readers Say

Irresponsible behaviour vis-à-vis monkeys

Everyone complains about monkey menace in Shimla but only a few behave responsibly to keep them away. Around MLA Hostel, monkeys are seen lazing around most of the time. At times, leftover food is thrown on the street, attracting monkeys and stray dogs. People need to mend their ways to keep monkeys away – Rajesh Mehta, Shimla

Construction material on the road (Pix)

At a few points on the Dhalli-Shimla bypass road, some construction work is underway. The contractor has put material on the road, which has reduced the width of the way considerably. As this road is relatively less busy, people drive fast and are left confused when they suddenly find material on the road. This could lead to an accident – Manish Sharma, Sanjauli

Education Notes

Close HPU too: Teachers’ assn

The HPUTA, in its online meeting held on Wednesday, unanimously decided that the government’s decision regarding closure of all educational institutions from November 11 to November 25 in the light of increasing Covid-19 cases in the state must be implemented by the HPU. The HPUTA demanded that the university should also be closed during this period as many students and outsiders were visiting the campus and SOPs were not being complied with properly. It maintained that as per the university directions, all teachers had performed their role and duties in semester exams and entrance tests in the interest of students’ career by putting their lives at risk. Now, the state government wants that staff members and students should not take any risk, it stated. So, on behalf of teachers’ community, we request that the university should be closed for routine work with immediate effect to check the spread of Covid-19. The HPUTA assured that while the teachers would work from home, the work of admissions and evaluations would not suffer.

Resume students’ scholarship: SFI (Pix)

The SFI on Wednesday held a demonstration against the HPU’s decision to not conduct entrance exams for LLM, M Phil, and B Ed. On the occasion, SFI state president Raman Tharta said students were not getting scholarships for the last seven or eight months, which had increased the financial burden on students. The students, as a result, were mentally troubled and the latest example of this was the suicide by a BSc Honours student in Lady Shri Ram College. Tharta said the scholarships should be resumed at the earliest so that students could continue their studies without any pressure. Stating that the situation in the HPU, too, was not encouraging, he added that the university was not going back on its word to conduct entrance tests for LLM, MPhil and BEd. The SFI alleged that scholarships were withheld as a part of the conspiracy to make students leave their research. Besides, the students’ body alleged that the university was giving no concession in hostel fee even though they had not been used since March.

Admission date extended at Sanjauli college

The admission date to MA English, MA Hindi and PGDCA, starting from this session at the Government College in Sanjauli has been extended till November 25. Principal CB Mehta said the decision was taken to ensure that no interested student was deprived of the opportunity because of the circumstances induced by the pandemic. Those interested could apply through www.gcasanjauli.com.

Online cultural eventat Shoolini varsity

E Manchtantra-2020, an annual inter-departmental cultural competition organised virtually by Shoolini University, was won by the faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the runners-up trophy was clinched by the faculty of the Biotechnology Department. Vice Chancellor PK Khosla awarded trophies to the winning departments and appreciated the efforts put in by faculty and students. In the flash mob category, the winners were from the pharmaceutical department. The department also won the ‘antakshari’ competition. The poster making competition was clinched by the biotechnology department. The theme-based fashion show was won by the Department of Science.