City Page for October 26

WEATHER

Forecast (October 26): Weather will be dry in plains, and low, middle and high hills

Temperatures:

Shimla: 20.7 (max) 10.6 (min) Degrees Celsius Sunrise: 6:32am, sunset: 5:38pm

Dharamshala: 22.2 (max), 11.8(min) Degrees Celsius

Manali: 21.6 (max), 5.2 (min) Degrees Celsius

READERS SAY

Open dumping on road adds to commuters’ woes (Pic)

Open disposal of garbage on the Kather-Basal Road in Solan has become a breeding ground for problems as animals keep rummaging through the waste. At times plastic waste is also disposed at these spots, which is a threat to animals. Residents should ensure that no such open littering of waste is done and the surroundings are kept clean. Kanta, solan

Tourists flout Covid protocols

Following the relaxations in Covid protocols, a large number of tourists are coming to Dharamsala region. Though tourists are the economic lifeline of the region, most of them are not taking any precaution to prevent the spread of the virus. Most tourists coming to Mcleodganj don’t even wear masks. The government should at least begin a campaign to urge people to wear masks at public places. Vivek Kumar, dharamsala

EDUCATION NOTES

NSUI activists meet Guv (Pic)

Amidst the ongoing protests against the HPU’s decision to not conduct entrance tests for admission to PG courses, NSUI activists met Governor Bandaru Dattatreya and submitted a memorandum of their demands, including conduct of entrance tests, to him. Stating that the HPU was using brute force to quell students’ demand and agitation, NSUI state secretary Manoj Chauhan said the university was using the UGC guidelines as pretext for not conducting entrance tests. “Nowhere in the UGC guidelines it is written that admission be granted on the basis of merit instead of entrance tests,” said Chauhan. He further asked if entrance tests for LLB, MBA and B Ed could be held, then why there were different rules and standards for other courses?

Student-parent forum warns of stir

The Student-Parent Forum has warned the government and private schools that it would launch an agitation if the schools tried to charge full fee from the students. Forum president Vijender Mehra and other members said not a single physical class could be conducted since March and hence schools did not have to pay for the charges such as electricity, water and garbage and most schools had also laid-off several teachers and other staff. “Yet, the schools want to charge full fee from students claiming they were finding it difficult to bear operational costs,” they said. Rejecting their claim, Mehra said tuition fee constitutes more than 80 per cent of the total fee, so schools had made money when they were shut. Mehra further alleged that the government was going soft on these schools because they were run either by their near and dear ones, or by people having political clout. “Instead, the government should help out parents who had to buy smartphones and pay roughly Rs 500 per month for data,” he added.

Webinar on Kullu Dussehra

The “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” (EBSB) Club of Wazir Ram Singh Govt College Dehri, Kangra, organised an online webinar on ‘Vida Dashmi – Kullu Dussehra’ on Saturday. A lecture was delivered by guest speaker Dr Devkanya Thakur, Independent film-maker and writer and winner of the Laadli Media Award by the Human Rights Commission. The webinar was attended by students and faculty of WRS GC Dehri, Farook College, Kozhikode, Kerala, and Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvanathapuram. Dr Devkanya shared traditional and mythological stories associated with the unique seven-day international Kullu Dasehra festival that starts on ‘Vijayadashmi’.

Interviews to begin soon at HPU

OR Recruitment interviews at HPU soon

The Himachal Pradesh University will conduct interviews to fill up the posts of assistant professors, associate professors and professors, advertised in January for the subjects of economics, sociology, journalism and chemistry. Recruitment branch committee chairman Prof Arvind Kalia said the committee had evaluated the marks obtained by the candidates and would upload them on their website — www.recruitment.hpushimla.in — within a couple of days. Prof Kalia advised the candidates to visit the recruitment branch in case of any clarification from October 28 to 30.