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Armed with
distinction
Page 38
February 2010, Vol 24 Issue 2 Rs 15
Education opens new vistas
Haryana cares for the girl child
The Haryana government
is committed to the development of the girl child. It has
initiated various schemes for
checking female foeticide
and arresting the declining
sex ratio
g
g
g
g
g
Ladli, an incentive-based
scheme, is being implemented from August 2005. A sum
of Rs 5,000 per family is
given annually on the birth of
the second daughter for five
years. A sum of around Rs 1
lakh is paid after she attains
the age of 18 provided she
remains unmarried till that
time. As many as 86,820 families have been covered under
this scheme till December
2009.
girl child are selected for
three prizes at the circle and
block level.
g
g
An incentive award of Rs 5
lakh, Rs 3 lakh and Rs 2 lakh
is given to the districts securing the first three positions
respectively for improving
sex ratio in the state.
To encourage women for
proper rearing of their children, especially girls, the
Best Mother Award has been
started under which three
mothers having at least one
g
The government has appointed protection-cum-child marriage prohibition officers at
the district level to prevent
child marriage and to protect
women from domestic violence.
The education loan scheme is
being implemented through
the
Haryana
Women
Development Corporation
under which an interest subsidy of 5% per annum is provided to girls to encourage
them to pursue vocational and
higher education. Under this
scheme, different banks have
sanctioned 2,478 cases of
loan.
Supplementary nutrition is
being given to 4.35 lakh girls
below 6 years of age.
Let’s pledge to raise our voice against female foeticide and allow the girl child to be born.
Let’s be proud Haryanvis by protecting the girl child, educating her and making her self-reliant.
1
HARYANA REVIEW, FEBRUARY 2010
EDITORIAL
PATROn-In-CHIEF
Bhupinder Singh Hooda
EDITOR-In-CHIEF
Dr K K Khandelwal
CHIEF EDITOR
Shiv Raman Gaur
COnSULTInG EDITOR
Gobind Thukral
MAnAGInG EDITOR
M S Yadav
DEPUTY EDITOR
Rakesh Chopra
nEWS BUREAU
Amanbir Kaur Brar
Aparna Pawar
Nishant Prabhakar
Ruchi Sharma
Shweta Vashishta
LAYOUT
Sunil Kumar
ILLUSTRATOR
Gurpreet Singh
PHOTOGRAPHER
Randeep Singh
PHOTO SUPPORT
Tek Chand Arora
Gopal Singh
Karam Singh
Neeraj Chopra
Gauri Shankar
Jasmer Singh
DIGITAL & IT SUPPORT
Dharmender Singh
VOL 24, ISSUE 2, FEBRUARY 2010
Edited and published for the Haryana government by
Shiv Raman Gaur, IAS, Director, Information & Public
Relations Department, and issued from Samvad, SCO
No 137, Sector 17, Panchkula (Haryana). (Mailing
address: SCO 23 (FF), Sector 7, Madhya Marg,
Chandigarh. Phone 0172-5055971, 5055977).
All rights reserved. Any reproduction of this
publication’s contents, in whole or in part, without
written permission, is prohibited. Haryana Review does
not necessarily agree with the views of the
writers/contributors.
Web: www.haryanareview.com
Email: haryanareview@gmail.com
Printed at: M/S M P Printers, B-220, Phase II, Noida
Race to learn has begun
aryana 60 years back could boast little in
terms of education, particularly at the higher
level. There were only a few urban centres that
had good colleges. There was no university in the
region, then part of the greater Punjab. Only
some public-spirited people had helped the
growth of education at a few places like Rohtak,
Hisar, Ambala and Karnal. The government effort
and funding was restricted. Even at the time of
creation of Haryana in 1966, the state had just one
university, nine government and 36 private
colleges for around one crore people. Clearly the
number of institutions and budget was highly
restricted.
H
Energy, intelligence and aspirations, therefore,
remained largely locked. This seriously impeded
progress, both economic and social. Life remained
mostly primitive and the modes of production
were of the feudal era as were the social
relationships.
As we all realise, education not only opens
vistas of mind and widens our horizons but also
provides us the wherewithal for economic and
social progress. Education means the discovery of
one's true self and the freedom to be that true self
in a way that nothing stands in our way of
reaching higher level of consciousness. It helps
one to fly as fast as thought, to anywhere and not
remain trapped inside the body. Education helps
one release untapped energy and bring fulfilment.
The flight of ideas is as real as the flight of wind.
Many in Haryana, once the cradle of civilisation,
are realising this.
Since its inception, Haryana has not looked
back. Successive governments and voluntary
bodies over the years have worked towards
making Haryana a knowledge state. The last five
years have witnessed a fast-paced movement in
education at all levels. We provide a detailed
discussion on this magnificent progress besides
our rich feast of articles on culture, sports and
history. Savour a photo feature on the craft fair at
Surajkund. g
2
CONTENTS
"Are bhai college ki padhai bhi
kar le. Koi badda afsar bann jayega.
Ibey keet tu buddha ho gaya."
COVER STORY
Education: Lending wings to dreams
'Making Haryana an education hub'
Interview with CM
A dream in education
'Public and private sectors have to go
hand in hand' - Interview with
Secretary, Education
Varsity diversity
Universities: Portals of higher learning
'Our emphasis is on quality' - Interview
with Commissioner, Higher Education
Mother of all varsities
Going higher
Culture of agriculture
Learning that leads to earning
Rapid strides in technical education
Complementing govt effort
A healthy sign
Engineering success
Facts tell a tale
Vox populi
4
[25]
6
8
9
10
12
17
18
20
22
25
26
28
30
32
34
36
[30]
Cover & back photographs by Randeep Singh
CONTENTS
[42]
In LIMELIGHT
Armed with distinction
38
SUCCESS STORIES
IIT topper pursues his dream
Young boy gets bravery award
39
39
ART AnD CULTURE
Connecting cultures
40
PHOTO FEATURE
Crafting success
41
TOURISM
In harmony with nature
44
SPORTS
Sporting juggernaut rolls on
46
EnVIROnMEnT
Environment-savvy
48
HISTORY
Playing safe
49
SnAPSHOTS
Snapshots on Haryana
50
GUEST COLUMnS
Let us focus on quality
Humane touch
52
54
BOOK REVIEW
Meagre literature on higher education in India
55
[20]
[46]
Readers may send their comments to
haryanareview@gmail.com or to SCO 23, First Floor,
Sector 7-C, Madhya Marg, Chandigarh - 160 019
3
4
COVER STORY
Education: Lending
wings to dreams
An education revolution is taking place in Haryana
Gobind Thukral
ravel anywhere in Haryana – the
emerging cities, old dusty towns or
mushrooming colonies – there are
colleges and institutes, modern and not
so modern, public and not so public,
that greet the visitors. Highways are
getting crowded with these wellequipped buildings displaying imposing
names and credentials.
These could be teaching different
engineering skills, management
expertise or making students learn how
to teach. These may be turning out
dental surgeons or doctors. There is a
modern education city in memory of a
late prime minister, taking roots amidst
the lush green wheat farms on the
National Highway No 1.
These institutes or colleges could be
established and funded by government,
partly aided by the state or even be the
creation of enterprising educationists
and businessmen. There is big money
in education these days; hence the
commercial houses are moving into
education. No youth would like to be
left out of the race to better his career
prospects in the job market. And
education is a sure passport to that.
Colleges or technical institutes that
earlier had a strength of just a few
hundreds have now thousands on their
rolls. Haryana this year has over a lakh
of students in technical and
professional institutes alone.
Government, private and public
schools that dot the state’s nooks and
corners are the fountains from where
these institutes of higher education
draw their sustenance. Over 60%
population of the state is below 35 and
needs good education.
Haryana has arrived on the
education scene. Tens of thousands of
young students who ride bicycles or
buses or have their own motorbikes
bear witness to this education
revolution taking shape.
T
This year, there is a record
enrolment of students in colleges and
universities. There are 2.27 lakh boys
and 1.66 lakh girls studying in colleges
and universities spread across
Haryana. This development, however,
has a worrying aspect: to create job
opportunities. Only industry and
service sectors can take that kind of
load and hence the renewed emphasis
on these sectors.
With just a few colleges and the lone
university, Haryana of 1966 presented a
dismal picture in higher education.
Last year, the state had 75 government
colleges and 96 managed by private
bodies, taking the total to 171. Add to
this the engineering, educational,
management and medical institutes,
and the number could be more than 300.
Haryana today has nine universities
with some specialising in agriculture,
medicine, engineering and
management. It has two private
universities; more are in the pipeline.
The current debate on education at
the policy level where the chief
minister, ministers and senior officials
are involved is shifting its focus from
quantity to quality. Now the emphasis is
on improving the quality of institutes
of higher education. This is a tough
task. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh
Hooda with his background of setting
up schools and colleges himself is
stressing on real-time performance. “I
know we need more universities and
professional colleges. But our focus is
on quality education. We must improve
standards at all levels. We are moving
A bright future ahead
COVER STORY
large pool of talented and committed
teachers. Creating such a pool would
mean having colleges that take care of
developing this talent in a sustained
manner. They need to be well paid and
provided with incentives for imparting
excellent education and leading in
research. In other words, a complete
overhaul of the present education
system -- from primary level to
university -- is required. This includes
the examination system and funding
besides the autonomy to develop
further. The state ought to take care of
good non-government aided colleges
that are rendering a yeoman’s service.
A clear distinction must be drawn
between those that are imparting
education and have impeccable
credentials and those trading in
education. There is need to provide
funds and autonomy to those that are
really good education institutes, both in
government and private sectors.
EMERGING TRENDS
in that direction,” says Hooda in a
matter-of-fact way.
Ushering in and maintaining higher
standards is a tall order for both
government and private institutes of
higher learning. If we have high
quality school education, we can be
sure of keen learners who can later put
in hard work. And these colleges and
universities would require qualified
and experienced teachers to impart
first-class education which is
wholesome for developing modern-day
citizens. This means we ought to have a
There is an intense debate going on
across the country as to what kind of
education system we should adopt to
develop skills in engineering, medicine
and science besides creating academics,
researchers and persons of excellence.
Haryana is not untouched by this
debate. Not everyone can afford the
luxury of mere academics as skill
development can get jobs. It is equally
true that education is not just
development of skills for monetary
gains.
Let us briefly look at what Mahatma
Gandhi thought about it. He wrote,
“The real difficulty is that people have
no idea of what education truly is. We
assess the value of education in the
same manner as we assess the value of
land or of shares in the stock market.
We want to provide only such
education as would enable the students
to earn more. We hardly give any
thought to the improvement of the
character of the educated. The girls,
we say, do not have to earn; so why
should they be educated? As long as
such ideas persist there is no hope of
our ever knowing the true value of
education.”
Given the Mahatma’s vision of what
constituted an enlightened and free
India, education was not only to mould
the new generation, but to become
reflective of society’s primary
statement about itself and the
individuals that comprised it. He
5
mirrored his vision through the basic
education for an inclusive growth.
About literacy, Gandhi said,
“Literacy is not the end of education,
not even the beginning. They are not
related. Literacy must be one of the
many means for intellectual
development, but we have had in the
past intellectual giants who were
unlettered.” And further, “Literary
education must follow the education of
the hand -- the one gift that
distinguishes man from beast.”
Former prime minister Jawaharlal
Nehru was an ardent advocate of
education for Indians, believing it
essential for India's progress. Our first
education minister, Maulana Abul
Kalam Azad, oversaw the establishment
of many institutions of higher
learning, including the All India
Institute of Medical Sciences, Indian
Institutes of Technology and Indian
Institutes of Management. Nehru also
outlined a commitment in his five-year
plans to guarantee free and compulsory
primary education to all children. And
we have the results before us.
Nehru oversaw the creation of mass
village enrolment programmes and the
construction of thousands of schools.
Nehru also launched initiatives such as
the provision of free milk and meals to
children, adult education centres, and
vocational and technical schools set up
for adults, particularly in rural areas.
Under Nehru, parliament enacted
many changes to end caste
discrimination and increase the basic
rights and social freedom of women. A
system of reservations in government
services and educational institutes was
created to eradicate social disparity and
bring the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled
Tribes and Backward Classes on an
equal footing. Nehru also championed
secularism and religious accord. These
have led to healthy practices, though
partly. Education is the key to
knowledge. And knowledge is power.
The country will remain modelled
on the pattern which Nehru and Azad
envisaged. As education minister, Azad
oversaw the establishment of a
national education system with free
primary education and modern
institutions of higher learning. He is
also credited with the University
Grants Commission, a landmark
institution to supervise and advance
higher education in the country.
Interestingly, even that requires
reforms now with the changing times. g
6
INTERVIEW
‘Making Haryana
he state is promoting
higher education in a big
way. It is clear from the fact
that there has been a
substantial rise in the number
of educational institutes in the
last five years. To know what
the government is doing on
this front, Haryana Review
spoke to Chief Minister
Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Extracts from the interview:
T
PHOTO: MONOJ MAHAJAN
INTERVIEW
7
an education hub’
A lot colleges and universities
are coming up in Haryana .
Please tell us something about
the expansion plans in the
education sector.
Our government is committed to
making Haryana an education hub.
North India’s first women’s
university named after noted
educationist Bhagat Phool Singh has
been set up at Khanpur Kalan in
Sonipat. Now a medical college is
being set up there to inspire women
living in rural areas to take up
medical education. Another medical
college is coming up in Mewat and
yet two more are being set up in
Faridabad under the ESI scheme. The
Kalpana Chawla Medical College will
be set up at Karnal as a tribute to the
Haryana-born astronaut.
The extension of All India
Institute of Medical Sciences is
coming up in Jhajjar district and the
PGI Rohtak is being upgraded.
Multispecialty hospitals are being
upgraded in Rohtak, Sonepat,
Faridabad, Gurgaon, Hisar and
Bhiwani districts.
To attract students to higher
education, the elementary
education must be strong. What
is being done to strengthen
education at that level?
With a view to meeting the shortage
of teachers at the elementary level,
their regular recruitment is being
planned. As a result of various steps
taken up by the state government,
98% enrolment of students has
already been made at the elementary
level.
What else is happening to
promote higher education in the
state?
The first academic session of the
Central University has already
commenced. As many as 25
government colleges are being
developed as centres of excellence.
The process of setting up the Rajiv
Gandhi Education City is being
expedited. Several other prestigious
institutes are coming up in the state.
These include IIM at Rohtak,
National Institute of Food
Technology Entrepreneurship and
Management at Kundli, Central
Institute of Plastic Engineering and
Technology at Murthal, Footwear
Design and Development Institute at
Rohtak, and National Defence
University in Gurgaon.
Deen Bandhu Chhotu Ram College
of Engineering at Murthal and
YMCA College of Engineering at
Faridabad have been upgraded as
Universities of Science and
Technology. The Pt Bhagwat Dayal
Sharma Post Graduate Institute of
Medical Sciences, Rohtak, has been
upgraded to the University of Health
Sciences. There is also a plan to set
up a university of animal sciences in
the state. A legislation for setting up
private universities has already been
enacted.
What schemes are being
launched to promote technical
education? And what is being
done for students from deprived
sections?
While keeping pace with the
changing scenario, the number of
institutes of technical education has
been increased from 146 in 2004-05 to
546 in 2009-10. Under the Dr
Ambedkar Meritorious Scholarship
Scheme, the amount of scholarship
ranges between Rs 4,000 and Rs 12,000
per annum and it is given to the
students belonging to the Scheduled
Castes and Backward Classes.
For motivating the weaker
sections of society, incentive-based
schemes for students belonging to the
Scheduled Castes, Backward Class-A
and BPL families have been
introduced at an annual cost of Rs
500 crore.
All students of government
schools studying in Classes IX to XII
would get textbooks free of cost in
the academic session 2010-11.
Schemes like EDUSAT, semester
system and computer education have
already been implemented.
What is the state doing to
popularise science education?
With a view to promoting science
among students, the Haryana State
Council for Science and Technology
is engaged in a number of activities
like organising science quiz contests,
science essay writing competitions,
children’s science congress, and
national science day celebrations.
Besides, it provides grants to various
universities and institutions in the
state for holding seminars and
workshops, and for carrying out
research and developmental
programmes. The Council has also
introduced schemes for giving the
Haryana Vigyan Ratna Award to the
scientists of the state for their
outstanding work in science and
technology.
To give a boost to science
education among the youth, the state
government proposes to launch a
science education mission under
which a school in every block will
have a fully-equipped science section
with adequate staff and a modern
laboratory. It is proposed to select
brilliant science students from the
state by launching schemes like the
Haryana Youth Science Promotion
Scheme and the Haryana Science
Talent Search Examination, besides
honouring post-graduate students in
state-aided colleges and giving
scholarships to them.
The government has launched
various schemes to better the
lot of women in the state. Could
you provide details?
We have a number of schemes. While
considering women as equal partners
in the process of development, the
government has been laying
emphasis on empowerment of
women.
For excample, as many as 2,478
women so far have availed the benefit
of the subsidised education loan
scheme under which 5% rebate is
given in the rate of interest for
seeking a bank loan to get higher
education either in India or abroad.
The beneficiaries include 114 women
studying abroad.g
8
COVER STORY
A dream in
education
Haryana’s ambitious project, Rajiv Gandhi
Education City, is in progress
Ruchi Sharma
ompetition churns out better
human resources. Worldstandard educational institutes in
Haryana will create experts and
professionals.” This is what Chief
Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had
in mind when he envisaged Rajiv
Gandhi Education City to be
developed as a hub of higher learning
and research. The establishment of
the project took off in March 2005 to
provide quality education with stateof-the-art infrastructure with a view
to attracting best institutes from all
over the world.
The City is being developed in
Sonepat on 2,007 acres of land with
development works of Rs 1,100 crore
in addition to the cost of land.
National institutes like IIMs, IITs,
NIFTs, central universities, National
Law School, research organisations
and institutes run by various
educational societies and trusts
having a track record of over 10 years
have been asked to set up institutes.
The objective of setting up the City is
to intercept the brainy youth of the
country and mould them in the
framework of trade, commerce, IT,
science, engineering, technology,
medicine and biotechnology so as to
“C
address the needs of
India's growing
economy and generate
employment
opportunities.
The City had
attracted significant
response from
educational institutes
and universities. In all
31 aspirants had applied
for allotment of land, 26
attended the interview
and made presentation before the
allotment committee. Nine applicants
have been finalised and allotted area
measuring 147.75 acres for setting up
institutes.
Almost all institutes that have been
shortlisted have tie-ups either with
renowned foreign universities or
industries. This will help students get
international exposure. These
institutes would cater to the needs of
students not only from Haryana but
from all over India. These institutes
will be autonomous but will have to
adhere to the broad master plan
stipulations that would safeguard
functional affinities and eco-system of
the locality. The reservation policy
and fee structure will be determined
by the Haryana government.
The development works are in
progress and an expenditure of Rs
56.25 crore has been incurred till
December 2009. The estimated cost
for roads is Rs 35 crore, sewerage Rs
15.3 crore, water supply Rs 11 crore,
storm water drainage Rs 15.4 crore,
boundary walls Rs 4 crore, entrance
gate Rs 1.5 crore and villages Rs 8
crore; the total cost works out to be
Rs 90.2 crore.
The construction of 60-metre-wide
road from National Highway 1 to
Education City has been completed.
The work on developing the 60-by-30
metre road is likely to be completed
by March 2010. For water supply, four
tube wells have been dug and the
construction of pump chambers is
near completion. The AC pipeline has
been laid and its testing under
pressure is in progress. Sewerage has
been laid in 12.73 km and the work is
likely to be finished by May 2010. The
work of open drain has been
completed on 1.6-km length.
Furthermore, the work of
construction of box drain in 2.4-km
length has been completed and the
rest is likely to be completed by
March 2010. The work of providing
and fixing cement concrete drains
amounting to Rs 435 lakh is likely to
be finished by July 2010.
The work of construction of the
boundary wall around the City at the
cost of Rs 2.82 crore has been
completed on 3.6 km. The design of
the grills to be provided over the
boundary wall has been revised and
the work is expected to be completed
by March this year. The development
works of nine plots have been
completed. The work of construction
of the main entrance gate is in
progress and is likely to be completed
in May this year. g
Name of institutes
Asian Education Society
Birla Institute of Management Technology
Foundation for Organisation Research and Education
(FORE) School of Management
Sonepat Hindu Educational and Charitable Society
Manav Rachna International University
Karnataka Lingayat Education Society
International Foundation of Research and Education
Lala Nemi Chand Educational Trust
Thapar University
Area allotted (in acres)
3.82
7.38
7.38
7.38
25
7.38
25
2.41
62
INTERVIEW
9
‘Public and private sectors
have to go hand in hand’
The state government is
taking steps to bring
higher education within
the reach of all,
especially the weaker
sections. To know what
is being done in this
sector, Haryana Review
spoke to Education
Secretary Rajan Gupta.
His views:
Our education system is such
that it encourages studies
merely for getting a degree
rather than laying emphasis on
the real development of an
individual. What initiatives the
state government is taking to
make higher education
effective?
The issue of quality is being
addressed at the higher level. The
government is setting up new
institutes with the help of private
parties. We are shifting the focus of
students from arts to job-oriented
courses and studies by improving the
course content, teaching
methodologies and introducing
the semester system.
The semester system has been
introduced in colleges and
universities from this year and will
cover all classes within three years.
From next year, the grading system
and the provision to shift from one
university to another will be
introduced. We aim to teach a large
number of subjects at the graduation
level; in six semesters of graduation,
a total of 24 subjects will be taught.
Another thrust area in higher
education has been to shift students
from humanities to other streams.
Nearly 80% of students used to take
up humanities that has limited
scope. More seats have been created
in the science, business
administration and commerce
streams. This will make an
individual open to more options.
Computer education has been
made compulsory for students of all
streams. Everyone who is a graduate
will also be computer-literate. It will
be achieved throughout the state in
two years.
As the demand for professional
and technical skills is
increasing, what steps the
Education Department is taking
in this direction?
More technical and professional
institutes are being set up and the
existing ones are being expanded.
The number of seats in technical
and professional colleges has been
increased. In 2007-08, there were
about 52,000 seats in technical and
professional education; the number
has gone up to more than one lakh
now. A majority of students are
going in for technical and
professional education. Setting up
new institutes is an expensive affair.
Thus to increase land, teachers and
new courses is the cheapest way to
expand the existing institutes. Every
year, 15-20% seats are increased.
What is the state’s vision for
2015 as far as education is
concerned?
The gross enrolment ratio in higher
education in Haryana in 2003-04 was
10.6%. According to the education
census, 2001, the Indian average was
12.4%. We aim to double the number
of institutes in order to enhance
accessibility to higher education.
The number of people seeking
higher education has been doubled.
Everything cannot be achieved by
public sector alone. We aim to seek
greater participation of quality
private institutes. So the public and
private sectors have to go hand in
hand. More autonomy has been
granted to colleges so that they turn
into centres of excellence. The steps
taken to improve higher education
should fructify in four to five years’
time.
The Private University Act,
2006, was put in place to
encourage private sector
investment in higher education.
What has been its impact on
higher education in the state?
The Act has been successfully
initiated in Haryana. Under it, two
universities have been set up: OP
Jindal Global University at Sonepat
and the ITM at Gurgaon. Two
Letters of Intent have been issued
for private universities: Amity,
Manesar; and Apeejay, Sohna. We
have received seven more
applications; more universities are
likely to be set up. It’s a major
sachievement.
What about the B Ed colleges
mushrooming all over the state
which are more of shops than
educational institutes?
We have not encouraged any
commercialisation of B Ed
education. But some colleges have
come up with the approval of the
Central government. We are trying
to rectify this problem. We know
that the number has increased. The
state has taken the matter at the
highest level. g
10
COVER STORY
Varsity diversity
When the Congress government came into
power in 2005, Haryana had only five
universities. Now there are 11 universities
Shweta Vashishta
niversities are storehouses of
excellence created for imparting
and disseminating knowledge to
nurture talent and create thinkers.
They play an important role in
polishing individuals to make them
responsible citizens of society.
In Haryana, a lot of emphasis is
being laid on university education
knowing the vital part it plays in
shaping society. At present, there are a
number of recognised universities in
Haryana that offer a wide range of
specialised programmes. Some
institutes in the state have been given
the status of a deemed university
under the University Grants
Commission Act.
There are nine state universities in
Haryana. Kurukshetra University
(KU), Kurukshetra; Maharshi
Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak;
Chaudhary Devi Lal University
(CDLU), Sirsa; and Bhagat Phool
Singh Mahila (BPSM)
Vishwavidyalaya, Khanpur Kalan,
U
Sonepat, are the general universities.
Guru Jambheshwar University (GJU)
of Science and Technology, Hisar;
Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University
of Science and Technology, Murthal,
and YMCA University of Science and
Technology, Faridabad, are the three
technical universities. Chaudhary
Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural
University (HAU) and Pandit Bhagwat
Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute
of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak,
are the agriculture and medical
universities respectively.
The National Dairy Research
Institute, Karnal, a deemed university,
caters to education in dairy science
and technology. The other two deemed
universities in the state are the
National Institute of Technology,
Kurukshetra (formerly Regional
Engineering College), and the
National Brain Research Centre,
Gurgaon.
When Haryana came into being in
1966, higher education was offered by
the lone university at Kurukshetra
and some 20 colleges, situated mostly
in district towns. Very few of these
colleges, in fact, had post graduate
courses, and all colleges were
affiliated with Panjab University. The
reason why these colleges of Haryana
continued to be affiliated with Panjab
University even after creation of
Haryana was the disputed status of
Chandigarh where the university was
situated. In 1971, all colleges of
Haryana were affiliated with the KU
during the reign of the Bansi Lal
government. And from next year
onwards, university examinations of
Haryana colleges were conducted by
the KU.
Kurukshetra University, the oldest
university of Haryana, was
established in 1956 as a unitary
residential university and its
foundation stone was laid by President
Rajendra Prasad. Starting with only
the Department of Sanskrit, it has
grown into a multi-faculty university
and one of the premier centres for
advanced studies and research in the
region.
Chaudhary Charan Singh
Agricultural University at Hisar, one
of the largest agriculture universities
in Asia, was initially a campus of
Punjab Agricultural University,
Ludhiana. After the formation of
Haryana, it became an autonomous
institution on February 2, 1970
through a presidential ordinance, and
later ratified as the Haryana and
Punjab Agricultural Universities Act,
1970, passed by the Lok Sabha on
March 29, 1970.
Maharshi Dayanand University,
Rohtak, was established through an
act of Legislative Assembly of
Haryana in 1976. Though started with
a limited objective of encouraging
studies in life sciences, the university
today offers a variety of academic
programmes and designs new courses
in different disciplines.
The Guru Jambheshwar University
of Science and Technology, Hisar, was
established on October 20, 1995. The
university is named after Saint
Jambheshwar or Jambhoji, who was
born in a remote village of Rajasthan.
It is one of the reputed universities in
India.
Chaudhary Devi Lal University,
Sirsa, was established on April 2, 2003.
It is named after former deputy prime
minister Devi Lal.
In the matter of promoting higher
education, Chief Minister Bhupinder
Singh Hooda stands tall among the
state chief ministers. He has broken
all records of opening new colleges
and universities. When the Hooda
government came into power, Haryana
had only five universities and now
there are 11 universities in the state -nine government and two private.
The Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram
University of Science and Technology,
formerly known as CR State College of
Engineering, Murthal, started in 1987
as the first government engineering
college of Haryana. The Haryana
government upgraded the college to
Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University
of Science and Technology in 2006.
Pt BD Sharma PGIMS was started
under the name of Medical College,
Rohtak, in 1960. In 1994, it was
renamed Pt BD Sharma Medical
College, Rohtak, and subsequently was
upgraded to Post Graduate Institute of
Medical Sciences in 1995. PGIMS was
given the status of University of
Health Sciences under the Hooda
COVER STORY
Budget allocation for universities for 2009-10
(Rs in lakh)
KU
MDU
CDLU
BPS
GJU
Plan
Non-plan
Total
1,000
1,000
1,200
2,800
4,000
1,700
2,000
3,700
1,400
1,400
government. Today it is famous not
only for medical education but also for
health care facilities both at the
national and international level.
BPS Mahila Vishwavidyalaya, the
first women’s university in north
India, was established by the state
government on November 10, 2006. A
gurukul for girls which was started
with only three students by Bhagat
Phool Singh, a social reformer, in 1936
has become a full-fledged university.
The YMCA Institute of
Engineering, Faridabad, was
established in 1969 as a joint venture
of the National Council of YMCAs of
India, Haryana government and the
Central Agencies for Development
Aid, Bonn, Germany. It started as an
Indo-German project with the aim of
imparting technical education to a
developing India on the German
pattern. The institute has been
granted autonomous status from 2007.
A central university has come up in
Haryana in Mahendragarh district.
Established by an act of parliament in
2009, the central university is located
at Jant Palli village on MahendragarhDadri road on an area of more than
500 acres. The university will start
functioning from the coming session.
To bring quality to higher
education and to increase its
accessibility, the government has
joined hands with private parties to
set up more universities. Norms are
laid for establishing universities and
only those institutes which satisfy the
criteria are given the green signal to
set up a university. OP Jindal Global
University and ITM University are two
private universities that have been set
up in Sonepat and Gurgaon districts
respectively under the Haryana
Private Universities Act, 2006. Letters
of Intent have also been issued for
setting up of Apeejay University and
Amity University in Gurgaon district;
seven applications for establishing
private universities are pending with
the government.
Universities require funds for their
1,500
1,500
11
Deenbandhu
Chhotu Ram
1,000
1,000
smooth functioning. The state
government provides grant-in-aid to
all state universities on the plan and
non-plan sides on an annual basis.
Grant-in-aid on non-plan side is
provided for the salary of the staff
and other contingencies and on plan
side for construction and development
purpose by the state government. The
universities also get funds from
centrally-sponsored schemes. The
state government has provided an
assistance of Rs 5,800 lakh to general
universities and Rs 2,000 lakh to
technical universities on the plan side
for 2009-10. Rs 10 lakh has been
provided for modernisation of YMCA,
Faridabad. The budget allocation for
HAU for 2009-10 is Rs 3,235 lakh (nonplan).
Over the years, the grant-in-aid
provided by the state for the
universities has increased, but still the
universities have to fend for
themselves for finances as the funds
are not enough. Prof Surinder Kumar
of MDU, Rohtak, says, “The
universities generate funds through
distance education, a hike in tuition
and examination fees and introduction
of such courses which bring good
income to them.”
A Post Graduate Regional Centre of
Kurukshetra University has been
established at Jind and a Post
Graduate Regional Centre of
Maharshi Dayanand University at
Meerpur in Rewari.
To develop English communication
skills of students of Haryana, the
government has decided to establish
the Regional Campus of English and
Foreign Languages University (EFLU),
Hyderabad, at Meham. For this, 50
acres of land is being purchased by
the Higher Education Department at
Rs 16 lakh per acre which will be given
on a 99-year-lease to EFLU for setting
up its campus.
Following the relentless efforts of
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh
Hooda, higher education in Haryana is
touching new heights. g
12
COVER STORY
Universities: Portals
of higher learning
Ruchi Sharma
SEAT OF LEARNING
stablished in
1956,
Kurukshetra
University began
with only the
Department of
Sanskrit and has
grown into a multi-faculty university.
It offers learning through various
departments on the campus. The
Faculty of Arts and Languages is
divided into Department of English,
Foreign Languages, Hindi, Punjabi
and Library and Information Science.
The English Department is known for
its faculty ever since its inception.
Besides core courses on British and
American literature, the department
offers courses in literature and
philosophy, literature and gender, new
literatures and contemporary literary
theory.
The Department of Foreign
Languages offers courses in French
and German at the certificate and
diploma level with a view to helping
students to have the knowledge of a
foreign language so that they can
communicate with the outside world.
In the coming years, the department is
planning to introduce Japanese and
Spanish.
The Department of Hindi is a prime
institution of the region for learning
and teaching of Hindi. In the field of
research, it is the only institution in
the state. The most practical and
useful part of teaching is Rajbhasha
Prashikshan, Proyojan Mulak Hindi,
which is the demand of the day.
Bhartya Sahitya and Lok Sahitya are
two useful subjects which are part of
teaching. The Department of Punjabi
offers MA and M Phil courses. The
Distance Education Department also
imparts instructions for MA and M
Phil in Punjabi.
The Department of Library and
E
Information Science is one of its kinds
in the state. The Department offers
Bachelor's and Master's in Library and
Information Science and Ph D. It also
provides assistance to the students of
Diploma in Library Science, and
Bachelor and Master of Library and
Information Science under distance
education.
In the faculty of Commerce and
Management, the departments falling
under it are the Department of
Commerce, Management, Tourism and
Hotel Management, Institute of Mass
Communication and Media
Technology and Institute of
Management Studies.
The Department of Commerce has
been taking bold initiatives in fulltime professional programmes to suit
the requirements of business, trade
and industry. It offers full-fledged
degree programme in Master of
International Business. The
department has started the master’s
degree programmes in marketing and
finance. Thus, apart from the MIB
programme, three more full-time
high-profile professional courses have
been synergised: Master of
Marketing Technology (MMT),
Master of Finance and Control
(MFC), and Master of Retailing and
Logistics Management (MRLM).
A one-year PG Diploma Programme
in Retailing and Logistics
Management (PGDRLM) was initiated
in 2006.
The Department of Management is
a full-fledged education centre
providing three major courses: twoyear MBA, five-year MBA and MBA
(Hons) and doctoral research in all
major areas of management as per the
requirements of the industry.
The Department of Tourism and
Hotel Management offers Ph D of 3+1
years, M Phil of one year, Masters of
Tourism Management of two years,
Master of Hotel Management of two
years, and Bachelor of Hotel
Management and Catering Technology
of four years. The Department has a
well-equipped library and teaching
labs to give training in housekeeping
and front office.
The Institute of Mass
Communication and Media
Technology has a wide range of
courses available. These are BA Mass
Communication, B Tech Printing,
Graphics and Packaging, five-year
integrated course in Graphics,
Animation and Gaming, (B Sc & M Sc),
five-year integrated course in
Multimedia (B Sc and M Sc), PG
Diploma in Graphics and Animation,
PG Diploma in Web Media, PG
Diploma in Internet Journalism, M Sc
Mass Communication, M Sc Electronic
Media, M Sc Music, Media and
Electronics, MA Mass
Communication, M Phil of
Journalism and Mass Communication,
and Ph D in Journalism and Mass
Communication.
The Institute of Management
Studies admits students on the basis of
an all India entrance test for BBA and
MBA courses. The major fields of
specialisation include finance,
marketing and HRM. The Department
of Education offers B Ed (Spl Edu),
MA (Edu), M Ed (Spl Edu), M Ed (A),
M Ed (Self-Financing), M Phil (Edu)
and Ph D (Edu).The Department of
Physical Education runs the courses of
M PEd and Ph D in physical
education. M Phil, B P Ed, PG diploma
and a certificate course in yoga are
offered.
In the faculty of engineering and
technology, the University Institute of
Engineering and Technology (UIET)
provides quality education in selected
engineering disciplines. The
university has started B Tech
programme in three more disciplines,
viz biotechnology, computer science
and engineering and electronics and
communication engineering. The M
Tech degree programmes have been
started in software engineering,
microelectronics and VLSI design and
process control and instrumentation.
The Institute of Instrumentation
Engineering offers four-year B Tech
and two-year M Tech courses.
Indic studies can be learnt at the
Institute of Sanskrit and Indological
Studies. The Department of Sanskrit,
Pali and Prakrit runs MA and M Phil
in Sanskrit and has facilities for
research leading to Ph D in Sanskrit.
The Department of Philosophy
offers post-graduate courses like MA,
M Phil, Diploma in Reasoning besides
Ph D course.
For the study of Indian ancient
history, the Department of Ancient
Indian History, Culture and
Archaeology admits MA, M Phil and
Ph D students. For students who have
an interest in music, the Department
of Music and Dance offers MA, M Phil
and Ph D. One can do law studies
under the three-year LLB course being
run in morning and evening, two-year
LLM and the Ph D. The Institute of
Law offers a five-year integrated
course of BALLB.
To study life sciences, the Institute
of Environmental Services runs
COVER STORY
courses of M Sc in Environmental
Science, M Tech in Energy and
Environmental Management, Ph D in
Environmental Science and Post
Graduate Diploma in Environmental
Impact Assessment and Auditing. The
Department of Bio-Chemistry offers M
Sc and Ph D programmes. The
Department of Botany offers M Sc,
one-year Postgraduate Diploma in
Floriculture, M Phil and Ph D. The
Microbiology Department runs twoyear M Sc and 3-4-year Ph D courses.
Apart from regular M Sc, M Phil and
Ph D in zoology, the Department also
offers Post Graduate Diploma in
Forensic Science. The Chemistry
Department offers M Sc in organic,
physical, inorganic and
pharmaceutical chemistry, and M Phil
in organic, physical and inorganic
chemistry.
To equip students with the ongoing
IT revolution trends, the Department
of Computer Science and Applications
offers a two-year M Tech and threeyear MCA. The Electronic Science
Department offers M Sc Electronic
Science and M Tech Micro Electronics
and VLSI Design. At present, the
Department runs three post graduate
courses in M Sc, M Phil and Ph D. The
Department of Geology undertakes Ph
D programme in different
specialisations and M Sc in Applied
Geology. The three-year M Tech in
Applied Geophysics course and M
Tech in Applied Geophysics are
offered in the Department of
Geophysics.
The Department of Mathematics
offers a one-year M Phil, two-year M
Sc and three plus one year Ph D in
mathematics. The Department of
Physics offers M Sc, M Phil and Ph D
courses. Similarly, the Department of
Statistics and Operational Research
offers regular courses of M Sc and M
Phil in statistics.
In the faculty of social sciences, the
Department of Political Science runs
MA and M Phil courses and indulges
in academic pursuits by organising
seminars, symposia and quiz contests.
The Department of Economics
conducts MA (Economics), M Sc
(Applied Econometrics and Business
Forecasting) under Self-Financing
Scheme, M Sc (Financial Computing)
under Self-Financing Scheme and M
Phil (Economics) courses and Ph D.
The Sociology Department offers
masters in sociology and Ph D. The
13
Psychology Department offers twoyear masters, one-year M Phil and Ph
D of 2-4 years.
TOWARDS WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
hagat Phool
Singh Mahila
Vishwavidyalaya has
the distinction of
being the first
women’s university
in north India. Its
first academic session commenced in
August 2007 and the university has
since grown by leaps and bounds.
Located at Khanpur Kalan in Sonepat,
it has been named after legendary
Bhagat Phool Singh, who overcame all
odds to enlighten the lives of women.
It is one of the initiatives taken by the
state government to empower women
in the state.
Raised in the rural heartland of
Haryana, the university aims at
women emancipation and
empowerment by educating them. Its
motto -- Empowering Women with
Education -- reflects the same. The
logo of the university shows women
radiating energy and life. The
university aims at producing
contributing members who will go on
to make a positive effect on society
and this is what the logo indicates.
The university, ever since its
inception, has set the highest
standards of excellence and quality
which go hand in hand with the dream
and vision that the university has. The
world-class infrastructure will help in
achieving its aim.
New institutions and teaching
blocks for the existing and proposed
new courses with the latest
infrastructure, hostels, modern faculty
houses and staff houses are coming up
fast. Besides, a new central library
with all modern facilities, auditoriums
for extra-curricular activities and
indoor and outdoor stadiums for
sports are proposed in the next phase
of construction, which will cater to
the demands of about 10,000 students.
After realising the importance of
computer literacy in the current
scenario, the university will start
computer training programmes for all
its students from the coming academic
session.
About 5,000 students have already
enrolled themselves with various
colleges of the university and are
B
14
COVER STORY
Picking up nuances of English language
getting education and training in
professional courses like BAMS, B Ed,
D Ed, and diploma in electronics and
communication, computer
engineering, pharmacy, library and
information science, medical
laboratory technology, information
technology and modern office practice.
Five-year and three-year LLB courses
are imparted at PSD Girls Law College.
To crown all these efforts are the
learning resource centres in the
university which train all students,
irrespective of their professional field,
in English.
The learning resource centres, the
only ones of their kind in India,
concentrate on making students fluent
in English. The faculty of the
university and the faculty to be
selected for all proposed courses is and
will be one of the best available in
respective fields.
The Department of Law offers twoyear LLM and one-year post graduate
diploma in cyber law and insurance
law. Two-year MA and one-year M Phil
in English are offered by the English
Department. Courses like B Tech in
electronics and communication,
information technology, computer
science and fashion technology are
run by the Department of Engineering
and Sciences.
Knowledge of different languages
gives power of expression to students
to face the world outside. The
Department of Foreign Languages
offers an opportunity to the students to
learn different languages. At present,
four foreign languages are being taught
by the department: French, German,
Russian and Spanish. Soon Japanese
and Chinese will also be incorporated.
At present, part-time courses in these
languages are being offered. They are
in three levels of proficiency:
certificate, diploma and advanced
diploma. The courses offered pave the
way for the students to pursue a career
in a particular language.
The Department of Management
Studies offers a two-year MBA in
finance, marketing, HRD, international
business, insurance and IT. The
Department of Social Work runs a twoyear Masters of Social Work. The
University has several affiliated
colleges under it. BPS College of
Education offers one-year Bachelors in
Education, two-year Diploma in
Education and Masters in Education;
BPS Memorial Girls College offers
Masters in Home Science and other
affiliated professional institutes - MSM
Institute of Ayurveda runs four-and-ahalf-year Bachelor of Ayurvedic
Medicine and Surgery and BPS
Institute of Polytechnic offers courses
in pharmacy, electronics and
communication engineering, computer
engineering, information technology,
fashion technology and architecture
engineering.
on the campus running 77 academic
programmes.
Full-time certificate courses to the
Ph D are being offered in various
subjects at the university. One can go
for full time certificate courses in
languages like French, Spanish and
Urdu besides a diploma in French.
One can opt for undergraduate
courses like Bachelor's of Physical
Education, Technology and Pharmacy,
besides the three-year LLB in morning
and evening and the five-year LLB.
Various faculties like commerce,
education, humanities, law, life
sciences, management studies,
pharmaceutical sciences, physical
sciences, social sciences, engineering
and technology, and performing and
visual arts run full-time postgraduate
courses. Humanities offers MA in
defence studies, economics, education,
English, fine arts, geography, Hindi,
mass communication, music, political
science, psychology, public
administration, Sanskrit, sociology
and history. Management studies
offers MBA in business economics and
international business, M Com,
Master of Hotel Management and
Master of Tourism Management. The
Department of Education and
Physical Education offers Masters in
Education and Masters in Physical
Education. The Science and Pharmacy
Department runs postgraduate
courses like M Pharma. In Drug
Regulatory Affairs and Industrial
Pharmacy, there is MSc in
biochemistry, biotechnology, botany,
chemistry, environmental science,
genetics, math with computer science,
mathematical statistics, mathematics,
HIGHER AND STILL HIGHER
aharshi
Dayanand
University at Rohtak
functions under 13
faculties with 27 postgraduate departments
M
Come to learn, go to serve
medical biotechnology, zoology,
physics, food processing technology
and microbiology. The Engineering
and Technology Department offers M
Tech in biotechnology, computer
science and engineering, electronics
and communication engineering,
mechanical engineering,
manufacturing and automation,
software engineering and master of
computer science and applications.
The Law Department offers LLM
course.
Various courses provide job
opportunities. These include a
postgraduate diploma in guidance and
counselling, and translation (HindiEnglish). M Phil is also being offered
in commerce, economics, education,
English, geography, Hindi, history,
mathematics, political science,
psychology, public administration,
Sanskrit, sociology and statistics. For
research scholars, PhD courses are
run in biochemistry and genetics,
business management, chemistry,
commerce, computer science and
application, defence studies,
economics, education, English, fine
arts, geography, Hindi, history,
journalism and mass communication,
law, mathematics, medical sciences,
music, physical education, physics,
political science, psychology, public
administration, Sanskrit, sociology
and statistics.
On campus, there is also a
Directorate of Distance Education
with an enrolment of 45,000 students
for 24 professional and nonprofessional courses. As an affiliating
university, it has 126 institutes and
colleges under its control with an
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enrolment of about 1.7 lakh students.
TOWARDS ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
haudhary Devi
Lal University,
Sirsa, is named after
Devi Lal, former
deputy prime
minister. There are
16 teaching
departments with 36 courses. The
university has a well-equipped
library, laboratories and hostels for
boys and girls. Well-known, reputed
and experienced academics and
professionals have been associated
with preparing the academic
curriculum of different courses. It is
important to mention here that
special attention has been given to
follow the guidelines of the UGC and
other regulatory bodies in preparing
the curriculum.
The university offers wide
academic programmes in areas of
technology, management, commerce,
law, mass communication,
humanities, social sciences, science
and education, mostly at the
postgraduate level. All these courses
will help in meeting the special needs
of society and the professional world.
The main objective of the university
is to facilitate, promote and excel in
higher education, research and
consultancy in contemporary as well
as emerging areas of knowledge.
Among the regular programmes
offered in the university are MSc in
biotechnology, environmental science,
food science and technology,
mathematics, physics and chemistry.
It offers regular MA in economics,
public administration, English and
mass communication. The other
departments run MBA General and
Business Economics, MCom, Masters
of Computer Applications, M Tech in
Computer Science and Engineering, B
Ed, and three-year LLB. The Physical
Education Department runs a
certificate course in physical
education and Masters in Physical
Education.
The university also offers PhD
programmes in the Departments of
Biotechnology, Chemistry, Physics,
Mathematics, Environmental Science,
Computer Science and Engineering,
Business Administration, Commerce,
Economics, Public Administration,
English, Education, Physical
Education and Law.
C
15
Under the self-financing scheme, M
Phil courses are being offered in
biotechnology, chemistry,
environmental sciences, physics,
mathematics, commerce, economics,
public administration, English,
physical education and education.
The other courses included under it
are five-year MBA course, three-year
part time M Tech in computer science
and engineering, MA in education,
LLM (evening), five-year LLB, BA in
Mass Communication, Bachelor in
Physical Education and PG Diploma
in Mass Communication (Evening).
The outstanding sportspersons are
offered varied courses by Chaudhary
Devi Lal Memorial Engineering
College at Panniwala Mota. They are
B Tech in Civil Engineering, B Tech
in Computer Science and
Engineering, B Tech in Electronics
and Communication Engineering, B
Tech in Electrical Engineering, B
Tech in Food Technology and B Tech
in Mechanical Engineering.
The University Centre for Distance
Learning has planned to meet the
challenges of the times and growing
requirements of the people. The
centre offers several courses through
distance mode such as BCA, BA Mass
Communication, MBA, MCA, MA in
Mass Communication, MA in English,
MA in Education, M Sc in Computer
Science, M Phil in Commerce,
Computer Science, Education,
Management, Economics and English,
Post Graduate Diploma in Computer
Application, Post Graduate Diploma
in Business Management, Diploma in
Computer Science and Technology
and Post Graduate Diploma in Mass
Communication.
The students of this university
have shown commendable results in
academics as well as co-curricular
activities. With the present pace of
progress, the university looks
forward to having a promising future.
PROPAGATING SCIENCE
uru Jambheshwar
University of
Science and
Technology at Hisar
was named after saint
environmentalist
Guru Jambheshwar ji
Maharaj.
The university offers a wide range
of academic programmes, courses at
postgraduate and undergraduate level.
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16
COVER STORY
The courses have been designed to
meet the special needs of the market
and industry. Emphasis is being laid
on both theoretical and practical
training for the exposure of students
to the latest development areas of
science and technology.
In the faculty of Media Studies, the
Department of Communication
Management and Technology offers
programmes like M Sc in Mass
Communication and Development
Communication and Post Graduate
Diploma in Defence Journalism. The
Department of Advertising
Management and Public Relations
offers programmes like M Sc in
Advertising Management and Public
Relations, PG Diploma in Web
Advertising and Animation, PG
Diploma in Tourism and Public
Relations and Ph D.
In the faculty of Non-Conventional
Sources of Energy and Environment
Sciences, the Department of
Environmental Science and
Engineering offers programmes like
PhD in Environmental Science, M
Tech in Environmental Science and
Engineering, M Tech in Geoinformatics, M Sc in Environmental
Sciences and PG Diploma in
Environment Management through
Distance Education. The areas of
specialisation are bioremediation,
waste water treatment and watershed
management, bio-energy,
environmental pollution monitoring,
management and remediation,
environmental impact assessment,
plant and microbial ecology,
environmental biotechnology,
environmental biology, environmental
geochemistry, geochemistry, geology,
geomicrobiology, and solid waste
management.
Haryana School of Business runs
the regular Master of Business
Administration and also part-time
Master of Business Administration in
evening. The areas of specialisation
are marketing, finance, human
resource management, economics and
business analytics, information
technology and international
business.
The faculty of Science and
Technology has Departments of
Chemistry, Mathematics, Applied
Physics and Bio and Nano Technology.
The departments offer courses like M
Sc in Chemistry and Ph D in
Chemistry with its specialisation areas
State-of-the-art
infrastructure
of inorganic chemistry, organic
chemistry and physical chemistry.
Programmes offered in mathematics
are M Sc, Ph D with areas of
specialisation as mechanics of solids,
theoretical seismology, fluid dynamics,
wave propagation, functional analysis,
thermo elasticity and coding theory.
The Department of Applied Physics
offers courses in M Sc in physics, M
Tech in optical engineering and PhD.
Their areas of specialisation are lasers
and photonics, materials science, fibre
optics and optical communication. The
Department of Bio and Nano
Technology runs courses like M Sc in
Biotechnology, Industrial
Microbiology, Nano Science and
Technology; M Tech in Nano-science
and Ph D in Biotechnology and Nano
Science and Technology with areas of
specialisation as molecular biology,
genetic engineering, genetics,
microbial biotechnology, enzyme
technology, fermentation technology,
nano material synthesis, biosensor,
and nano-biotechnology. The
Department of Food Technology offers
programmes like M Sc, PhD, M Tech, B
Tech, and Post Graduate Diploma in
Bakery Science Technology.
In the faculty of Engineering and
Technology, the Department of
Printing Technology offers
programmes like M Tech in Print and
Graphic Communication and B Tech
in Printing Technology and Packaging
Technology. The Department of
Computer Science and Engineering
offers courses like B Tech and M Tech
in Computer Science and Engineering,
B Tech in Information Technology,
Masters in Computer Applications
and Ph D. The Department of
Electronics and Communication,
Biomedical and Mechanical
Engineering runs B Tech in
Electronics and Communication,
Biomedical Engineering and
Mechanical Engineering respectively.
The Mechanical Engineering
Department also offers M Tech in
Integrated Product Design and
Manufacturing and Ph D in
Mechanical Engineering.
The Faculty of Pharmaceutical
Sciences and its Department of
Pharmaceutical Sciences offers B
Pharma, M Pharma in
Pharmaceutics, Pharm Chemistry,
Pharmacology, Pharmacognosy and
Ph D. In the faculty of Medical
Sciences, the Department of
Physiotherapy runs courses like
Bachelor of Physiotherapy and
Master of Physiotherapy in
Musculoskeletal Disorders, Sports
Physiotherapy, Neurological Disorders
and Paediatric Physiotherapy. The
Department of Applied Psychology
runs M Sc and Ph D in psychology. It
also offers post graduate diploma in
counselling and behaviour
modification. g
INTERVIEW
‘Our emphasis
is on quality’
"Education plays an
important role in
making the youth selfconfident, enabling them
to stand on their own
feet." This is what
Higher Education
Commissioner, Mrs Saroj
Siwach, observes about
education. In a chat with
Haryana Review, this is
what she says.
With the focus on quality
education, what are the other
thrust areas which the Education
Department is stressing on?
In Haryana, a lot of attention is being
paid to elementary, secondary and
higher education. Our emphasis is on
quality. Earlier, we expanded the
number of colleges and institutes and
now we are working to strengthen
them. This will help students to have
the best of education in their
respective streams to meet their future
needs.
We have identified 25 government
colleges as centres of excellence. They
will be equipped with language labs,
libraries, computers, auditoriums,
seminar halls, specialised courses and
modern teaching aids.
We are emphasising more
on subjects having
employment prospects like
computers, commerce and
science. There have been
fewer placements in our
colleges. We are trying to
analyse where our students
stand after passing out from
college. Doing graduation and
post graduation in a
particular stream prepares
one for a limited career of
being a lecturer or a teacher.
We want them to study a good number
of subjects so that they become wellinformed graduates. Placement cells
have been constituted in all
government colleges and these hold
campus interviews and placement
fairs for students.
Boosting the spirit and
confidence of students plays a
vital role in their overall
development. Has the state
government taken such an
initiative?
We have introduced a scheme ‘Earn
While You Learn’ for students by
giving them opportunity to earn while
they learn. They can work in their free
period or after their classes are over in
libraries as library attendants. From
this session, the amount they are paid
has been doubled. This earning will
empower them. Working in the library
will make them knowledgeable about
books.
To develop the overall personality
of students, we are taking them on
educational excursions. So far they
have only read about places like
Bhakra Dam, Rashtrapati Bhawan and
others. Now they will get practical
exposure to these places and know
about the real facts. Earlier, the
government was spending Rs 15 lakh
on excursions. Now the government
has allocated Rs 75 lakh each for boys
and girls; it includes transportation
and refreshment. One-day trips are
organised to places like industries,
17
call centres and universities; students
are taken for trekking expeditions.
The role of teachers is important
in making government's
programmes and policies a
success. What steps are being
taken to improve the quality of
teachers for higher classes?
To improve the quality of teachers in
colleges, refresher courses and
orientation courses have been
initiated for teachers. Each
department is asked to organise
exhibitions in their respective
subjects. From time to time, seminars
and workshops are organised by the
college teachers at state and national
level.
What initiatives the Education
Department is taking to give
students exposure to English
learning?
We are aware that students of
Haryana find it difficult to express
themselves in English, which leaves
them with an inferiority complex. We
are adopting different means to give
them exposure like creating friendly
atmosphere in the class and asking
students to speak on a subject they
like and in the language they feel
comfortable in. This way they can
recognise their talent and overcome
their hesitation. They will have the
sense of power to express themselves
and get the feeling that they are no
less than others.
On one Saturday of every month, a
lecture is given on an eminent
personality. Students get inspired by
such people. This will also make them
aware about various subjects and
issues.
The women’s university at Khanpur
Kalan at Sonepat has a language lab
which helps students master the
English communication skills. A
specialised faculty of English trains
students in speaking and listening.
Students are shown English movies.
Their hearing skills are evaluated and
they show a considerable
improvement within a short span of
time. We propose to start a training
course in the language lab of BPS
Mahila Vishwavidyalaya, Sonepat,
which willing students can join during
vacations. g
18
COVER STORY
Mother of all
varsities
Many universities in Haryana have roots in
Kurukshetra University
Rakesh Chopra
ituated on the plains of the
Saraswati on the western bank of
the Braham Sarovar, the foundation
stone of the Kurukshetra University
was laid on January 11, 1957 by
President Rajendra Prasad. Through its
formative years, the university which
started with focus on Sanskrit and
Indic Studies consolidated its academic
programmes and took a big leap
forward in 1961 by transforming its
initial unitary character into a multifaculty university. Today the
university’s 46 post graduate teaching
departments and institutes run 130
courses besides PhD programmes.
The university became an affiliating
one in 1974, with all the colleges in
Haryana being put under its academic
jurisdiction. Three of the erstwhile
postgraduate regional centres of the
university have grown into full-fledged
universities; another post graduate
regional centre of the university at
Jind imparts instruction in
professional courses of management
and computers. Two other universities
and two deemed universities of the
state also owe their roots to
Kurukshetra University as these were
affiliated colleges of the university
before being elevated to their current
status. Currently, 384 colleges of 11
districts of Haryana with an enrolment
of over 1.8 lakh students are affiliated
with the university.
The university celebrated its Golden
Jubilee Year in 2006. The academic
excellence which the university has
come to attain over the years bears
testimony to its present status which
got translated into the Grade A
accreditation by the National
Assessment and Accreditation Council,
Bangalore. With its sprawling campus
spread over 425 acres, sylvan setting
S
The sprawling lawns of KU
“This traditional
varsity has the
maximum researchers
in the state.”
Lt Gen D D S Sandhu,
Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra
University
and salubrious landscaping, the
university provides an ideal
atmosphere for academic pursuits and
personality development. Excellent
infrastructure facilities and modern
amenities available on the campus
make learning an exciting and
enjoyable experience.
Registrar Raghuvendra Tanwar says
KU is the mother university whose
extension centres at Rohtak, Hisar and
Sirsa have now been developed into
full-fledged universities. “Spread over
425 acres of land, the university has as
many as 23 hostels, 12 for girls and 11
for boys – maximum in the region. It is
a flourishing university and is a
reasonably good research centre. The
vibrant varsity has been given the
Grade A by the NAAC and it has been
judged at par with the Panjab
University as its ranking of 3.28 is close
to the PU’s 3.31. It is also committed to
preserving the culture of Haryana. In
sports also, KU has been adjudged the
third best in the country. It is attracting
a lot of girls for higher studies."
The 12 faculties on the campus
together comprise 46 departments
where instruction is imparted in more
than 130 courses besides PhD
programmes providing a balanced mix
of professional, inter-disciplinary and
traditional courses.
New programmes in emerging areas
like nano science and technology,
genomics, internet journalism,
international hospitality, business
management, women studies, forensic
science, management of development
and welfare services, microelectronics
and VLSI design, printing, graphics
and packaging, and multimedia have
been added to the list of courses on
offer to the learners. Due emphasis is
being given on the importance of interdisciplinary approaches and
methodologies with a view to
sharpening the overall skills of the
students. The university has introduced
several integrated as well as interdisciplinary courses in the last five
years. A directed thrust is visible in
course curricula on issues like gender
equality, population control, social
justice and environmental protection.
The affiliated colleges are particularly
encouraged to run the career-oriented
courses based on regional needs, such
as export management, fashion
designing, interior decoration,
nutrition and diabetes, food
preservation, textile designing and
cosmetics. At present more than 170
such programmes are being pursued in
the colleges affiliated to the university.
Vice-Chancellor Lt Gen D D S
Sandhu says as far as research is
concerned, it offers JRF in earth
sciences -- chemistry, physics,
environmental science being the core
areas. “This traditional varsity has the
maximum researchers in the state. We
recently hosted the science congress,
which featured personalities like the
Chairman of the Atomic Energy
Commission. Such meets will help
propagate interest in science.”
The university provides liberal
financial assistance in the form of
scholarships under different schemes
to the meritorious students and to those
belonging to the SC/BC category as
well as economically weaker sections.
In addition to the full fee concession to
SC/BC students, fee concession is also
allowed to 10% students of every
department. Various scholarships
available for this purpose are national
merit scholarships, Haryana state
government merit scholarships,
university merit scholarships, PG
COVER STORY
scholarships, general stipends,
students aid fund, other endowment
scholarships and M Phil scholarships.
Physically-challenged students with
100% disability are provided financial
assistance of Rs 1,000 per month and
those with more than 80% disability
are provided a financial assistance of
Rs 500 per month. The scheme of free
education to the only girl child in the
family reflects the social commitment
of the university. Girl students hailing
from families having only female
children are given fee concession and
also preference while providing
financial assistance. Assistance is also
provided to other needy students and
those belonging to the BPL category.
Kurukshetra University, being a
state university, is dependent to a
large extent on government
assistance, which is being received in
the form of non-plan grant-in-aid. But
it also generates internal income by
way of tuition and examination fees,
lands and farming operations and sale
of publications. To face the new
challenges in higher education vis-avis resource constraints, the
Kurukshetra University initiated
steps to augment its internal
resources with effect from 1994-95 by
way of starting self-financing joboriented and professional courses in
19
various departments and in the
Directorate of Distance Education at
post-graduate and under-graduate
level. For research project activities,
scholarships and fellowships, the
Kurukshetra University is receiving
financial assistance from various
funding agencies like UGC, GOI, DAE,
CSIR, DST and DRDO.
Brajesh Sahni, Head of Department
of English and Director, Public
Relations, says as many as 98% of the
English Department students get
absorbed in various jobs, mostly in
colleges and schools. “We started the
Distance Education Department in
1976 and earn Rs 30 crore a year
through it.” A committee of the
university first checks all aspects of a
course before starting it in its
affiliated colleges. Later, the
committee also keeps a tab on the
effectiveness of that particular
course.
For the financial year 2009-10, KU
has been sanctioned by the state
government a sum of Rs 2,800 lakh as
grant-in-aid on non-plan side against
the expenditure of Rs 7,447.82 lakh
with a deficit of Rs 4,925.82 lakh. But
with the help of internal receipts
from various fees and income from
self-financing courses, the university
is in a position to meet the deficit by
generating an income of Rs 4,953.87
lakh. In addition, on plan side, a sum
of Rs 1,200 lakh has been sanctioned
against the demand of Rs 1,263.78 lakh
for ongoing projects. For the purpose
of development of KU Post-graduate
Regional Centre, Jind, an additional
sum of Rs 300 lakh has been
sanctioned.
As per the policy of the Haryana
government, to improve its higher
education by way of initiating multidisciplinary job-oriented and
professional courses besides increase
in intake, the government has also
provided a sum of Rs 500 lakh and Rs
3,000 lakh respectively.
Vice-Chancellor Lt Gen D D S
Sandhu says, “As far as the
government grant is concerned, we
are getting enough money from the
government. But still more funds are
welcome as that would help us
strengthen various lab equipment and
other infrastructure. Students prefer
the university as the place has an
historical significance, a beautiful
campus, competent faculty and good
boarding facilities.” g
20
COVER STORY
Going higher
Haryana government's efforts to attract
more students towards higher education
are bearing fruit
Shweta Vashishta
igher education is about taking
education to the next level:
learning new things and getting to
where one wants to be. After
completion of school education, a
student goes for college education and
higher studies in the subject of his
choice. In this phase of education, a
student gets an opportunity to enrich
his knowledge and make his career.
Thus, higher education is of prime
importance as it shapes the life of an
individual and future of the country.
Education is one of the priority
areas for the Congress government
headed by Bhupinder Singh Hooda in
Haryana in its efforts to take the state
to the numero uno position in terms of
development and progress. In fact, the
focus is on qualitative and
quantitative changes in education,
especially higher education, to make it
accessible and inclusive.
To impart quality higher education
and to increase the gross enrolment
ratio in colleges, the Haryana
government has introduced various
H
schemes for the improvement and
strengthening of colleges in the state.
“Efforts are on to make the education
system more vibrant and relevant to
the need of the time to keep pace with
norms of globalisation in terms of
competition,” says Chief Minister
Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
For empowering girl students and
bringing out their latent talent,
women cells have been established in
all colleges. The purpose of these cells
is to organise various activities to
bring awareness in students on
gender-related and career-oriented
issues. In this year, Rs 40 lakh has
been sanctioned and about 4,500 girls
will benefit from the scheme.
Human resource is the main asset
of higher education. To improve the
capacity building of teachers and to
make them aware of new trends and
developments in their respective fields
and higher education, a budget
provision of Rs 100 lakh has been
made, out of which seminars,
conferences, and refresher and
orientation courses are being
organised in all colleges. About 800
teachers will benefit from the scheme
this year.
To inculcate a spirit of work
culture and confidence amongst
students and to provide them with an
opportunity to work while pursuing
higher education, the Earn While You
Learn scheme has been introduced.
The honorarium paid has been
doubled from Rs 50 per hour to Rs 100
per hour from the current session.
This year, more than 5,500 students
will have the advantage out of the
sanctioned budget of Rs 60 lakh.
The schemes such as merit
scholarship for graduate girl students,
meritorious student scholarship and
meritorious incentive scheme for
students who attain merit positions in
the CBSE examinations have also been
instituted in order to provide good
education to all those who deserve and
also to bring women to the
mainstream. There are schemes for
students belonging to minority groups,
Scheduled Caste students, BPL and
Backward Class (A) students studying
in government colleges. The purpose
of all these schemes is to attract
students towards higher education
and assist them financially. About Rs
3,700 lakh has been approved for all
the schemes for 2009-10 and the
number of beneficiaries under the
schemes is 40,100.
In order to promote subjects like
science, commerce and economics in
government colleges at undergraduate
and postgraduate level, incentives are
given to students having 60% or above
marks in lower examination, seeking
admission in government colleges of
Haryana. There will be about 10,000
beneficiaries and Rs 394.5 lakh has
been approved for 2009-10. More seats
have been added in science, business
administration and commerce
streams. The idea is to lure students
from arts towards these job-oriented
courses.
Computer education has been
made compulsory for students of all
streams. “Within two years, everyone
who becomes a graduate in Haryana
would be computer literate too,” says
Education Secretary Rajan Gupta.
Semester system has been
introduced in colleges from this year
and will cover all classes within three
years. So the students will be able to
study more subjects now.
To develop the overall personality
of students, they are taken on
educational excursions to industries,
MNCs, call centres, historical places,
universities, colleges of excellence
and herbal gardens. The government
pays all expenses like transportation
and refreshment for one-day trips. For
trips involving more than a day, 75%
expenses are borne by the
government and 25% by colleges. The
proposed budget allocation for this
scheme is Rs 75 lakh each for boys
and girls.
With a view to improving the
standard of sports and encouraging
participation of students in
state/national/international sports, a
sports promotion scheme has been
introduced. Rs 2 crore has been
sanctioned and 15,000-18,000 students
will benefit from the scheme.
To provide information regarding
placement opportunity and career
advancement, placement cells have
been constituted in all colleges which
organise campus interviews and
placement fairs for students. Rs 38
lakh has been provided for this in the
budget for 2009-10.
In order to provide a platform for
COVER STORY
21
Getting acquainted with technology
imbibing scientific temper and spirit
among students, assistance is given
by the government to organise
science exhibitions in all government
colleges and a state-level exhibition
annually. A sum of Rs 30 lakh has
been approved for 2009-10. To
strengthen the infrastructure of
laboratories and improve the teaching
of science subjects in government
colleges, there is a budget provision
of Rs 15 lakh for 2009-10.
Library is an integral part of
academic life of an institution. To
promote library service in
government colleges and to equip
these with sufficient furniture, books
and other physical facilities, a sum of
Rs 150 lakh has been approved
for 2009-10.
The government has identified 25
government colleges to be developed
as centres of excellence. These
centres will have all types of facilities
in terms of language labs, libraries,
computers, auditoriums, seminar
halls, specialised courses and modern
teaching aids. An amount of Rs 4,300
lakh has been approved to implement
this scheme.
To impart education through
satellite, EDUSAT has been started
via which lectures and seminars are
transmitted to all colleges connected
to the HUB at Panchkula. The project
has been implemented in 66
government colleges including three
private aided colleges in the first
phase.
There are 75 government colleges
and 96 private aided colleges in
Haryana and the government has set
aside a budget of Rs 5,680 lakh (plan)
and 15,357 lakh (non-plan) for
government colleges and institutes
for 2009-10.
The state government has opened
new government colleges at Kaithal,
Birohar, Mandi Dabwali, Julana and
government colleges for women at
Panchkula, Tosham, Rewari and
Lakhan Majra, to mention only a few.
Job-oriented courses have been
started in 26 government colleges.
Private-aided colleges have been
permitted to start new courses in
science, commerce and other joboriented subjects.
Through its various moves, the
state government has been successful
in attracting more and more students
to higher education. Whereas in
2005-06, there were 2.18 lakh students
studying in colleges and universities
of the state, in 2009-10, the number
has increased to 3.35 lakh. g
22
COVER STORY
Culture of
agriculture
Agricultural University, Hisar, has propelled the
food-deficit Haryana to the level of a surplus state
Nishant Prabhakar
here are events in history which
have a marked imprint on the
development of human civilisation.
One such event was in the prehistoric
times when man during the Bronze Age
(9000 BC onwards) domesticated plants
and animals and it transformed his
profession of hunting and gathering to
settled agriculture. Hence the human
society transformed from a society of
hunters and food gatherers to a
sedentary society. This single
transformation changed the course of
human history which catalysed further
innovations and development in the
ancient society to reach the present
level of development.
Hence, agriculture is not just
another form of occupation for
mankind but its importance has grown
manifold in view of the millions of
mouths that are to be fed and to ensure
food security in the country. In view of
these challenges, Haryana had set up
Haryana Agricultural University (HAU)
on February 2, 1970 which was initially
a campus of the Punjab Agricultural
University, Ludhiana. Later in October
1991 it added the prefix Chaudhary
T
Charan Singh after the name of the
renowned farmer leader and former
prime minister.
The mandate of the university is to
teach, do research and provide
extension services to the farmers in the
field of agriculture, veterinary
sciences, agricultural engineering and
technology, home sciences and other
allied sciences. The university has been
able to propel the erstwhile food-deficit
state of Haryana to prosperity resulting
in its becoming the second largest
contributor to the central food grain
pool. Also, Haryana has raced ahead to
be a leader in basmati rice export and
to be the third largest producer of
wheat in the country. The university
has released and identified 230-odd
varieties of various crops and
registered 97 elite genetic strains with
the National Bureau of Plant Genetic
Resources, New Delhi.
The university’s campuses are
spread over an area of 3,444 hectares.
The main campus at Hisar occupies
2,922 hectares, of which 2,624 hectares
is under research and seed production
farms and the remaining 298 hectares
under buildings and roads. The
university has a total of seven degree-
Greenhouse technology
granting colleges like College of
Agriculture, College of Agriculture at
Kaul, College of Agricultural
Engineering and Technology, College of
Animal Sciences, College of Basic
Sciences and Humanities, College of
Home Sciences and College of
Veterinary Sciences. It follows the
semester system of examination.
COURSE PROGRAMMES
The university currently offers 121
programmes of study which include 49
PhD, 56 masters, 4 undergraduate, one
veterinary and livestock development
diploma, seven postgraduate diploma
and four certificate courses. Rural
Awareness Work Experience (RAWE)
and Earn While You Learn are two
striking features of undergraduate
programmes in agriculture and home
science. The master’s and PhD degree
programmes involve both course work
and projects/research.
As far as student strength is
concerned, in 2008-09, 617 post graduate
students were enrolled in the university,
of which 470 students were registered
for the master’s programme (194 in
agriculture sciences, 137 in basic
sciences and humanities, 60 in
veterinary sciences, 53 in home
sciences, 16 in animal sciences and 10
in agricultural engineering and
technology). Of the 147 PhD scholars, 37
got themselves registered for
agriculture sciences, 76 for basic
sciences and humanities, 10 for
veterinary sciences, 20 for home
sciences and four for animal sciences.
During the first semester of 2009-10, 252
students were admitted to various
master’s programmes of the university.
Of these 25% students were admitted
through ICAR from other states. In
order to provide job-oriented and selfemployment opportunity, seven
postgraduate diploma courses in
biotechnology, industrial microbiology,
communication skills in English,
English-Hindi translation, apparel
designing and management, human
nutrition and dietetics and school
counselling are already in progress in
the College of Basic Sciences and
Humanities and College of Home
Science.
RESEARCH
The Directorate of Research is the
nodal agency for planning and
monitoring research activities in
emerging areas of crops, horticulture,
COVER STORY
23
'We are aiming at second green revolution'
To know what the CCS
Haryana Agricultural
University is doing in
agricultural research,
Nishant Prabhakar
spoke to Vice-Chancellor
Dr Krishan Singh
Khokhar
What is the prime focus of the
university as far as research is
concerned?
Earlier, the prime focus of the
research used to be on quantity rather
than quality as in the beginning of the
green revolution we wanted to bring
maximum areas under cultivation so
as to make the country self-sufficient
in food grains. But today in the
globalised world we are focusing more
on quality rather than quantity. Now
this quality aspect means that we
come out with better seeds which are
resistant to disease, require less water,
can tolerate climatic fluctuations and
give yield per hectare which should be
highest in the world.
What methodologies do you aim
to adopt to achieve the aforesaid
goals?
We are now venturing into the hi-tech
field of molecular sciences, which
include bio-technology, trans-genesis
and genetic engineering. For example,
we are trying to convert the present
wheat variety which are at Carbon 3
level (C 3) to Carbon 4 (C 4) level. This
will ensure greater absorption of
atmospheric carbon dioxide resulting
in more production than the current
level.
What are the other thrust areas
in agriculture research you are
focusing on?
We are concentrating on various fields
which include maintaining soil health,
integrated pest and weed
management, efficient water
management, energy conservation
through agro forestry, recycling of biowaste, nutritional improvement and
value addition of agriculture and
animal produce, production
technology for field and horticulture
crops, low cost farm machinery and
farm equipment development and its
testing and popularisation. We are
focusing on brackish water fisheries
and its potential for the state.
How do you think brackish water
fisheries will be a success in the
state?
Haryana has around 30 per cent of its
water which is brackish and is unfit
for drinking and other agricultural
use. The university wants that we
should tap this vast potential by
introducing brackish water fisheries.
The prime focus in this sector is to
identify species fit for brackish water.
This particular field has immense
export potentialities as majority of the
people in Haryana are vegetarian and
don’t consume fish.
What are the problems faced by
the university in fulfilling the
above mentioned objectives?
A major problem that the university
faces is of shortage of both faculty as
well as support staff. When the
university was formed we had a total
strength of around 1,400 which
included both the faculty as well as the
support staff like lab technicians. But
today we have only 700 left. This
deeply impedes the research work and
functioning of all departments in the
university.
What are your views regarding
agriculture scenario in the
country?
Though the share of agriculture to the
GDP is steadily falling, still 58% of the
population is dependent on it.
Furthermore, it forms the bedrock of
the Indian economy and plays a vital
role in ensuring food to its vast
population. However, converting rich
and fertile agricultural land to nonagricultural use is like killing your
own mother who feeds you. There
should be a policy to protect this land
if the country wants genuine food
security for its future generations.
24
COVER STORY
Using high-tech gadgets
“The university is one of the
main centres of research and
development in agriculture. We
focus on building a researcher’s
attitude among the students
who get enrolled in the
university at the postgraduate
level.”
Dr R P Narwal
Director, Research, HAU
animal husbandry, agriculture
engineering, home sciences and basic
sciences and humanities. Currently, the
university is operating 260 research
schemes (non-plan 60, plan 40, AICRP
45, ad hoc (lCAR) 23, other agency 48,
Centrally-sponsored 1, self-financing 28,
revolving fund (lCAR) 15) with total
budgetary provision of Rs 75.07 crore.
According to Dr R P Narwal,
Director, Research, “The university is
one of the main centres of research
and development in agriculture. We
focus on building a researcher’s
attitude among the students who get
enrolled in the university at the
postgraduate level.” Every MSc/PhD
student enrolled has to carry out
research programmes along with
regular course study. Soon after
admission, the PG students are
assigned advisors after consulting
postgraduate faculty of the department
in which the student is doing his/her
major work. The advisory committee is
in a position to guide the PG students
for preparing and submitting synopsis
of the research work to be undertaken.
Outstanding work has been done by
the PG students in research like
development of biodegradable plastic
from low input agricultural waste and
the identification of sex-specific DNA
markers in date palm. Similarly, costefficient protocol has been developed
for several plant species, including
ornamental and medicinal, and fruits
and vegetables. They have further
developed a technology for a rapid fieldlevel diagnostic test for surra
(trypanosomosis) in a variety of
domestic, zoo and wild mammalian
species such as cattle, buffaloes,
equines, camels, dogs, felines, deer and
elephants, and genomic diversity of
group A rotaviruses was observed in
diarroheic buffalo calves.
Furthermore, the university has six
crop-specific outreach research stations
spread over 522 hectares in different
agro-climatic zones of the state.
Besides, for animal health care, disease
investigation labs are functional at the
district level.
The seed production programme for
all classes of seed is taken up by
respective crop breeders, Department
of Seed Science and Technology,
Directorate of Farms, Ram Dhan Singh
Seed Farm and Krishi Vigyan Kendras.
The total cultivable area for seed
production is 378.75 and 1,608 ha at
Directorate of Farms and RDS Seed
Farm, respectively. Quality seed of
different varieties of mustard, wheat,
barley and chickpea in rabi season and
pearl millet, guar, cotton and moong
bean in kharif season are produced on
the farm.
The university produced 107, 3,108,
4,820, 4,130, 11,106 quintals of nucleus,
breeder, foundation, certified seeds of
field crops respectively. Besides, 765
quintals of quality seed of various
vegetable crops was also produced in
2008-09. Farmers’ participatory seed
production programme of wheat and
raya varieties was undertaken in two,
five and four villages in Rohtak,
Sonepat and Hisar districts respectively.
AREAS OF FUTURE RESEARCH
The university has identified some of
the major thrust areas of research like
development of crop varieties suitable
for value addition and processing. This
has a vast potential for decreasing the
load of agro-chemicals in the agroecosystem without compromising the
production. Post-harvest management
technology on selected quality
vegetables, fruits and other commercial
agricultural commodities has to be
standardised to compete with
multinationals. Some of the crops like
BH 393 in barley, WH 283 and C 306 of
wheat and RH 30 of mustard have
industrial value. But more is yet to be
done in this direction.
Similarly, the university is working
on new technologies in the field of
management of soil and water
resources, bio-intensive management of
pests and diseases, recycling and
management of bio-waste, livestock
improvement through breedingnutrition management intervention,
biodiversity, conservation of
indigenous crop varieties and animal
breeds, nutritional improvement and
value addition of agricultural and
animal produce.
The university has emerged as an
institute par excellence in the field of
agricultural sciences. But for the past
few years, the university is facing
shortage of trained manpower both in
teaching and supporting staff. This is
deeply affecting research and teaching
work. The only solution is that the
university be allowed a major
recruitment drive. g
COVER STORY
Learning
that leads
to earning
25
Learning
film-making
The government is creating new avenues
of professional education in the state
Shweta Vashishta
one are the days when the career
choices available were that of
doctor, engineer, lawyer and teacher.
Today, there are a plethora of career
options to choose from in accordance
with one’s calibre and interest.
Professionals who are specialists in
their field of study are in great
demand. The Haryana government is
creating new avenues of professional
education in the state to equip
students with required knowledge to
cash in on the changing trends in the
job market.
G
MASS COMMUNICATION
With the rising boom of media
industry and increasing significance
of mass communication in today’s
world, mass communication has
become one of the most preferred
career avenues. Students who want to
make a career in print media, radio,
television or public relations have lots
of institutes offering courses in mass
communication in Haryana.
Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa;
Guru Jambheshwar University, Hisar;
Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra,
and Maharshi Dayanand University,
Rohtak; offer a master’s degree in
mass communication. Apart from
government colleges, DAV College,
Yamunanagar, and CRM Jat College,
Hisar, among private colleges are good
colleges for doing BA in mass
communication.
HOTEL MANAGEMENT
Hotel management is one of the most
interesting career options in the
contemporary job market. Career
training from a recognised and
reputed hotel management institute is
just the icing on the cake.
Several initiatives and steps taken
by the government have resulted in
the significant growth of the hotel
industry in Haryana. In order to meet
the manpower need of the hotels in
Haryana, several institutes have
started offering various specialised
courses in hotel management. Some of
the well-known institutes are Institute
of Hotel Management Catering and
Nutrition in Panipat; Department of
Tourism and Hotel Management,
Kurukshetra University; North India
Institute of Hotel Management,
Panchkula; Vatel-Oberai and Oberoi in
Gurgaon; Food Craft institute,
Faridabad; and Allied Institute of
Hotel Management And Culinary Arts,
Panchkula.
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
A Masters in Business Administration
(MBA) attracts people from wide range
of academic disciplines. An MBA
programme prepares students for
assuming responsibility of
management in their career path in
business and other organisations.
In Haryana, CCS Haryana
Agricultural University, KU, MDU, GJU,
Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of
Science and Technology and many
other institutes and colleges, private as
well as government, affiliated to these
universities offer management courses.
There are 157 institutes of MBA in
Haryana (as in 2009-10) whereas there
were only 32 in 2004-05. The state will
soon have an Indian Institute of
Mangement which will make it
lucrative for students aspiring to
become managers. IIM is being
established by the Government of
India at Garnawati village in Rohtak.
Admissions are likely to be made in
temporary campus at Maharshi
Dayanand University, Rohtak, from
2010-11.
FASHION DESIGNING AND FILM
Four top institutes, big names in the
fashion, film and design industry, will
shortly set up shop in Rohtak. On the
lines of the National Institute of
Fashion Technology and National
Institute of Design in Ahmedabad,
there will come up a State Institute of
Fashion Technology and Design; a
Film and Television Institute like the
one at Pune; State Institute of Fine
Arts and a State Institute of
Professional Studies. The admissions
to these institutes are to be made from
2010-11.
The state government has
introduced several job-oriented
courses in some of the government
colleges in Haryana. These include
bachelor’s degree courses in tourism
management, information
management, computer applications
and library and information science,
to cite just a few. Then there are
courses in functional English, event
management, insurance, e-marketing,
data care management, disaster
management and audio video
broadcasting and live performance
among others. g
26
COVER STORY
Rapid strides
in technical
education
Hands-on experience
Today the state has 546 technical institutes as
against 146 five years ago
Aparna Pawar
n Haryana, technical education was
confined to major towns with limited
courses at ITIs and polytechnics.
Interested students had to travel 30 to 40
kilometres to get education. The change
started to come in 1994, when private
parties showed an interest in starting
technical institutes. However, till 1998 it
was a slow process. The expansion of
technical education gathered pace after
1998 as degree engineering colleges
started emerging in the state and then
an exponential phase came after 2005
when the diploma programmes started
and since the state has not looked back.
It has been producing skilled and
trained manpower by providing them
technical education.
Every year 4% rural population
migrates to urban areas following lack
of facilities. The Haryana government,
by opening new technical institutes
throughout the state, including villages,
is not only strengthening rural
infrastructure but also providing better
opportunities for the students of these
parts. When the Congress government
came into power in 2005, the situation
was totally opposite of what it is at
present. Today the state has 546
technical institutes with an intake of
1.12 lakh students whereas there were
only 146 institutes in 2004-05 with a total
intake of 24,154 students. This shows
the marvellous growth in institutes and
the number of students getting
technical education in the state.
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh
Hooda says, “We have been able to
achieve five-fold increase in technical
I
education institutes, which will
strengthen the youth of Haryana. When
I assumed office, the budget for
technical education was just Rs 29
crore. With this small amount the
growth of technical education was not
possible. We raised the budget and
achieved the target of producing skilled
and trained manpower. In fiscal 2009-10,
we have set Rs 157.9 crore which is five
times more than the budget in 2004-05.”
For the 11th Five Year Plan, the state
has set a target of capacity expansion
with an intake of 50,000 in diploma and
degree courses each. The state has been
able to achieve it before schedule. Today
for degree and postgraduate level
courses, the state has an intake of
63,035 students and for diploma courses
the intake is of 49,875 students. At
present, the state has 141 engineering
institutes, 157 MBA, 54 MCA, 32 B
Pharma, five hotel management, six B
Architecture and 151 polytechnics
which are training the youth.
Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal
says, “We are soon coming up with an
Indian Institute of Information
Technology (IIIT) and a Central
Institute of Plastic Engineering and
Technology (CIPET). For IIIT, land has
been identified at Kilord village in
Sonepat and CIEPT is being established
by the Centre on the campus of
Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of
Science and Technology, Murthal,
Sonepat.”
The state has strengthened some
institutes by giving them the status of
universities. Now these will become
important centres for teaching,
research and development in science
and technology. Guru Jambheshwar
University, Hisar, has been converted
into Guru Jambheshwar University of
Science and Technology with a view to
introducing more innovative and
research-oriented programmes. In 2006
the CR College of Engineering at
Murthal was upgraded to Deenbandhu
Chhotu Ram University of Science and
Technology and last year it was granted
the status of an affiliating university.
The YMCA Institute of Engineering at
Faridabad has also been upgraded to a
university in 2009 by an act and has
started functioning from December
2009. Now Haryana has three technical
universities functioning in the state.
M P Gupta, director, Haryana
Technical Education, says, “We have
granted academic autonomy to the
three most promising engineering
colleges in the state. These colleges are
NC College of Engineering at Israna in
Panipat, Institute of Technology and
Management at Sector 23, Gurgaon,
and Al Falah School of Engineering at
Dhauj in Faridabad. This step of
granting autonomy will allow these
institutes to introduce further
innovation in the academic
programmes to meet the needs of the
industry.”
In Haryana three deemed
universities have also been established
which cater to the need and demand of
COVER STORY
state-level job fair was arranged at
Government Polytechnic, Hisar, in
which 36 national and international
companies selected around 400 students
with the pay package ranging from Rs
7,000 to Rs 22,000 per month. This
enhancement in placements is because
of providing infrastructure, machinery,
equipment, computers, teachers and
improved teaching- learning process
and governance.
QUALITY IMPROVEMENT
technical education in the state. These
are MM University at Mullana in
Ambala, Manav Rachna International
University at Faridabad and Lingayat
University at Faridabad.
Besides, the government is
emphasising on polytechnic education
in the state. In 2004-05, there were 31
diploma institutes with an annual
intake of 7,179. In 2009-10, the number
of diploma institutes has increased to
151 with an annual intake of 49,875. In
the three-year diploma course, 28
diploma programmes are currently
being offered to students.
To provide greater autonomy and
stability in staff, four government
polytechnics at Nathusi Chota, Loharu,
Uttawar and Manesar have been
converted into societal mode. Till 2005
there were 15 government polytechnics
in the control of the Technical
Education Department; from 2006, 10
more polytechnics have been
established and the double shift has
been introduced in nine polytechnics.
With these steps and innovative
approach adopted by the government,
the results of the polytechnics have also
improved from 23% to 67%. With an
increase in results, the placement of
students, too, has increased. In March
2005 the placements of diploma-holders
were only 35-55% which has now
increased to nearly 95%. Recently, a
To add quality in technical education,
the department has taken a few steps.
Now for all the institutes, third-party
inter-se grading and quality
certification under the ISO has been
made mandatory. The institutes have
also asked for their accreditation to the
Government of India. The Technical
Education Department has passed a
student charter to all the institutes
which aims to set standards of services
expected by students and what
institutes can expect of students in
return. It addresses various issues like
admission and registration; teaching,
learning and academic guidance;
tutorial support; students’ academic
representation and evaluation;
academic services; health, safety and
security; personal development;
discipline; complaints, appeals and
grievance procedures and student
services. To check whether these steps
are carried out effectively, state
government committees have been
formed which conduct regular
inspections of the institutes.
SCHOLARSHIPS
Many scholarships are given to the
meritorious candidates to encourage
them further for technical education.
The government is giving scholarships
ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 1 lakh to
the toppers and for PhD researchers,
the state provides Rs 18,000 per month
which is highest among all other PhD
courses in the state.
In 2008-09, scholarships amounting to
Rs 2 crore have been given to 904
Haryana domicile toppers of each
branch in each institute admitted
through central counselling, and Rs 33
lakh has been distributed to 199
Kashmiri migrants. Similarly, in 200910, an amount of Rs 1.8 crore has been
given to 841 toppers of Haryana
domicile and Rs 32 lakh has been
distributed to 841 Kashmiri migrants.
From 2009, the state government has
27
decided to give a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh
to the candidates who rank first at the
all India level. Besides, the government
is also giving Rs 51,000 for the
candidates of Haryana securing top 10
positions in national examinations like
AIEEE, IIT, GATE and CAT.
SOCIAL WELFARE SCHEMES
The government has started many
schemes for different sections of the
state to push them for technical
education. Besides the Scheduled
Castes and physically handicapped
students, many schemes have been
started for girls, Kashmiri migrants
and minority Muslim students.
For encouraging girls in this field,
25% reservation has been made in
admissions. It has benefited 4,000 girl
students in 2008-09 and this year, the
intake due to this scheme has increased
to 5,200 students. The exemption of
tuition fees in government and
government-aided polytechnics has also
increased their participation from 16%
to 29%. To further motivate them, a
cash award of Rs 5,100 is given to every
girl topper. In this academic year, this
award has been given to 458 girl
toppers.
The facility of reimbursement of
tuition fees, pre-admission coaching,
and construction of 10 hostels for SC
students, led to an increase in the
enrolment of such students for
technical education. This year, the
technical institutes have enrolled 13,000
SC students whereas 3,000 students
enrolled themselves last year. Under the
tuition fee waiver scheme of the All
India Council of Technical Education,
5,900 students have benefited this year.
For the rural youth of the state who
are government school toppers, a seat
has been reserved in each institute. In
this, around 1,500 students have
benefited. Besides, for physically
handicapped students, 75 seats each
have been reserved in three
polytechnics, ie, BPS Mahila
Polytechnic, Khanpur; and Government
Polytechnics at Hisar and Sirsa.
Similarly, for Kashmiri migrants, one
seat is reserved in every institute.
Under this scheme, 1,800 Kashmiri
migrants have benefited.
Fifty per cent reservation has been
made in Government Polytechnic,
Uttawar, for minority Muslim students
of Mewat region. Moreover, the intake
for candidates of this region has been
increased from 265 to 600. g
28
COVER STORY
Dyal Singh College, Karnal:
Old ambience, modern studies
Complementing
govt effort
Centres of higher education in private sector
are coming up in the state as never before
Rakesh Chopra
he Haryana Private Universities
Act, 2006, is an act to provide for
establishment and incorporation of
private universities in the state of
Haryana for imparting higher
education and to regulate their
functions and for matters connected
therewith or incidental thereto.
It has been enacted to encourage
healthy competition, promote quality
T
education, attract private investment
in higher education and also promote
the establishment of institutions of
higher learning of international
standard.
The Act was formed with a view to
making provisions for research,
advancement and dissemination of
knowledge, creating higher levels of
intellectual abilities and creating
centres of excellence for research and
development.
The Act proposes to establish a
campus in Haryana and to have study
centres at different places within its
jurisdiction. It ensures that the
standard of degrees, diplomas and
certificates are not lower than that
laid down in the All India Council for
Technical Education, National Council
of Teacher Education, University
Grants Commission, Medical Council
of India and other similar agencies
established by the Centre.
The Act intends to open study
centres and off-campus centres within
and outside the state, with the prior
approval of the UGC and of the state
government concerned and open offshore campus in foreign countries
after obtaining due permission from
the UGC, Centre and also the
government of the host country.
The universities to be established
under the Act shall be self-financed
and shall not be entitled to receive any
grant or any other financial assistance
from the government or any board or
corporation owned or controlled by
the government. The sponsoring body
should be in possession of minimum
Dyal Singh College is the first choice
of 20 acres of land outside the
of the students among the six colleges
municipal limits or a minimum of 10
in the city.
acres of land within the municipal
Sharma says the college has a
limits to establish a private university.
placement cell in place and firms like
The sponsoring body has to establish
HCL, Wipro and TCS come calling to
an endowment fund with a minimum
enrol their students. The college
amount of Rs 3 crore as a security
students actively participate in
deposit and the income from this fund
cultural activities. In the zonal youth
shall be utilised for development of
festival held at Panipat recently the
infrastructure of the university.
college team was recommended for
There are two private universities
ghazal singing and choreography for
in the state – OP Jindal Global
the inter-zonal level. In the state-level
University, Sonepat, and ITM
science exhibition organised by the
Gurgaon. Two private universities
Higher Education Department at
have been issued Letters of Intent.
Rohtak, the college stood first.
They are Apeejay University, Gurgaon,
As far as professional education is
and Amity University, Gurgaon. Seven
concerned, so many private colleges
more applications are pending with
have come up in the state of late. One
the government. Among the private
such college is Panchkula Engineering
deemed universities is Maharishi
College, Mauli, Barwala. The college,
Markandeshwar University, Mullana.
started in 2008, offers a B Tech in
There were 36 private colleges in
computer science, mechanics,
1966 and the number has now
electronics and communication and IT.
increased manifold. These private
It is owned by Sarwan Gupta, who is
colleges in the state are run by their
also its chairman.
respective managements and are aided
Archana Zutshi, senior lecturer in
by the Haryana government. One such
communication, says the college
college is Dyal Singh College, Karnal.
boasts of a well-trained faculty, has a
It was started by the Dyal Singh Trust
well-stocked library besides offering
in 1949. Its sister concerns are The
scholarships to poor students. It has a
Tribune, the newspaper published
placement cell also which counsels
from Chandigarh, and the Dyal Singh
students about their future prospects.
Library in New Delhi.
The college also organises various
It is a multi-faculty college with
extra-curricular activities like
post graduation in English, political
technical paper presentation.
science, Hindi and chemistry. The M
Among the deemed universities,
Com and MA
Economics courses are
At a seminar
also proposed in the
near future.
Prof Sanjeev
Sharma of the Botany
Department says the
college gets 95% aid
from the government
through the Higher
Education Department,
and the other 5% is
managed by the college
management. He says
private colleges in the
state have better
products to show than
the government
colleges. He says that
among the professional
courses the college
offers are three-year
BCA course besides
bioinformatics and
biotechnology courses.
According to Sharma,
COVER STORY
29
Maharishi Markandeshwar University,
Mullana, is the first deemed university
in the state. It got the status of the
deemed university in June 2006 from
the Ministry of Human Resource
Development. An institute is declared
as a deemed university by the Centre
under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956.
The guidelines provide that the
institution should be engaged in
teaching programmes and research
which are innovative and of a very
high academic standard, capable of
further enriching the university
system, competent to undertake
application-oriented programmes in
emerging areas of knowledge, is in
existence for 10 years or more and
financially sound, and have also
created a corpus fund.
Many colleges which were earlier
affiliated to the Kurukshetra
University have now been affiliated to
this university. The university runs
several institutions offering
professional courses, including MDS,
BDS, BPT, Nursing, MCA, MBA, B
Tech, B Pharma and B Ed. Free soft
skill training is imparted to MBA
students in the university.
To conclude, the private colleges
and universities coming up under the
Private University Act will help the
state in scaling up its education
infrastructure to meet the rising
demand for expansion of higher
education. g
30
COVER STORY
A healthy sign
A renewed emphasis on medical education is
leading to better health care and research
Towards reaching breakthroughs in medical technology
Nishant Prabhakar
he present system of medical
education in India was introduced
by the British during the Second
World War when the allied forces faced
a shortage of doctors. The Medical
Council of India (MCI) was formed in
1934 and since then it controls all
medical education in India. All states
and universities or colleges that give
medical education are monitored and
inspected by the MCI every year. They
allow colleges or universities to grant
MBBS, MS, MD, BDS, MDS or any
graduate or PG degree or diploma
provided those colleges strictly adhere
to the standards set by the MCI.
Haryana in 2009 created a separate
Directorate of Medical Education and
Research situated in Chandigarh for
the expansion of medical, dental,
ayurvedic, homoeopathic and
paramedical education under its
administrative control. The
directorate is a regulating body for all
colleges and schools whether in
government or private sector domain.
T
The main functions of
the directorate are
formulation of policies
for encouraging quality
medical education,
administration and
control of all
government schools and colleges
relating to health education sector in
the state, regulation of examinations,
admission and fee structure in
government and private colleges and
schools, and arranging funds for
development of medical education and
encouraging investment in health
education through public private
partnership.
The directorate is also responsible
for mapping of human resource needs
in health and medical sector. It aims at
planning human resource
development according to the needs of
the state and initiating new schemes
for promoting health and medical
education. The directorate also
regulates and standardises medical
education through inspection and
reporting for medical and health
education colleges, schools and by
issuing them essentiality certificates.
In Haryana there are three medical
colleges with a total of 350 seats for
MBBS, 91 for MD/MS and 141 seats for
PG diploma courses. Out of these, one
is government medical college, PGIMS
Rohtak, and the other two are private.
Similarly, the state has nine dental
colleges with a total number of 760
seats for BDS and 58 seats for MDS
courses. Out of these nine dental
colleges, PGIMS Rohtak is the only
government dental college. In nursing,
there are 14 B Sc Nursing colleges
offering a total number of 620 seats for
B Sc Nursing and 190 PB B Sc seats.
Similarly, there are four ayurveda
colleges in Haryana offering a total of
260 seats in BAMS. Out of these only
one college is in government domain,
the rest are run by private
institutions. There are nine
physiotherapy colleges in the state and
all are run under private sector,
offering a total of 610 seats in BPT and
50 seats in MPT. There are also nine
MPHW (Multi Purpose
Health Worker) Male, 42
MPHW (Multi Purpose
Health Worker) Female
and 41 GNM (General
Nursing Midwife)
schools in the state.
With the coming of
the Congress
government in the state,
medical education is
being given due
emphasis which
previous regimes failed
to do. Now two
government medical colleges are being
established, one at Khanpur Kalan in
Sonepat which is the only women’s
medical college in the country. The
other government medical college is
being established at Nulhar village in
Mewat and another is proposed in
Karnal to be named after Kalpana
Chawla. The government has also
granted deemed university status to
the medical college at Mullana.
PT BD SHARMA UNIVERSITY OF
HEALTH SCIENCES, ROHTAK
Initially, the institution was started as
Medical College, Rohtak, with the first
batch of MBBS admitted to
Government Medical College, Patiala,
in 1960. The college was shifted to its
present location on January 26, 1962. It
was upgraded to Post Graduate
Institute of Medical Sciences in 1995.
The already existing Post Graduate
Institute of Medical Sciences was
incorporated as a constituent institute
of Pt B D Sharma University of
Health Sciences, Rohtak, after its
coming into existence on June 2, 2008
as a state university.
The university has 45 departments
and seven faculties. It administers the
Post Graduate Institute of Medical
Sciences which has been ranked 11th
nationally in 2009. The institute's
medical and health care set up
comprises a medical college, dental
college, College of Nursing, Regional
Cancer Centre, Super-specialty Centre,
Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, a
College of Pharmacy and a State
Institute of Mental Health Sciences
and a well-equipped state-of-the-art
1,600-bed hospital. Sixty-nine colleges
imparting education in various
streams of health education have been
affiliated with the university. The
institution has been selected for
upgradation to AIIMS-like institution
under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya
Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). Coveted
projects to set up Mother and Child
Hospital, Trauma Centre and a
modern OPD block are underway. The
institute has recently added to its
academic convoy a Department of
Biotechnology and Molecular
Medicine to provide education and
services in translational and
molecular medicine. A yoga centre, a
pharmaceutical and herbal garden
and a modern orthopaedic teaching
lab have recently been established.
The university provides a rich and
conducive environment for academic
and clinical learning. To promote
research, it is all set to establish a
research and innovation cell. The
university encourages its faculty for
purposeful teaching, scholarly and
creative work, innovation as well as
spread of light of new knowledge in
medical sciences and technologies.
As an inclusive institution, the
university is committed to providing
equal opportunities to the aspirants
of knowledge belonging to the
underprivileged communities.
The university also aims at
establishing more meaningful
collaborations with premier
institutions in the country and
abroad though its university
knowledge seminar activity. All the
authorities and councils/committees
COVER STORY
to take care of various executive,
administrative, academic functions of
the university have been set up and
ordinances and calendars of the
university have been published.
RESEARCH
For research the Pt BD Sharma
University of Health Sciences, Rohtak,
has ample of clinical material and
multitude of exposures for its doctors
in a clinical setting. The university is
doing pioneering work in cancer
treatment, with high-tech diagnostic
as well as latest radiation therapy
units in this part of the country.
The university has come up as a
major centre for orthopaedics where it
has one of the best and high-tech lab
and teaching facilities which are
certified by the AO Foundation. The
Department of Biochemistry is doing
some of the pioneering research on
anti-cancer effect of curcumin, an
ingredient of turmeric. They are also
developing hypolipidemic effect of
wheat grass which can be used in
identifying development of
thalassemia in pregnant women. This
will help in identification of
thalassemia at a pre-natal stage. The
wheat grass can also be used in
identifying the levels of pesticides in
tissues and bones and its effect on the
health.
Giving impetus to molecular
research and biotechnology, the
Department of Biotechnology and
Molecular Medicine are all set to
organise the First Winter School of
Molecular Medicine on the theme
‘Gene to Disease’ from February 8-28.
All ears at an
orthopaedics class
31
Fifteen selected health sciences
undergraduates will participate in the
winter school activity. This is a
multicentre scientific activity which
will be convened with support from
seven premier participating
institutions located in the national
capital region. The winter school will
comprise lectures, hands-on training
and didactic sessions. Whereas most
of the experimental sessions will be
held at Rohtak with the help of the
instructional faculty from the
participating institutions, exposure
tours to the trainee students have
been planned to the International
Centre for Genetic Engineering and
Biotechnology, National Institute of
Immunology, National Brain Research
Centre, Schools of Biotechnology and
Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, University of Delhi (South
Campus), Institute of Nuclear
Medicine and Allied Sciences and All
India Institute of Medical Sciences,
New Delhi.
But despite these initiatives there
is a long way to go for University of
Health Sciences, Rohtak. Barring a
few departments, the research
attitude is lacking because of
burdened teaching job and fund
crunch faced due to bureaucratic
hurdles. With Vice-Chancellor Dr S S
Sangwan at the helm of affairs, the
future looks bright as he is bringing
innovative changes in the mindset of
the faculty to go for research. He is
also streamlining the finances so that
the research gets its valid impetus
with backing of high-tech state-of-theart laboratories. g
32
COVER STORY
Engineering
success
Research in various branches of engineering
augurs well for the state
Aparna Pawar
n the field of research Haryana is not
behind now. Much research is being
carried out in the state in computer
science, information technology,
engineering, bio-technology, electrical
communication and instrumentation
engineering. The university scholars of
the state are exploring new techniques
and studies. Along with this the
Electronics and IT department are
adding new flavours in this era of
technology by developing software.
I
DEENBANDHU CHHOTU RAM
UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE
This newly-constructed university of
science and technology at Murthal is
carrying out research in different fields
of engineering. The Department of
Electronics and Communication
Engineering are at present working on
many research areas like cognitive
systems for image processing, energy
efficient routing in ad hoc network,
intelligent techniques in signal
processing, realisation of small size IIR
filter in SAW filter and disease
diagonosis using ultrasonographic
image.
Similarly, in the department of
electrical engineering, studies like
investigation on DSTATCOM
application for low voltage distribution
system, power electronics and FACTS
devices for voltage profile improvement
of a network in power systems, load
frequency control under deregulated
environment and optimal location of
FACTS devices in power system using
AI tools are under progress. Whereas
in mechanical engineering department,
studies like design of self-adjustable
security technique for video
transmission, and performance
evaluation and selection of some
operating systems in process industries
are under study.
In computer science and
engineering, scholars are researching
on the design of self-adjustable security
technique for video transmission;
intelligent, secure and scalable system
for heterogeneous wireless networks
and also doing a comparative study of
information hiding for secure
communication and copyright
protection.
GURU JAMBHESHWAR UNIVERSITY
In another university of science and
technology, many researches are under
progress. Many studies are being
carried out on multicarrier CDMA in
wireless mobile communication,
performance-oriented faults testing in
electronics circuits, design for
reliability (DfR) techniques in high
performance electronic circuits,
multichannel acoustic echo
cancellation, ICT in service sector,
knowledge mining for tandem repeat
patterns from biological data,
information protection and analysis,
design of efficient protocol for traffic
management in mobile ad hoc network,
unified evolutionary approach for
discovery of interesting decision rules,
and many others studies.
KURUKSHETRA UNIVERSITY
The researches in engineering fields
are also going well in Kurukshetra
University. The University Institute of
Engineering and Technology is
undertaking studies and researches in
electrical communication engineering,
biotechnology, computer science and
engineering and mechanical
engineering. In electrical
communication engineering some
researches are being carried out on
semiconductor devices and circuits,
VLSI/MEMS technology, thin films
sensor technology and
No more the preserve of men
nano-technology.
Similarly, in computer science and
engineering, researches in mobile ad
hoc networks, wireless sensor network
and vehicular ad hoc network are in
progress. And in biotechnology, studies
are carried out in the areas of animal
cell culture, molecular virology,
diagnostic techniques, industrial
biotechnology, plant molecular biology
and plant tissue culture.
The Institute of Instrumentation
Engineering is also working in many
areas of VLSI design and fabrication,
landslides’ network for instrumental
data collection, remote sensing
applications in atmospheric sciences,
sensitivity of high resolution GCMs on
local scale, boundary layer
parameterisation and simulation, fault
tolerant systems, reliability issues in
nanotechnology, process modelling,
automation and control, process
control instrumentation (PLC, DCS and
SCADA), polymeric sensors and
actuators, materials’ development for
micro sensors and actuators.
Besides, studies are also conducted
on materials for sensors’ fabrication in
instrumentation, applications of
seasonal weather forecasting, data
assimilation techniques, networks and
capacity-related issues, numerical
modelling of coastal ocean dynamics
and ocean modelling, estuarine-bay
coupled modelling, pollutant transport
dynamics, assimilation of satellite
derived data in ocean models,
development of user-friendly
interactive mode software, biomedical
instrumentation, robust control and its
applications, control instrumentation
and fuzzy control.
MAHARSHI DAYANAND UNIVERSITY
The Rohtak University is also in the
race of finding new studies. In various
streams of engineering, many studies
are being carried out on topics such as
reactive power management using
FACTS controllers, automation of
electric power distribution and load
management, enhancement of power
quality using active filters, reliability
and safety of robotic systems, finite
element model to elucidate the human
digestive system, reliability modelling
of some technological system, study of
MIMO-OFDM wireless systems, study
of small scale fading and multipath
effects in the mobile radio channels
and experimental investigation on
optimisation of the blends of
transesterified vegetable oil as a fuel
for CI engines.
With these studies many other
studies are also in action on the topics
of computer-aided diagnosis of
malignancy in brain tumour and breast
cancer, fuzzy functional dependencies
in temporal data bases, studies on
functional and comfort properties of
polyester-blended fabrics, quality
aspects of filter fabrics for dust control,
design of a hidden web, crawler-based
search engine, design of Always an
Alternate Route Available Protocol
(AARAP) for MANET, a system-based
integrated approach to assess and
quantify the web quality, investigation
and process optimisation for different
machining characteristics during die
cutting with wire EDM, a novel model
for evaluating effectiveness of
manufacturing systems by deployment
of MADM techniques, development of
COVER STORY
advanced manufacturing system
according to Indian industrial
environment, mobile agent based
scalable and responsive architecture
for telecommunication network
management system, development of
conceptualisation-based indexing
scheme for semantic web search
engine, and investigation and
improvement on power factor
correction techniques for convertors.
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & IT
In the state, besides researches in
engineering, many other developments
in the field of software are also taking
place on the basis of which the state is
moving towards advancement of new
technologies. The State IT department
with NIC-HRSC and Hartron are
facilitating the line departments and
assisting them on all technical aspects
by developing software.
With the developed software they
are helping the state in spreading
information and communication
technology awareness and usage across
the entire state. Along with this, they
are bringing transparency and
accountability in delivery of citizen
services and raising image of Haryana
in e-governance at the national and
international level.
For integrated e-governance
infrastructure, it has developed
informatics centres and 24X7 bases
data centres; multiple sites videoconferencing facility; statewide area
network and NICNET has been
established across Haryana, connecting
all district informatics centres with
NIC-Haryana State Data Centre. It is
implementing Common Service Centre
33
Scheme for establishing and operating
e-disha ekal seva kendras for the
dissemination of various services to
citizens.
The state has been able to achieve
on-line treasuries information system
at treasuries and sub-treasuries. The
Haryana registration information
system for registration of properties
and land has been implemented at all
tehsils and sub-tehsils.
Under the mission mode projects,
functions like information of land
records; panchayats works;
management, assessment and
collection of commercial taxes;
municipalities’ work like house tax
assessment and collection and issuing
of birth, death and other certificates
has been achieved. In the transport
department, issuance of computerised
driving licence using Sarathi and
registration certificate of vehicles
using Vahan software are being
implemented at 46 RTA offices. In
agricultural sector also, all 106 mandis
and 25 sub-centres of the Agriculture
Marketing Board have been facilitated
to disseminate prices of agriculture
commodities on daily basis. It has also
developed a software package for
facilitating the police working. Besides,
more such software has been developed
to facilitate employment exchange and
e-district projects.
The department is also working on
other priority projects like e-health and
the net project in which a suit of
software packages like monitoring the
prevention of food adultration, medical
certification of cause of death,
processing of bed occupancy and
mortality rate and DOTS for
eradication of TB disease are being
developed and implemented. In
technical education, Haryana is the
first state in India to implement on-line
off-campus counselling project for all
engineering admissions and on-line
paperless entrance exam system for
admission to professional institutes.
Besides, these projects have been
implemented and relate to information
and on-line inquiry of the Haryana
School Education Board, Social
Welfare, Food and Civil Supplies, PWD,
Finance Department, Planning
Department, Tourism, General
Elections, RTI Act, 2005, Informatics
Project, Chief Minister’s Office
Informatics, Haryana Lokayukta and
Other High Priority Offices’ eGovernance Projects. g
34
COVER STORY
Facts tell a tale
Number and intake capacity of technical and professional institutes in 2005-06 and 2009-10
Courses
BE
MBA
MCA
B Pharma
B Hotel Management
and Catering Technology
B Architecture
Diploma
Total
Institutions
40
32
28
16
2005-06
Intake
14,095
2,095
1,515
945
2009-10
Institutions
Intake
141
44,705
157
12,605
54
3,240
32
1,905
1
1
43
161
60
30
8,480
27,220
5
6
151
546
300
280
49,875
1,12,910
Educational statistics of higher education as on September 30, 2009
Type of institution
Government colleges
Non-govt aided colleges
Non-govt unaided colleges
Self-financed B Ed colleges
MDU, Rohtak
KU, Kurukshetra
BPSMV, Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat
Ch Devi Lal University, Sirsa
Total
Total enrolment
Boys
Girls
56,272
33,826
89,037
40,494
53,123
46,385
19,487
35,183
3,401
2,293
3,353
3,028
3,557
1,926
1,210
2,26,599
1,65,976
SC enrolment
Boys
Girls
6,366
4,401
11,997
5,799
4,538
4,284
1,486
2,165
504
235
805
380
283
268
103
25,964
17,650
COVER STORY
35
Budget allocated for higher, technical and medical education
Budget (Rs in crore)
2009-10
2008-09
2007-08
2006-07
2005-06
Higher education
Technical education
Medical education
229
158
75
177
159
54
216
120
58
65
90
30
40
50
26
No of institutions as on 2005-06 and 2009-10
2005-06
5
60
161
Universities
Private universities
No of government colleges
Technical institutions
2009-10
9
2
75
546
Population and percentage population of 20-29 years age group according to Census
1991, 2001 and projected 2011.
Men
Women
Total
Census 1991
Pop of
20-29 yrs %
14,98,054 17
13,65,035 18
28,63,089 17
Total pop
88,27,474
76,36,174
1,64,63,648
Census 2001
Pop of
20-29 yrs % Total pop
19,87,007 17
1,13,63,953
17,03,442 17
97,80,611
36,90,449 17 2,11,44,564
Projected 2011
Pop. of
20-29 yrs %
Total pop
26,35,550 18
1,46,29,262
21,25,744 17
1,25,27,262
47,56,895 18 2,71,56,350
36
COVER STORY
Vox populi
To know what is happening in higher education in Haryana, we talked to a cross-section
of people. Here is what they say.
Charu, a PhD student in agriculture from Hisar, says, “Studying at the Agriculture
University at Hisar has been an exciting experience. Apart from regular curriculum, the
teachers encourage us to do research. I am doing research on the identification of male
and female sex on date palm. This has been my subject of research since my
graduation days here.”
Anurag Ranga, a second year MBBS student from Rewari, says, “I want to do
research in molecular medicine as it will benefit clinical medicine and is also the
new frontier for high-tech research. I am working on the role of Crips 3 Gene in
ostiosarchoma commonly known as bone cancer.”
Jitender Rohila, a PhD student from Sonepat, comments, “I am working on ways to
improve the nutritional quality of rice as a food grain. We have good infrastructure for
research but when we face long-duration power cuts, our research work gets affected.
This is because the instrument and temperature control units are rendered useless.”
Shubra Jain from Agra, a second year BDS student at the dental college, Rohtak,
says, “In the forthcoming winter school conducted by the Department of Biotechnology
and Molecular Medicine in February end, I am going to learn basic techniques of
biotechnology, which include DNA extracting PCR techniques. This will give me the
basic understanding which will help me in pursuing my research after completing my
BDS.”
Sushant Sharma, third year student of BAMC from Panchkula, is of the view, “I am
doing a bachelor’s in mass communication from Government College, Panchkula, which
has a good lab and faculty which inspires us to work hard. The mix of classroom study
and field assignments makes our foundation stronger. Such a course is not available in
undergraduate courses of Panjab University.”
Vinit Kapoor, resident of Sadhaura studying BA Mass Communication in Panchkula,
says, “The course run in the college is one of the best in the state. I have already learnt
about photography and camera-handling. I aspire to become a photojournalist and
polish my skills further by joining FTII, Pune.”
COVER STORY
37
Dr R S Khanchi, principal, Dyal Singh College, Karnal, opines, “The youth must aim
high and devote themselves to fulfil their aims. Sincere efforts never go futile. Honesty
and truthfulness cultivated during youth become permanent part of one’s personality.”
Dr S S Sangwan, Vice-Chancellor of Pt BD Sharma University of Health
Sciences, Rohtak, says, “The university has the best faculty and a vast experience
in teaching. We are further focusing on research and aim at introducing new
courses which are related to frontier science incorporating bio-technology,
molecular sciences and stem cell research which has wide implications for
medicine.”
Dr Krishan Singh Khokhar, Vice-Chancellor, CCS Haryana Agricultural University,
says, “In the university, we have a curriculum which focuses on academics and helps in
developing the research mindset amongst students. Of late, we have been focusing on
quality rather than quantity as far as research in new crop varieties is concerned.”
Raghuvendra Tanwar, Registrar, Kurukshetra University, says, “It is the mother
university whose extension centres at Rohtak, Hisar and Sirsa have now been
developed into full-fledged universities. It is a flourishing university and is a reasonably
good research centre. The vibrant varsity has been given the Grade A by the NAAC
and it has been judged at par with the Panjab University. It is also committed to
preserving the culture of Haryana. In sports also, KU has been adjudged the third best
in the country. It is attracting a lot of girls for higher studies.
Ram Viranjan, Chairman, Department of Fine Arts, Kurukshetra University, avers,
“Our department has been functioning since 1995. It offers four-year Bachelor of Fine
Arts, two-year Masters of Fine Arts, and two-year MA in Fine Arts besides a doctorate.
Among the subjects taught are painting, sculpture and applied arts. However, Haryana
lacks a place for artists as in most of the cases our students have to move out of the
state to get jobs. Also the schools in the state do not offer fine arts as a subject.”
Priyanka Gupta, an M Pharma final year student at Kurukshetra University, hailing
from Ambala, says, “I opted for the masters as the starting salary I would have got after
doing my bachelors would not have been substantial. And then these are recession
times. I might even opt for a PhD after this.”
Compiled by Rakesh Chopra and Nishant Prabhakar
38
IN LIMELIGHT
Armed with
distinction
A Haryana village rejoices in the
achievement of its son
Ruchi Sharma
apoura village in Bhiwani has a
tradition of sending its sons to
the armed forces. Air Marshall
Prithi Singh hailed from the village
and of late Sonika Singh of the
village joined the Air Force. And now
Lt Gen Vijay Kumar Singh has
brought honours to the village as he
has been announced as the next
Army chief.
The villagers celebrated the
occasion with the beating of drums
and distribution of sweets. A son of
the soil, Lt Gen Singh will lead the
1.3-million-strong Indian Army after
Gen Deepak Kapoor, the first Army
chief from Haryana, retires. “I am
grateful for the honour and
responsibility bestowed on me,”
B
reads a statement issued on behalf of
Lt Gen Singh. It quoted him as
saying that he would endeavour to
lead the brave men while keeping up
with the best traditions of the Army.
The villagers have planned a grand
reception on his visit to Bapoura.
Generations of his family have
served in the Army. With his
elevation as the Army chief, he has
taken the family tradition to new
heights. His grandfather Mukh Ram
fought in World War I and rose to the
rank of Risaldar Major. He had six
sons – Col Jagat Singh, father of Lt
Gen V K Singh; Risaldar Major
Banoo Singh; Dafedar Ramkanwar
Singh; Lt Devi Singh; Capt Ranjeet
Singh and Ramchander Singh – and
all served in the Army. Vijay is the
youngest of Jagat Singh’s three sons.
Lt Gen V K Singh's four cousins –
Hon Capt Krishan Pal Singh,
Subedar Major Dharam Singh, Naib
Subedar Baljeet Singh and Hari
Singh – were also armymen. He has
two daughters. The elder daughter is
married to an Army officer while the
younger works in the corporate
sector.
When he was born in May 1951,
his house in the village was a kuccha
structure which has recently been
renovated. He entered the National
Defence Academy in 1966 after
completing schooling from Birla
Public School, Pilani. He passed out
of the Indian Military Academy,
Dehra Dun, where he also bagged the
gold medal.
Lt Gen V K Singh was
commissioned in the Rajput
Regiment on June 14, 1970. In his
long and distinguished career of
nearly 40 years, he has been in
Command, Staff and Instructional
appointments. He participated in the
1971 operations against Pakistan and
the Indian Peace Keeping Force
operations in Sri Lanka in 1988. He is
currently the Eastern Army
Commander. Prior to that, he
commanded a corps in the western
sector. He is the recipient of the
Param Vashisht Seva Medal, Ati
Vashisht Seva Medal and Yuddh Seva
Medal awards. He is also one of the
honorary ADCs of the President of
India.
Besides being an honours
graduate of the US Army Infantry
School, Georgia, Lt Gen Singh
studied at the Defence Services Staff
College, the Army War College and
the US Army War College, Carlisle.
His friend Santosh Singh who
attended the same school remembers
him as fearless and brave. "He was an
excellent student and always topped
the class." Another childhood friend,
Uday Singh, recalls the gentleman as
affable and cut out for the Army. He
has not forgotten his roots and
whenever he visits the village he
interacts with the locals, he adds.
To shower blessings on Lt Gen V K
Singh, the villagers have planned to
send a panchayat to Delhi before
Vijay Kumar Singh receives the
baton from Gen Deepak Kapoor on
March 31. Another Diwali in the
village is around the corner as its
favourite son takes charge of the
Indian Army. g
SUCCESS STORIES
39
YOUNG BOY GETS BRAVERY AWARD
ifteen-year-old Gaurav Saini of
Tohana village in Fatehabad has
recently received the national
bravery award. He showed exemplary
courage and saved many people in
the Nandadevi stampede.
A student of Class IX of Saraswati
Vidya Mandir School, Fatehabad,
Gaurav got inspired by the tales of
bravery told by his teachers in
school.
Gaurav was at the site among the
thousands of devotees when a
rumour of landslide triggered a
stampede there on August 3, 2008. In
the stampede, hundreds of devotees,
including children and women, fell
down and died. Seeing some women
and children crying for help, he
carried them to a safe place.
F
Gaurav Saini
He says, “The security men and
officials of the local administration
thanked me for saving 50 to 60 people.
They sent my name for the award to
the authorities concerned. There was
no limit to my happiness when my
father received a letter from the
Defence Ministry for the bravery
award. But I cannot forget my elder
sister who died in the stampede.”
Gaurav says, “I will try to become
a soldier after completing my studies
because that will help me serve the
country better. The award means a lot
to me. I had never thought that I
would be able to meet the President,
Prime Minister, Governor, Chief
Minister and other dignitaries. But
my act of bravery has brought
me here.”
IIT TOPPER PURSUES HIS DREAM
Arun Kumar with space scientist J J Rawal. Pic courtesy The Tribune
any people dream but only a few
fulfil them. Arun Kumar, an IIT
topper, gave up the Rs 22 lakh package
to pursue his dream to popularise
space science and robotics and to set
up an infrastructure for further
studies and research in his country.
M
His mission has taken wings in
Haryana too.
Arun Kumar, hailing from an
ordinary family of Jamshedpur, is
armed with B Tech and M Tech
degrees from the IIT and CIT,
California. His journey to fulfil his
dream began with the day he got
selected in the IIT Kharagpur in 2003.
After completing his B Tech, he went
ahead to complete his masters from
California while working with one of
the MNCs there. The passionate Arun
always dreamt to do something
different. He said, “I wanted to do
something different and perhaps the
best thing was to provide awareness
and training in the new fields of space
science and robotics in the country
and do away the misconceptions
surrounding such topics with industry
and research as my passion.”
“The main motive of my
organisation is to provide
infrastructure and education in the
field that includes setting up of
planetariums and robotics labs. The
total cost for setting up of this
infrastructure is around Rs 3.5 to 5
lakh,” he said. So far he has set up
mini-planetariums in at least six
schools of the region. One of such
schools has been located at Ambala.
He has recently purchased land in
Solan district for setting up an
engineering college to teach space
science and robotics. At present, he is
engaged in a special training course
on his favourite subjects of space
science and robotics in a couple of
private schools.
40
ART AND CULTURE
Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sharda Rathore
at the exihibition
Connecting
cultures
Four-day Haryana Contemporary Art
Exhibition was a treat to watch
Suresh Yadav
o promote all forms of art and
culture and to encourage young
artists in Haryana, the Haryana
Institute of Fine Arts and
Department of Information, Public
Relations and Cultural Affairs jointly
organised a four-day Haryana
Contemporary Art Exhibition at
Punjab Arts Council, Chandigarh,
recently.
The art exhibition brought
together works by both seasoned and
young artists. Awarded as the best
entries, pieces such as Dinesh Gaur’s
Railscape 12 (photograph), Nutan
Dhiman’s 24 Hours (etching and
aquatint) and Ram Partap Verma’s
T
untitled (acrylic and oil on canvas)
stood out. While Railscape finds
meaning in a freshly-painted part of
a train, 24 Hours looks at minds that
are at work, which was aptly
complemented by another of his
works.
Also part of the event was an
exhibition of archaic collections by
Haryana Rajya Parantiya Gurukal
Sangrhalaya, Jhajjar. The exhibit was
worth seeing with excavated works
from across Haryana that have been
collected by Vrijananda Devkarni,
director of the museum.
There were ornaments and hidesign tools in bronze. Also, there
was a 10th century Buddha statue
that was excavated from Sanghi
village. Devkarni said he and his
guru had collected these antiques for
decades. Along with exhibition of
painting and archaic collections here,
classical music was also presented by
various renowned artistes.
At the first day of the programme,
eminent Dhrupad exponent Ustad
Fayaj Wasifuddin Dagar presented
Raga Puria in teen tala, which was
applauded by the audience. After
him, teenager Gurpreet Kaur
presented raga Vanaspati in vilambiti
teen tala. Her magnificent
presentation was well received. On
second day, Rimpa Shiva, the young
tabla player from Kolkata, presented
a solo performance. Also, Padmashri
Oddissi dancer Madhavi Moudgil
mesmerised the audience by her
lively presentation. On the last day of
the programme, Ustad Munnawar
Hussain of Bhopal presented
quawalis.
Chief Parliamentary Secretary
Sharda Rathore inaugurated the
programme. On this occasion, she
said an art council would soon be set
up in Haryana. She said the council
would provide a platform for young
artists where they could showcase
their work and start their career
without any problem. She said a new
museum would be set up in Haryana
to preserve its great heritage and
people would come to know more
about Haryana’s past glory. She said
Haryanvi culture and civilisation
had been prosperous and that under
the dynamic leadership of Chief
Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda the
government had taken a significant
decision to preserve art and culture.
Five prizes of Rs 51,000 each had
been proposed for encouraging young
artists in the state.
Rathore said there is no shortage
of talent in Haryana. The only need
is to find them and polish them. She
said Haryana is the land of
renowned Urdu poet Hali and Dag,
film actor Sunil Dutt, cricketer Kapil
Dev and astronaut Kalpana Chawla.
She said that by aping the West we
were losing our values and a country
which lost its culture would lose
everything. She lauded the
endeavours of Haryana Institue of
Fine Arts and extended her good
wishes to HIFA and hoped the
colourful cultural voyage would
continue. g
The writer is PRO, DIPR, Haryana
PHOTO FEATURE
41
Crafting success
A portal to
craftsmanship
Declaring the mela open: Vice-President Hamid Ansari inaugurates the
festival. Governor Jagannath Pahahdia, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh
Hooda, Union Minister for Tourism Kumari Selja and Rajasthan Chief
Minister Ashok Gehlot were also present
The recent
Surajkund Mela
in Haryana was
a big draw as it
attracted people
in droves.
People from all
walks of life
visited the fair
and returned
impressed
42
PHOTO FEATURE
Faith in craft
Visitors from abroad
Transporting one to
Rajasthan
PHOTO FEATURE
Something for shopaholics
Displaying their wares
43
44
TOURISM
In harmony with nature
Farm tourism offers leisure and weekend breaks in natural
surroundings
Ruchi Sharma
What is this life if full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
W H Davis
ecall the time when you last ran
after chickens, breathed the fresh
air of green fields, observed serenity
in nature, listened to the music in
brooks and played on bullock carts.
You can do that again if you are
young or still young at heart. Haryana
Tourism offers a slice of rural life
which can be experienced by its
domestic and foreign tourists.
One may be used to living in an
artificial environment but one finds a
worthwhile experience on returning
to one’s roots. Haryana, the pioneer in
highway tourism, is also the first state
to introduce farm tourism in India. Its
greener side and idyllic spots beckon
one and all to holiday.
Milking a cow, ploughing a field,
travelling in a bullock cart, taking a
dip in a pond, comfortable stay in
serene environment and fresh food of
farm revives the rural lifestyle. Farm
tourism, a public-private partnership
initiative, involves 23 farmhouses
close to Delhi. The Tourism
Department in association with
dozens of farm owners offers special
holiday packages in chosen farms
where farm owners provide boarding
and lodging facilities to tourists. One
can enjoy holidays in the farms
located in Faridabad, Gurgaon,
Rohtak and Karnal districts.
The Surjivan farm at Gurgaon is 50
km from Delhi. It includes nature
living, nature food, nature cure and
nature farming. Surrounded by lush
green plants, a stay in ethnic huts
gives one a heady taste of rustic life.
Organically grown grains, pulses,
oilseeds and vegetables, cooked in
earthen pots, have a delicious taste.
The Botanix nature farm is just half
an hour away from Gurgao, within
walking distance of the biggest lake
in the region. It is a complete nature
R
In the lap of nature
Warm hospitality
destination for children where they
can learn about our roots and
traditions and can discover various
kinds of flora and fauna. An hour’s
drive from Delhi, Golden Creeper is
situated 12 km from Gurgaon. It offers
an escape from hectic urban life to
tranquil natural bounties. It has raw
earthy elegance, and fully irrigated
and vast fields which soothe the body
and mind. Apart from tractor, camel
and bullock rides, one can also enjoy
games like sand volleyball, table
tennis, baseball, tug-of-war, tambola
and gilli danda.
Located near Sultanpur Bird
Sanctuary in Gurgaon, Golden Dunes
Retreat in an expanse of a natural
valley is an idyllic location for a lively
getaway. Herambh Aushadh at
Kanwarsika village, near Sohna in
Gurgaon, lends an ideal opportunity
of learning about ayurveda and
enjoying modern adventure activities.
The Sohna Tourist Complex with
sulphur baths makes it a lovely place
to enjoy and relax. Kalki Mystic is
located near Sultanpur Lake Tourist
Complex in Gurgaon. One can travel
short distances to open fields, and
poultry and stud farms, and
experience the joy of rural ambience,
bonfire, folk dance and puppet show.
Beautifully landscaped, the Great
Escape is 42 km from Delhi at Garhi
Hasru village in Gurgaon. Its
charming ethnic look transports one
to a carefree life. It offers bonfire, kite
flying and rides on tractor, camel and
bullock cart. Anugrah Vatika is
located at Binola village near
Gurgaon. Its all-round greenery gives
visitors a breath of fresh air. Villages
surrounding it take us back to the
heart of rural experience and tourists
can see mushroom and bee farming.
Spread over 10 acres of land, Banni
Khera farm in Rohtak has been
designed keeping Vaastu Shastra in
mind. Farming is a year-round
occupation with a variety of activities
taking place. Visitors are welcome to
explore the haveli at Banni Khera
farms and fields. Prakriti Farm is a
splendid retreat with green field
surroundings. The farm is located in
Faridabad. Large fields and fruit
orchards lend the farm a rustic
charm.
The Progressive Farm in Faridabad
opens a different world as it abounds
in flowers and chirping birds. At
Sheilma Farms in Faridabad, a pool
and swings for children make it an
ideal place for a family holiday.
Workshops on painting, art and craft
are its special attraction. The YMCA
Rural Centre is located on the
outskirts of Hodal in Faridabad. It
imparts technical know-how of
modern farming techniques and
creates awareness to improve the
health status of the community.
TOURISM
45
Time to relax
Something for kids too
Nature Care Farms in Hisar has an
eco-system concept of agriculture
(biodiversity) which includes herbal
farming, organic farming, vermicompost unit, orchard and vegetable
garden, bee keeping, stud farm, dairy
farming, poultry, agro-forestry, aqua
culture (farm fresh prawns), including
wildlife. Visitors can play traditional
games like stappu, dangal, tug-of-war,
gilli danda, kho-kho, chaupad and
marbles.
Hi-bred Farm in Karnal has a
commercial poultry operation with
large hatchery apart from the charm
of traditional village experience. The
village farm house is situated at
Goripur village at Shahabad
Markanda. It is spread over 100 acres
and is ideal for quiet walks to
rejuvenate the soul. The Roots Farm
Retreat at Naraingarh in Ambala
surrounded with organic agriculture
offers visitors a stay in dormitories
or tents. The Emerald Greens
Orchards is 20 km from Chandigarh at
Dab Kori village in Panchkula. Allround greenery and fruit trees add
to the scenic beauty of the place.
A travel through its surrounding
villages gives one a rural
experience. g
46
SPORTS
Sporting
juggernaut rolls on
Haryana is already a force to reckon with as far as roller skating is concerned
Saurabh Duggal
ame any sport and you see
Haryana players having made a
name for themselves. Be it boxing,
wrestling, judo, athletics or any other
Olympic sport, the sportspersons from
the state have a decent contribution in
the country’s overall performance at
the international level. But it’s not that
the state is doing exceptionally well
only in the Olympics disciplines, they
are also dominating the non-Olympics
sports. Roller skating is one of them.
For the last couple of years, the
Haryana skaters have completely
dominated the national scene. And
numerous players have got the honour
of donning national colours in various
international events, including Asian
and World Championships. It’s almost
a decade that no Indian roller hockey
team (men and women) has left the
Indian shores without Haryana players
in its ranks.
“The state skaters are doing well,
especially in roller hockey. We have
been winning the senior women's
N
national gold for the last 10 years and
lifting the overall roller hockey trophy
for the last seven years," says T C
Gupta, president, Haryana Roller
Skating Association (HRSA).
In Haryana, roller skating is one of
the fastest growing sports. “The state
government is treating skating at par
with the Olympics sports. The skaters
are getting the same facilities,
“The state government
is treating skating at
par with the Olympics
sports. This is one
major factor in itself,
which is a driving force
behind the success of
Haryana skaters in the
state and country,"
says T C Gupta,
president, HRSA
including scholarships and cash
awards, which the players of the
Olympics disciplines are getting. This
is one major factor in itself, which is a
driving force behind the success of
Haryana skaters in the state and
country," says Gupta.
CURRENT SCENARIO
Last month, Indian roller hockey
contingent won a gold and a bronze in
the Asian Inline and Roller Hockey
Championship held at Dalian, China.
The women’s team bagged the gold and
the men returned home with the
bronze.
In the women’s section, the entire 10member gold winning squad was from
the state. This is a record of sorts. In
the men’s section, four – Amit Ahuja,
Varun Sarain, Dhruv Gautam and
Manpreet Singh Randhawa, all from
Faridabad – out of the 10-member team,
were from the state. Moreover, the chief
coach of the men’s team, John David,
also hails from the state. He works with
the Haryana Sports Department and is
currently posted as a skating coach in
Faridabad.
The inline hockey competition,
where India were competing for the
second-ever time, also had a decent
contribution from the state. Out of the
16-member squad, four – Amit Sharma
(Rohtak), Surinder Pal Singh Sodhi
(Panipat), Prabhjot Singh
(Kurukshetra) and Mohit Yadav
(Gurgaon) – were from the state.
In the 46th National Roller Hockey
Championship held in Chandigarh last
year, the state lifted the overall trophy.
In the speed skating national hosted in
Faridabad last year, the state skaters
won three gold, five silver and three
bronze medals.
Immediately after the championship,
Sarban Singh, Financial Commissioner
and Principal Secretary, Haryana
Sports Department, announced the
prize money for skaters. A sum of Rs
31,000 each to 40 skaters who were part
of the gold winning teams and Rs 21,000
each to those players who were
members of silver medal winning
teams. In all, the state skaters will get
Rs 20.11 lakh for the performance in
2008-09 and the money will be dispersed
to them before the closing of this fiscal.
In 2007, India hosted the Asian Roller
Hockey and Inline Hockey
Championship in Kolkota and it's an
honour for the state that all three
captains – of men’s and women's roller
hockey and men's inline hockey team –
were from the state. And the women's
team that won the gold comprised eight
skaters from the state in the 10-member
squad.
INFRASTRUCTURE PLAYS A
KEY ROLE
Behind the success of any sport, the
infrastructure plays a key role. In
Haryana, maximum districts have
skating rinks either provided by the
government or by the contribution from
private players.
Faridabad which has one of the best
infrastructures in the sport has three
world-standard banked track skating
rinks. Besides, Karnal, Kurukshetra,
Panipat, Panchkula, Rohtak and
Gurgaon also have good facilities. And
now skaters from Rohtak, Kaithal and
Sonepat are also competing in state
championships.
The schools are also taking a keen
interest in the sport. There are more
than 100 schools in the state that have
the skating facilities.
Shah Satnamji Girls School and
SPORTS
47
Exultant faces after the glory
College, Sirsa, is also playing a pivotal
role in promoting the sport. The entire
Indian women roller hockey team that
won the gold in the recent Asian
Championships is from the institute.
"As far as schools are concerned, it is
one of the most popular sports," says
former international skater Sandeep
Goel, who is now into coaching and
skating manufacturing business. "The
only problem the skaters face is that the
sport is not recognised by colleges and
universities. So, it's difficult for them to
cope with the sport at the college level.
But we hope in the coming years, it will
be sorted out," says Bhupinder Singh,
another coach from Panchkula.
The Haryana Roller Skating
Association is one of the first state
units in the country which has its
infrastructure. HRSA, the governing
body of the sport in the state, has
recently constructed an international
size skating rink in memory of its
former president, late Sushil Kumar, in
his hometown Ambala.
“We have constructed an
international size skating rink in
Ambala in memory of our former
president. The project cost Rs 30 lakh
and was funded by the state association
as well as the government,” says Sarkar
Talwar, secretary general, HRSA.
"The structure of the sport in the
state is formed in such a way that it is
bound to produce results. Moreover, the
HRSA is extending all necessary
support to skaters and the results are in
front of you," says John David, Haryana
Sports Department skating coach
posted at Faridabad.
Without government support, it
wouldn’t be possible for any sport with
an amateur tag to flourish.
There are three government skating
coaches in Haryana, one each at
Faridabad (John David), Panchkula (A
D Sharma) and Karnal (Jitesh Kapoor).
Roller skating has been included as a
medal sport in the 2010 Asian Games in
China and hopefully one will see a
number of skaters from the state in the
Indian squad. "Our skaters are
practising hard keeping in mind the
2010 Asian Games and are hopeful that
skating will be a medal sport in the 2016
Olympic Games," adds Gupta. g
The writer is Senior Staff Writer with
the Hindustan Times, Chandigarh
48
ENVIRONMENT
Environment-savvy
A list of dos to be more environmentally aware
Haryana Review Bureau
lobal warming is one phenomenon
being hotly discussed at
international fora nowadays. The
recent Copenhagen meet may not have
reached a conclusion, but the common
man can definitely contribute his bit
to make earth an environmentally-safe
and better place to live in. A little
introspection on the way of living and
a few small steps will go a long way in
addressing the issue.
Walking or using a bicycle is
probably the best way to get around.
Using public transport or carpooling
is better than using the car alone. Use
one of these at least one more day a
week this year. According to an
estimate, doing this just one day a
week will reduce your carbon
emissions enormously.
Not eating meat is an important
step one can take. Switch to a
vegetarian diet. The decision to eat
more local food can reduce your
carbon footprint.
We should replace some of the
G
items which use more energy in the
house with energy-saving alternatives.
Replacing incandescent bulbs with
compact fluorescents will considerably
reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
When the computer or other
electronic items are not in use, they
should be unplugged. Setting the
thermostat two degrees cooler in
winter and two degrees warmer in
summer (not using the air-conditioner
is even better) will save a lot of carbon
emissions. Air drying your laundry
will also help.
To avoid wastage of water, we
should use small glasses to drink
water and not leave water in the glass.
The plants in the house or kitchen
garden should be watered before
sunrise or after sunset. We should use
the water which is left after washing
clothes for cleaning the floor. Children
should be helped in taking a bath so
that they don’t waste water. Avoid
using bath tubs and showers. Use only
waste water to flush out in the wash
room. Cars and scooters should be
cleaned only with a damp cloth.
People should plant more and more
trees. Each one, plant ten should be
our motto as trees are our friends.
When we eat a mango, we should try
that we bury its seed in an open area
so that we can grow more mango trees.
Also, kitchen waste can be separated
from the other household waste and
can be recycled.
Wastage of paper should be avoided
and children taught how to use every
nook and corner of a paper. One
should keep one’s home plastic- and
polythene-free. Plastic items should be
avoided and we should not gift them to
family and friends.
One must avoid use of loudspeakers
at marriages and religious gatherings
as they are a nuisance to the sick and
elderly people and students preparing
for exams. Also honking should be
limited to the minimum. We should
limit the bursting of crackers on
Diwali and other functions as they are
a huge wastage of money and create a
lot of air and noise pollution.
Generally, after marriage or other
functions, the entire place is littered
with waste. This waste should be
disposed of properly. Cleanliness is
next to godliness. So we should keep
our surroundings clean. Heaps of
garbage lying near residential areas
attract flies and mosquitoes and can
lead to an epidemic.
Children should be taught not to
waste water, food and paper. They
should be taught not to leave food in
the plate and finish it at meals.
Children should be served junk food
rarely and it should be avoided as far
as possible. One must become healthconscious and take regular exercise or
walks. In villages, ponds should be
kept clean. People should not throw
waste in ponds and rivers.
We are living in an electronics age
and can’t avoid certain gadgets. Most
of them emit harmful radiations, like
microwave oven, cell phone and
television. So they should be
judiciously used. Telecom companies
should not install their towers in
residential areas as their harmful
radiations can affect people. g
HISTORY
Playing safe
The system of security in place in the late
18th and early 19th centuries kept crime in
considerable check
Rajwanti Mann
hile it is not possible to
altogether prevent occurrence of
natural disasters but to ward off
human-made unnatural disasters is
certainly in our hands. As far as
checking crime is concerned, a close
study of archives can give us some
methods. Administrators can make
use of them for finding solutions to
present-day problems. The archives
contain valuable suggestions for
reformation and reconstruction.
The police establishment
maintained was wholly or in part a
body of watchmen under Chapter V,
Act XX of 1891. Such watchmen
W
worked under the Superintendent of
Police (SP). The appointment and
promotion of town watchmen rested
with the SP, who maintained a
register in which the names of all
applicants were recorded. These
watchmen had to be fit, and if
otherwise, the SP would record
reasons for rejection. The municipal
committee through the district
magistrate would bring to the notice
of the SP any negligence of duty or
misconduct by a watchman; and the
SP after inquiring into the case would
report it to the district magistrate and
MC.
No town watchman could
withdraw from the duties unless he
49
received permission to resign from
the SP or two months had passed
since he gave his intention to the SP.
The duties of the watchman were
specified and no negligence was
tolerated. Besides watch and ward in
the town, he had to render all
assistance in case of conflagrations
within the limit of municipalities,
take charge of any property found
unclaimed and hand it over to the
officer-in-charge of the police station.
Every town watchman had to
communicate the information which
he obtained about any suspicious
person loitering in the area unable to
give a satisfactory account, a housebreaker, thief or notorious person and
the disputes which were likely to lead
to any riot affecting public peace. He
had to report about all deaths,
epidemics, defacing of government,
municipal, railway and any other
public landmark property.
Every watchman had the power,
without order from a magistrate, to
arrest any person concerned in a
cognizable offence, like housebreaking or stealing property; a
proclaimed offender, a suspect of
deserting army or navy or an
obstructer in execution of police
duties. The watchman would also
promptly obey and execute all orders
or warrants issued by the competent
authority, and keep order on public
roads, streets, thoroughfares, ghats,
landing places, public resorts and
places of worship.
As a consequence of the strict vigil
and watch, every citizen had a fear of
severe punishment. Even in the
severity of epidemics, scarcity and
other unfavourable conditions, there
was a considerable decline in the
cases of murder and dacoity which
were only 453 and 46 respectively in
1906 in Punjab and its dependencies.
The figure of murders was 875 and 112
cases of dacoity were reported in 1934.
In addition to the security patterns,
public participation was also
courageous. The public assistance on
many occasions in the pursuit and
arrest of dangerous criminals was
commendable which was recognised
by the distribution of over Rs 116 lakh
in rewards in 1934.
The system is an eye-opener and
worth following even in the present
situation. g
The writer is Deputy Director,
Department of Archives, Haryana
50
MONTH IN REVIEW
SNAPSHOTS ON HARYANA
State earns kudos for total
sanitation
HCS officer chosen for
course in US
KURUKSHETRA: Haryana was
lauded for its achievements in the
Total Sanitation Campaign as the
population coverage under clean toilets
has increased threefold in the past two
years. Sumedha Kataria, additional
deputy commissioner, Kurukshetra,
who made the sole presentation from
the state on the success story of the
sanitation campaign in the district
said Haryana is one of the few states to
have employed safai karamcharis in all
villages.
CHANDIGARH: The Union
Department of Personnel and
Training has nominated Chander
Shekhar, a member of the HCS, as
one of the four officers of the country
for a year-long foreign training
course on the "Executive Masters of
Public Administration" at the
Maxwell School of Citizenship and
Public Affairs at Syracuse University,
Syracuse, in New York.
The other three officers
nominated for the course are Sanjay
Chahande, IAS officer of the
Maharashtra cadre; Pankaj Asthana,
an Indian Forest Service officer of
the UT cadre; and Jaydip
Mukhopadhyay, a member of the
West Bengal Civil Service.
He has held various important posts.
An HCS officer of the 1985 batch, he
is the recipient of the President's
Census Medal for outstanding work
during the 1991 census in Hisar
district.
21 villages honoured for
sanitation
YAMUNANAGAR: The sanitation
awareness campaign has yielded a
positive result in the district with
almost 60 villages becoming opendefecation-free. As many as 21 villages
were awarded the Nirmal Gram
Puruskar for their efforts, by the
Centre. The Namdarpur village
panchayat received the first prize of Rs
5 lakh for excellent work in sanitation
and cleanliness whereas six other
villages received a cash prize of Rs 2
lakh each. The administration has
fixed a target to cover all villages of
the district under the total sanitation
campaign till March 31. So far, it has
constructed 27,411 toilets for the BPL
families, 36,500 for above poverty line
families, 504 for schools and 334 for
anganwaris.
Punjabi Haryana’s second
language
CHANDIGARH: After months of
dithering on issuing a formal
notification despite repeated
commitments and announcements,
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder
Singh Hooda conceded to popular
sentiment and declared that Punjabi
was now the second language in the
state. At Chandigarh Press Club, he
said a notification to this effect had
been issued and Punjabi would get all
“benefits” which come dovetailed
with being the second language.
‘Benefits of schemes must
reach the poor’
GURGAON: Haryana Governor
Jagannath Pahadia commended the
implementation of several schemes by
the state government for the welfare
of all sections of society. At the
Republic Day function, he said it must
be ensured that the benefits of these
schemes reach the poorest of the poor.
The Governor also launched two
schemes – Nehru Drishti Yojana and
Indira Bal Swasthya Yojana. While the
‘Nehru Drishti Yojna’ would help in
checking blindness, the other
programme would provide preventive
and curative service to about 40 lakh
children in the state. Chief Minister
Bhupinder Singh Hooda offered to
donate his eyes so that the blind may
see the light of the day. He made this
offer while launching the Nehru
Drishti Yojana and Indira Bal
Swasthya Yojana at the Republic Day
celebrations in Jhajjar.
Clean, green village to get award
CHANDIGARH: All households in
Kaluana village of Sirsa district
have access to sanitation facilities as
it has managed to get rid of the
practice of open defecation. And
thanks to the plantation drive, it now
wears a green cap. The village school
has clean and functional toilets and
has a pick-up van too. Kaluana
generates electricity from its own
biogas plant.An official spokesman
said here that the village gram
panchayat had set new standards in
sanitation and other developmental
works. No wonder the panchayat has
been selected for the first state-level
award under the State Incentive
Scheme on Sanitation, 2008-09.
2,983 houses for poor
next year
CHANDIGARH: The Haryana
Housing Board plans to construct
2,983 houses for the economically
weaker sections, lower income
groups and industrial workers in the
financial year 2010-11. The Board has
introduced a novel system of third
party inspection for all its new
projects to ensure more
transparency and effective quality
control.
Ration cards to go smart
CHANDIGARH: A move to replace
paper-based ration cards with smart
cards would cost the state government
Rs 137.63 crore. Food and Supplies
Minister Mahender Partap Singh said
paper-based ration cards of about 54
lakh eligible families would be
replaced with smart cards in phases.
Hooda for research boost
CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief
Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda
urged Atomic Energy Commission
Chairman Dr S Banerjee and former
chairman of the Commission, Dr
Anil Kakodkar, to set up a research
centre in Haryana. He assured them
of government assistance in this
venture.
The Chief Minister was speaking
at the inaugural function of the twoday conference to commemorate the
birth centenary year of Dr Homi
Jehangir Bhabha, the father of
India's nuclear programme, on
Kurukshetra University campus.
He said the Centre was required to
boost research and development
activities, especially in the fields of
water technology, nuclear medicine,
biotechnology and solar energy. The
Chief Minister also announced to
name the proposed 2,800 MW nuclear
power plant in Fatehabad district
after Dr Bhabha. "The proposals to
set up a Rs 150 crore Science City
and Rs 50 crore Science Park in
Haryana were under the active
consideration of the Centre. A state
talent search examination would be
introduced on the pattern of
national examination,'' he said.
Forest officer honoured for
using RTI to expose corruption
CHANDIGARH: Sanjiv Chaturvedi,
an Indian Forest Service officer
posted in Haryana, has been selected
by the Public Cause Research
Foundation for using the Right to
Information to expose corruption. He
is the only government servant to get
this honour.
Chaturvedi is amongst the 20
people throughout India to have been
chosen for this award for 2009.
Sanjiv had earlier received the
Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity
Award for his fight to save a wildlife
sanctuary in Haryana (Saraswati
Wildlife Sanctuary) and to prevent
misuse of public money for private
land belonging to an influential
politician of the state.
MONTH IN REVIEW
51
Ladli scheme extended for
5 years
Computers for Haryana gram
panchayats
Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda
announced to extend the state
government’s popular scheme Ladli
for five more years. Implemented on
August 20, 2005, the scheme benefited
86,820 girls till December 2009, with
the government spending Rs 95 crore
for its implementation. The CM, who
honoured girls at the state-level
Balika Samman Samaroh at
Panchkula for their outstanding
achievements in various fields, said
the scheme aimed to invest a
financial incentive of Rs 5,000 per
year for five years on the birth of
second daughter in a family in the
group insurance scheme of Life
Insurance Corporation of India.
Secretary Urvashi Gulati has said
that 120 computer systems will be
provided in the first phase in 10
select gram panchayats in each
block of Mahendragarh and Sirsa
districts by March.
Presiding over a meeting to
discuss implementation of the 100
per cent Centrally-sponsored
scheme, Backward Regions Grant
Fund, in Mahendragarh and Sirsa
districts, Gulati said awareness
campaigns on decentralised
planning would be organised next
month in 15 select gram sabhas in
each block of the two districts.
Haryana implements JSIM
CHANDIGARH: The Haryana
government has implemented
Jawahar Social Infrastructure
Mission at the cost of Rs 150 crore
for the welfare and development of
persons with all types of
disabilities. Health, Education and
Social Justice and Empowerment
Minister Geeta Bhukkal said the
mission would focus on early
detection and intervention for
prevention and better management
of disabilities. Under the mission,
60 institutions will be established at
the district level throughout
the state.
Ambala selected for NREGA
award
CHANDIGARH: The Ambala
district is among the 24 districts of
18 states selected for excellence in
the administration of the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act for the year 2008-09.
The awards will be given at a
function to be held on completion of
the fourth year of the
commencement of NREGA at the
Plenary Hall of Vigyan Bhawan, New
Delhi, on February 2, according to an
official spokesman.
State notifies new RTI rules
CHANDIGARH: The state
government has notified the
Haryana Right to Information Rules,
2009, repealing the 2005 rules.
Under the new rules, a person who
desires to obtain information under
these rules shall make an
application, preferably in Model
Form A, to the state public
information officer and, in his
absence, to state assistant public
information officer along with a fee
of Rs 50. The fee shall be charged at
the rate of Rs 2 for each page in A-4
or A-3 paper. If information is to be
provided on a large-sized paper, the
actual cost shall be charged. A fee of
Rs 50 shall be charged for providing
information in a floppy and Rs 100
for providing information in a
diskette. However, if only an extract
or page of a printed document is
asked for, Rs 2 per page shall be
charged.
Hooda for independent TV
channel for Haryana
CHANDIGARH: Chief Minister
Bhupinder Singh Hooda has asked
the Centre to provide an
independent satellite TV channel for
the state to highlight his
government’s welfare programmes
and other policies.
Compiled by Ruchi Sharma
52
GUEST COLUMN
Let us focus
on quality
As the number of higher education institutes
increases, the quality is threatened
education, neither in the public sector
nor in the private. On the contrary,
this expansion has led to a
corresponding deterioration.
Expansion without excellence is a
natural consequence in the absence of
a monitoring agency at the state level.
The State Council for Higher
Education, which the UGC
recommended as a necessary step in
the Education Policy of 1986, has not
been created in Haryana. Certain
states, mostly in the south, created
these councils, where the quality of
higher education is better than what it
Bhim S Dahiya
igher education in Haryana has
had accelerated expansion in
recent years, especially since 2005. In
the last five years, five universities
have been created by the government
in the public sector, besides the three
central universities, including deemed
universities. After 40 years of
Haryana’s coming into existence,
there were only five universities in
2005. The colleges created by the
government have also come up on an
accelerated pace in recent years.
Whereas the number of government
colleges was 27 in 1980, it rose to 59 in
2000, and to 75 in 2005. During the last
five years, 29 colleges for girls have
come up – an exceptional achievement
of the present government. It is also in
these five years that two medical
colleges have been created in the
public sector, which are likely to be
completed in the next six months.
In recent years, especially the last
five, the private-sector participation in
higher education has also been
phenomenal. With half a dozen
universities, about 100 professional
colleges and over 400 colleges of
education, the state has witnessed a
revolution in technical and
professional education. Travelling
through the state, one marvels at the
sight of these institutes along the
highways passing through the state, as
also along the state highways passing
through rural areas. The new-style
structures of these institutes make an
attractive sight in the green fields of
Haryana hitherto known only for
agriculture.
As a result of this phenomenal
expansion of higher education in the
state, the percentage of accessibility to
higher education has gone up
H
As many as 29 colleges for girls
have come up in the last five years
considerably – from the earlier 6% to
over 120%. The government in place
for the last five years can take credit
for this tremendous expansion. But
the expansion has not been
accompanied by a corresponding
improvement in the quality of
is in Haryana. Haryana’s bureaucracy
has been continuously thwarting all
academic attempts at the creation of
this council.
The expansion has not merely been
in the number of universities and
colleges, with more of these institutes
added in recent years, but also in the
number of students in the existing
institutes, caused both by the increase
in the number of courses as well as
the number of students in the existing
courses. But this expansion in courses
and seats has not been matched by the
corresponding expansion in the
faculty, the most vital component in
the system of higher education. The
accessibility to higher education has
been increased by taking several steps,
such as doubling the intake in each
course; converting the duration of
postgraduate courses from two to five
years; and adding job-oriented
technical and professional courses.
But all this has been done without any
planning, callously ignoring the
required expansion in the
infrastructure and faculty for these
courses.
GUEST COLUMN
Today, not only the faculty has been
truncated and put under maximum
stress, demanding from them mass
teaching of large classes, and stressful
teaching of four to five hours a day,
but they have also been loaded with
the extra burden of catering to the
needs of distance education students.
The universities, pressed by the
paucity of funds being reduced by the
government every year, have gone all
out to offer all courses, even those in
the science stream, seldom recruiting
the required faculty or creating the
necessary infrastructure for practical
training. This business, no doubt, has
fetched rich dividends in terms of
augmentation of revenue but in the
process has reduced higher education
to a farce, with nothing much
happening between admissions and
examinations, except, of course,
regular collection of fees besides those
collected for admissions and
examinations. No wonder today we
have graduates with degrees in every
field, but not many with even the basic
knowledge expected of a degreeholder.
The worst thing that has happened
in higher education in this country,
Haryana included, is the vogue of selffinancing courses and institutes. In
this scheme of things, the regular
norms and standards for teachers as
well as students are not required to be
followed. Unqualified teachers,
underpaid and overburdened, on the
one hand, and undeserving students
admitted on the strength of their
money rather than merit on the other,
have lowered the standards of higher
education to ludicrous proportions.
Under this system, prescribed texts
are not read, not even taught; instead,
notes for examination are handed in,
either in the class, or at the coaching
centre, or in the form of cheap books,
ensuring a pass. One feels depressed
when confronted with these university
products at the interviews. The only
saving grace is that interviews these
days are quite infrequent, thanks to
the business norms of making
minimum investment and maximum
profits.
What is urgently required in the
field of higher education in Haryana
is a planning body at the state level to
take an integrated view of all types of
education – liberal, technical and
professional. Isn’t it strange that we
have boards and corporations for
53
agriculture and marketing, industry
and labour, but not for education? The
only board there is is for school
education, which, too, is more of an
examining body, having nothing to do
with planning. This proposed state
body should be manned by eminent
academics known for integrity, not for
intrigue. It is this body again that
should advise the authorities on the
selection of vice-chancellors, and
should also oversee the selection of
teachers in all institutes. Above all,
the norms and standards for the
academic needs of individual
institutes and different disciplines
should be determined by this body.
The key to the creation of this body is
to liberate higher education from the
clutches of bureaucracy, which has
behaved like a bull in a china shop, not
competent to comprehend the nuances
of teaching and research in higher
education.
Even as one acknowledges the
government’s effort in creating a
large number of institutes, more
important is the proper selection of
those chosen to manage those
institutes. And it is precisely in this
task that our rulers have not been
quite careful. The history of higher
education in Haryana is marked by
unsuitable selection of vicechancellors, undue interference of
bureaucracy, absence of eminent
academics enjoying high reputation,
lack of enthusiasm for the
improvement of examination system,
and absolute indifference to research,
sparing no funds for its promotion, not
even in the disciplines of science,
commerce and business, crucial to the
development of a state. It is high time
the government paid serious attention
to the fast-growing but sharply
deteriorating system of higher
education. The minimum it can do is
to implement the norms laid down by
the UGC and the various central
councils for the faculty and the
infrastructure for different disciplines
of knowledge. The only way to ensure
all that is to have a separate body at
the state level on the model of the
UGC and leave the planning, funding,
and supervision of higher education
to that. Of course, the members of
that body must be genuine academics,
not the hangers-on who, like light
matter, naturally make it to the top. g
The writer is a noted scholar and
educationist
54
GUEST COLUMN
Humane touch
Ch Ranbir Singh was a man of great deeds
Paying respects to the great man
Pranab Mukherjee
pay my tributes to great freedom
fighter Ch Ranbir Singh, a
Gandhian, Member of Constituent
Assembly of India, and Member of
Parliament and Legislative Assemblies
of undivided Punjab and Haryana. He
was truly a great human being. The
world view of late Ch Ranbir Singh
reflected a humanistic approach and a
concern for the downtrodden and the
hapless which we see in the policies
and programmes of the Haryana
Government under the leadership of
his son Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
The history of India’s freedom
struggle is replete with the heroic
deeds and great sacrifices made by
millions of freedom fighters. Ch
Ranbir Singh belongs to that rare class
of our freedom fighters who made
valuable contributions to the Indian
freedom struggle. Throughout his life,
he espoused the national cause and
upheld the great Indian traditions and
values.
Ch Ranbir Singh’s life was simple
and austere, shaped by the Arya
Samaj. After his graduation from
Ramjas College in Delhi, he plunged
straight into the freedom movement
and courted arrest during the
Individual Satyagraha Movement and
was awarded rigorous imprisonment
on April 5, 1941. Though he was
released from jail in May, he was again
I
behind bars on Mahatma Gandhi’s
call. When Gandhiji launched the
Quit India Movement in 1942, he again
courted arrest. He was a great follower
of Mahatma Gandhi and Bhagat
Singh. He found them inspiring
individuals and passionate leaders
devoted to the struggle for
independence. He shaped his own
ideology and action plan in
accordance with the ideals of his
idols.
Ch Ranbir Singh’s ideology was
simple, but clear: Welfare of the
masses – especially the poor,
downtrodden, peasants and labourers.
His concerns as Member of the
Constituent Assembly and
subsequently as Member of
Parliament and State Legislative
Assemblies was for decentralisation of
powers of legislative bodies, adequate
representation for peasants and
workers, improvement in the lives of
women through education and social
reforms. In fact, as Member of
Parliament – both in Lok Sabha and in
Rajya Sabha, Ch Ranbir Singh
relentlessly took up the concerns of
the village folks, peasants and the
poor. He played an important role in
parliament vis-a-vis the cause of
Haryana.
As the Irrigation and Power
Minister of undivided Punjab,
Chaudhry Sahib played a pioneering
role in initiating the Bhakra Nangal
Multipurpose Irrigation and Power
Project. This project proved to be the
catalyst for the Green Revolution of
India and guarantor of India’s food
security later on. In fact, his
contributions are numerous. His life is
an example of embodiment of ethics,
integrity, patriotism and a humane
concern.
As public figures, we have great
responsibilities. People have great
expectations from us. We must
exercise the power bestowed on us by
the people for the welfare of the
people. All the pillars of democracy,
the executive, the legislature, the
judiciary and the fourth pillar, the
media, must work to strengthen the
roots of democracy in the country.
The contributions of men like Ch
Ranbir Singh continue to inspire us.
Former England prime minister
Winston Churchill once remarked,
“The empires of the future are going
to be the empires of the mind.” In
Indian context, it implies that our
educational institutions must gear up
to face the challenges of future. It is
heartening to note that the Maharshi
Dayanand University, Rohtak, has
taken the initiative to establish the
Ch Ranbir Singh Chair to provide a
platform for higher studies and
research. Quality education is the
need of the hour. Quality education
forms the foundation for a vibrant
economy. Universities are the
platform from where we can, given a
chance, build powerful, innovative,
dynamic and sustainable new ideas of
our future, future of our nation and
the world. I hope the MDU will rise to
these challenges and set new
paradigms in the realm of higher
education, especially in the field of
inter-disciplinary and contemporary
subjects. In this context, I hope and
expect that the proposed Ch Ranbir
Singh Institute for Social and
Economic Change will be a harbinger
of fresh ideas aimed at betterment of
society.
Let us work towards fulfilling the
dreams of the makers of our
Constitution by making a strong and
prosperous India. That would be the
ultimate tribute to great men like
Ch Ranbir Singh. g
(Extracts from First Ch Ranbir Singh
Memorial Lecture delivered by Union
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at
Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak,
on February 4, 2010)
BOOK REVIEW
55
Meagre literature on
higher education in
India
Randeep Wadehra
fter China and the United States,
India's higher education system
is the third largest in the world. The
main governing body at the tertiary
level is the University Grants
Commission which enforces its
standards, advises the government,
and helps co-ordinate between the
Centre and the state. Accreditation
for higher learning is overseen by 12
autonomous institutions established
by the University Grants
Commission.
India has 20 central universities,
215 state universities, 100 deemed
universities, five institutions
established and functioning under the
State Act, and 13 institutes which are
of national importance. Other
institutions include 16,000 colleges, of
which 1,800 are exclusively women's
colleges, functioning under these
universities and institutions. The
emphasis in the tertiary level of
education lies on science and
technology.
However, the system is in urgent
need of overhaul. For far too long, all
three tiers – primary, secondary and
higher education (aka tertiary
education) – have been neglected,
more so the last named. Consequently,
the rot has set in. As Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh has rightly
observed, “Our university system is,
in many parts, in a state of
disrepair…In almost half the districts
in the country, higher education
enrolments are abysmally low, almost
two-thirds of our universities and
90% of our colleges are rated as below
average on quality parameters…I am
concerned that in many states
university appointments, including
A
that of vice-chancellors, have been
politicised and have become subject to
caste and communal considerations;
there are complaints of favouritism
and corruption.”
The PM’s statement, in retrospect,
seems to be a precursor to the
ongoing reforms initiated by the HRD
Ministry, of which the recent derecognition of 44 deemed-to-be
universities is one of the overdue
steps. These “universities” were
nothing more than money-churners
for fly-by-night operators and sham
educationists enjoying politicobureaucratic patronage. Regulatory
authorities like UGC and AICTE have
been trying very hard to weed out
private universities of dubious
credentials which have been running
courses without any affiliation or
recognition. Students from rural and
semi-urban background often fall
prey to these institutes and colleges.
Reforms in the field of education
have been rather tardy thanks to low
priority given to quality education
during the pre-globalisation era. In
the post-globalisation atmosphere,
suddenly, the nation had to face the
reality check. The industry badly
needed skilled entrepreneurs,
managers, technicians and highlyskilled labour force – something that
our educational institutions were illequipped to provide. Even the muchhyped IITs and IIMs could not provide
skilled personnel of adequate quality
in adequate numbers. This gave rise
to the demand for better educational
facilities. Consequently, young people
are going abroad in the quest of
quality education. Foreign
universities, too, have been making a
beeline for India to take advantage of
the yawning gap between demand and
56
BOOK REVIEW
supply of suitably-skilled labour
force.
This sorry state of affairs could
have been avoided had there been
sustained scrutiny of our education
system, with timely evaluations,
feedbacks and effective corrective
actions. Here, it would be facile to
blame the government alone. Our
opinion-makers are equally culpable.
For six long decades education was
never a preferred field of
investigation and debate in our
media. Apart from the tepid interest
shown by the print and electronic
media, there has been poverty of
ideas among our educationists too.
Whatever literature is available –
meagre as it is – does not throw up
any workable idea that would promote
excellence in the various centres of
higher learning. The following are
some of the books that deal with the
subject:
Higher Education in India:
Crisis in Management
by V C Kulandai Swamy;
Viva Books Private Limited; Rs 595
This volume brings together critical
perspectives on and valuable insights
into, several issues concerning
tertiary education that have not been
examined so closely and
comprehensively. Prof Swamy
addresses some of the issues ranging
from the macro-management of the
system to micro-management of
institutions. He argues in his wideranging reflections over a period of
almost two decades that our higher
education system is in need of farreaching changes.
Reconstruction of Higher
Education in India
by Kulandai Swamy V C;
INDIAN HIGHER EDUCATION:
Envisioning the future
by Pawan Agarwal; Sage; Rs 895
This book is rich in data. It delineates
the size, structure and growth of
higher education in India while taking
note of the trends regarding Indian
students going abroad for education.
The growth of private sector in
education, the disappearance of
elitism, funding patterns vis-a-vis
students and institutions, the role of
higher education in the workforce
development, the state of research in
India, the regulatory environment for
higher education etc are some of the
important issues analysed and
discussed here.
Higher Education in India
by Purba Das; Authorpress; Rs 475
This book has been designed as a
manual which looks into the state of
higher education in India, and gives
readers a glimpse into the ways in
which higher education can effectively
prove to be a strong point of India's
infrastructure. Das provides an
insight into the ways in which higher
education has been developed in India,
the premier higher education
institutes in the country, and the
problems and issues within the
system. It also incorporates critical
insights from experts in the field.
ICFAI University Press; Rs 300
In this book, Prof Kulandai Swamy
postulates that a system must undergo
mini revolutions periodically; else it
may have to face a major revolution.
The author pleads for restructuring
the higher education system in India.
There is an urgent need to transfer
higher education to university
campuses and for simultaneously
dispensing with the system that
facilitates affiliations of institutes.
There are other books too, but most
of them fail to take a comprehensive
and objective view of India’s higher
education. There is no analysis of
how to dovetail education in the field
of science and technology to the
needs of our economy as a whole and
industry in particular and how to
upgrade standards of scientific
research. Then there is complete
silence regarding the quality of
education in such fields as
humanities, fine and performing arts,
architecture, strategic studies and
archaeology. Our education system
should be able to facilitate flowering
of competencies in technological as
well as non-technological fields. This
can happen only if our academics do
some honest work and come up with a
road-map for all-round development of
the huge mass of student community
– which is currently floundering in
the darkness. g
The writer is a poet and columnist
Haryana: Destination for
excellence in education
The government led by Bhupinder Singh
Hooda has earmarked a record Rs 5,123
crore during 2009-10 alone for education. It
is an overall increase of 60% over the previous year. Haryana has a clear vision; education is the key to enlightenment and
higher level of economic and social
development.
University almost in every district
Rajiv Gandhi Education City is coming up at
Kundli with 25 per cent seats reserved for students of
Haryana. It will be a major centre for higher
learning and quality research.
g
During the last five years, Haryana has established
either a university or an institute of excellence every
50 km. Some towns have even two universities.
g
Bhagat Phool Singh women's university, first allwoman university of north India, has been set up at
Khanpur Kalan in Sonepat district. An all-woman
medical college is also coming up there.
g
Government women colleges have been set up at
Panchkula, Tosham, Panipat, Chhachhrauli,
Balwala (Hisar), Lakhan Majra and Rewari and
government colleges have been set up at Kaithal,
Julana, Mandi Dabwali and Birohar. A women wing
has been opened at Government College, Sirsa.
g
A monthly scholarship of Rs 1,000 is given to all SC
students studying in colleges. Also Rs 2,000 per year
for purchase of books and financial assistance of Rs
500 per month to those living in hostels.
g
Financial assistance of Rs 750 per month to the
students belonging to below poverty line families and
studying in colleges.
g
The Haryana Private Universities Act, 2006, has
been enacted to promote competition in higher education and to encourage setting up of educational
institutes for higher education of international standard. The state government has received nine proposals from private institutions under the Act in which
O P Jindal Global University has been set up.
g
Students belonging to Scheduled Castes have been
imparted training in computers and after they
passed the exam they have been given 2,117 computer
sets, printers and UPS free of cost.
g
Students belonging to minority Muslim community
and whose parents have an annual income of less
than Rs 50,000 are entitled to an assistance of Rs 1,500
for purchase of bicycle and of Rs 500 for stationery.
g
It has been decided to set up a regional Post
Graduate Centre of Foreign and English Language
University, Hyderabad, at Meham.
g
Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers of India, RNI No 10412
Postal Regd No CHD/123/2009-11
A ninth-century
sculpture of Lord
Vishnu found at Agroha
in Haryana is on display
at the Government
Museum and Art Gallery,
Chandigarh.

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