TIMES NATION

THE TIMES OF INDIA, AHMEDABAD

FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2015

Amid staff crunch & fund cuts, This July was the worlds
new tweaks hobble higher edu hottest month in history

Reuters

Failed Experiments Add To Existing Problems, Students Suffer

Subodh.Varma@timesgroup.com

ndias gigantic higher

education set-up 712
universities, 37,204 colleges, 30 million students,
1.3 million teachers is
in the grip of a simmering crisis as the hunger for better
education grows.
From UPA-2s time and
in the days of the present
government too, a top-driven
policy of change has seen a
semester system started, a
four-year undergraduate programme introduced and withdrawn, a new grading system
tfully implemented and, recently, a choice-based credit
system partially introduced.
These are deep-striking
changes affecting millions.
How have they gone down
among students and teachers? How is the system, straining to accommodate a ood
of students, with teachers
in short supply, classrooms
lled beyond capacity, and
curricula being questioned
for relevance, absorbing these
changes? TOI found some answers talking to teachers and
students across states.
In some varsities the semester system is yet to be
implemented. Anil Singh, a
lecturer at RML Awadh University in Faizabad, UP, says
although UGC introduced it
in 2009-10, it has yet to percolate to colleges of his university. There are no teachers,
classrooms, or facilities. Were
barely coping in the present
system. How can we run a semester system, he says.
Allahabad
University
runs a semester system at the
PG level, but a teacher shortage is dragging it down. Over
500 posts of teachers are vacant, says Vikas, who is pursuing a political science PhD.
There are classes where 150
to 200 students sit together. Is
that a desirable pupil-teacher
ratio, he asks.
In MP, semesters were introduced throughout. Without adequate classrooms,
laboratories and sufcient
teachers, its a load for stu-

A LOW FOR HIGHER EDU

SOME CHANGES
INTRODUCED IN 2009-11
SEMESTER SYSTEM | Each
annual academic year broken
into two semesters with exams
at the end of each semester and
continuous internal tests

FOUR YEAR UNDERGRAD.

PROGRAM (FYUP) | 3-year
course to be converted to 4
years with curricula changes.
Scrapped after protests

CHOICE BASED CREDIT

SYSTEM | Students get credits
for attending classes and they
can shift to other courses or
universities with their credits

GRADING SYSTEM | Instead of

marks, students to get grades
dents, says Kuldip, an MTech
student of RG Technical University. The state decided to
scrap the system last year, but
under Central pressure it had
to continue with it.
In Rajasthans eight state
universities and 40 private
ones, the semester system
is partially implemented in
undergraduate courses, says
Mahipal, a student of JNV
University, Jodhpur. The experience has been very bad,
he claims, because of a teacher shortage. In many cases, a

TESTING TIMES
student gets his or her degree
one-and-a-half years late because there are insufcient
teachers and non-teaching
staff to conduct exams and
process results, he explains.
Shahnawaz of CDL University, Sirsa, Haryana, complains semester exams clash
with the peak harvesting season. Students travel long distances from far-off villages.
They cant spend the whole
day in college, he says.
Kurukshetra University
has 464 regular and 400 contractual teachers, Shahnawaz
says. In many colleges, half
the classes are not held. Some-

HIGHER EDUCATION EXPLOSIVE GROWTH

IN STUDENTS
2000-01
2005-06
2012-13

8.6
14.3

Figures
in million
Source:
MHRD

29.6

times guest lecturers are xed

up at Rs 250 per lecture.
In Haryana, Shahnawaz
says, results get delayed 6-8
months because of extended
exam schedules. In Punjab, the
clash with agricultural work
crops up among the litany of
complaints against semesters.
Delayed results, mechanical
division of syllabus, lack of
teachers, are the others.
The
fee
structure
changed with the semester
system and most colleges
added a few hundred rupees,
supposedly to meet the cost of
extra work in exams etc. This
caused hardship to many students, says Harinder Bajwa
of Punjabi University, Patiala.
In Uttarakhand, semesters have resulted in delayed
results, says Dehraduns Abhishek Bhandari. This is because of a teacher shortage
in the interior areas and also
difcult communication.
Many distant colleges
skip internal assessments.
About 50% of internal assessments are delayed. All these
add up. Results of the 2013-14
academic year were declared
after one year, he says.
Himachal too implemented the system at all levels. But
teacher shortage has created

CUTS IN HIGHER
EDUCATION (Rs Cr)
Year

2012-13
2013-14
2014-15
2015-16

Budget

Expenditure

25275
26762
27656
26855

20445
24518
23152
NA

Source: Lok Sabha, Aug 5, 2015

a crisis, Suresh Sarwal of

HP University, Shimla, says.
PG departments have 300 vacancies and 120 students pack
into a class, he says.
Some 60 varsities are
supposed to implement the
choice-based credit system
this year. But in most of
thofcials and teachers are
unclear how it is to be done.
Singh from Faizabad says
it will be impossible to implement when the semester
system is in doldrums. Delhi
University, a laboratory for
implementing these changes,
has seen stiff opposition from
both students and teachers.
Instead of
increasing
funds for the teetering higher
education system so that infrastructure can be improved and
more teachers appointed, the
government has like the UPA,
cut funding. According to a
Parliament statement, in 201415, the allocation for higher
education was Rs 27,656 crore,
actual spending was squeezed
to Rs 24,518 crore. This year, allocation was slashed by over
Rs 800 crore and reports talk
of further curbs on fund release. It doesnt look as if the
government has any plans of
rescuing the shaky system,
headed for chaos.

1st 7 Months
Warmest Ever,
Says US Body
Miami: The world broke
new heat records in July,
marking the hottest month
in history and the warmest
first seven months of the
year since modern recordkeeping began in 1880, US authorities said on Thursday.
The findings by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration showed a
troubling trend, as the planet
continues to warm due to the
burning of fossil fuels, and scientists expect the scorching
temperatures to get worse.
The world is warming. It is
continuing to warm. That is
being shown time and time
again in our data, said Jake
Crouch, physical scientist at
NOAAs National Centers for
Environmental Information.
Julys average temperature across land and sea surfaces worldwide was 16.61 degrees Celsius, marking the

IN THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT

hottest July ever. The previous

record for July was set in 1998.
This was also the all-time
highest monthly temperature
in the 1880-2015 record, said
NOAA in its monthly report.
The first seven months of the

year were also all-time record

warm for the globe.
When scientists looked at
temperatures for the year-todate, they found land and ocean
surfaces were 0.85 degrees Celsius above the 20th century av-

erage. Africa also saw its second hottest July on record.

However, parts of western Russia, eastern and southern Asia
and scattered areas in central
and northern North America
were cooler than average. AFP

Drafting errors, typos Seychelles tax pact

corrected in land law gets Cabinet nod
Rajeev.Deshpande
@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: The NDA governments rewrite of the land bill,

though slammed for being anti-farmer, attempts to correct
more than 50 drafting and typographical errors, omissions
and contradictions that actually defeat the laws pro-poor
intent by denying farmers and
tribals benefits of fair and enhanced compensation.
Apart from political battles
over consent and social impact
clauses, the 2013 land acquisition and rehabilitation Act is
riddled with missing or misapplied articles, poor punctuation and omissions that undermine compensation, eligibility
and acquisition norms and
render them vulnerable to legal challenges.
Careless draftsmanship

like failure to distinguish

change of ownership of land
acquired under the Act being
subject to permission of the
government from any acquisition in general can lead to legal
battles that can stall compensation and acquisition.
The mistake makes Section 100 over-inclusive, preventing transfer of property
under any provision whatsoever and needs to be redrafted,
the government has said in observations made available to
the joint committee of Parliament examining the 2013 Act.
More problematically, the
2013 law omits specific mention of tribal areas with regard to a bar on acquisition in
violation of any law relating to
land transfer in important Section 2(2) that deals with exemptions, restricting clauses application to scheduled areas.

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: The Cabinet on

Thursday approved the signing
and ratification of the agreement between India and Seychelles for exchange of information on taxes, a crucial factor
in the governments crusade
against black money.
Besides curbing tax evasion
and avoidance, it will enable the
competent authorities of India
and Seychelles to provide assistance through exchange of information that is relevant to the administration and enforcement
of the laws of two countries concerning taxes.
Information received under
the agreement shall be treated as
confidential and may be disclosed
only to persons or authorities (including courts or administrative
bodies) concerned with assessment, collection, enforcement,

prosecution or determination of
appeals, in relation to taxes covered under the agreement, according to a government statement. The agreement, whose
negotiations were made in June,
makes it clear that information
may be disclosed to any other person or entity or authority or jurisdiction with the prior written
consent of the country sending
the information. It also provides
for a mutual agreement procedure for resolving any difference
or for agreeing on procedures.
The agreement will enter into
force on the date of notification of
completion of procedures required by the respective laws of
the two countries.
The Centre is authorized under Section 90 of the IT Act, 1961
to enter into an agreement with
a country for exchange of information for the prevention of
evasion or avoidance of tax.

Women for reform in

Muslim Personal Law
Continued from P1
espite these disadvantag-

D es, women clearly spoke

against unilateral, oral triple

talaq and polygamy. While
91.7% women opposed a second marriage by their husbands, 92.1% sought a ban on
oral triple talaq. In 2014, of the
235 cases that came to women
Sharia adalats that we run,
80% were of oral talaq, author
of the study, Zakia Soman, said,
adding that women bore brunt
of the practice.
Most women (93%) were in
favour of an arbitration process before divorce and 83.3%
believed that codification of
Muslim family law would help
get justice. Codification of Muslim personal law has been re-

sisted by the community citing

religious interference.
Responding to this, Soman
said, Government has mollycoddled and appeased those
groups which have taken upon
themselves to speak for the
community. It is our constitutional right. For groups that
cite religious freedom as an argument, it is at the expense of
womens rights.
Co-author Noorjehan Safia
Niaz said, An overwhelming
number of women demands
reforms in Muslim personal
law. They want an elaborate
codified law based on the Quranic justice framework to cover matters such as age of marriage, divorce procedures,
polygamy, maintenance and
custody of the children.

Mishra suggests Hirani,

Bhansali as FTII chairman
Mumbai: While students of
Film and Television Institute of India
(FTII) continue their protest against
the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan
as its chairman, National
award-winning filmmaker
Sudhir Mishra has suggested the names of eminent directors like Sanjay Leela
Bhansali, Rajkumar Hirani
and David Dhawan, who he
thinks deserves the position
more than Chauhan.
Mishra took to microblogging site Twitter on
Thursday to express his con-

cern for the FTII students,

who have been protesting for
over two months now.
To all those who matter.
Please find a way out of the
FTII mess. Make Bansali, Hirani or David or Prakash
(Jha) or Vinod (Vidhu Vinod
Chopra) or Resul (Pookutty)
or Mani (Ratnam) the chairman, Mishra tweeted.
In another post, Mishra,
who has directed films like
Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Yeh Saali Zindagi and
Main Zinda Hoon, condemned the governments decision to arrest five students
on charges of rioting and
more in a post-midnight
swoop on Tuesday. PTI