ABOUT 10,000 THESE SEIZED FROM CMJ UNIVERSITY

From studying the “emotional intelligence of a Kho-Kho player” to “marketing low cholesterol oil in India,” the Chandra Mohan Jha (CMJ) University is a treasure trove for knowledge seekers with the CID seizing over 4000 such PhD theses during a raid at the sealed University here today.

Such were the diverse and strange topics that the sleuths of the CID were left dumbfound and also in good humour as they slogged to note down all the 4000 topics into their files the whole day.

As the skeletons, literally, continued to tumble out of the closet the entire day, some from the Chancellor’s (CM Jha) now sealed office and others from the security room, a not so amused State Government issued a dissolution notice to the University.

“We have served a show cause notice to the University asking it why it shouldn’t be closed,” Education Minister, RC Laloo said after a Cabinet meeting. The University is yet to reply to the notice, Laloo said.

Meanwhile, the seizure at the University’s Laitumkhrah campus today is just the tip of the iceberg, the CID sleuths said, as there are another 6000 such theses that have been found at the University’s Jorabat campus, vindicating former Governor RS Mooshahary’s claim that the University was functioning flouting all norms.

The seizure is also significant, not because of the subjects, but also in terms the market value of the theses. It comes to a whooping Rs. 127 crore. “To get a PhD degree the University charged Rs 1.27 lakh, so these 10,000 odd theses would cost about Rs. 127 crore,” a CID official conducting the raid and investigating the case said.

The investigating team also said that the theses seem to have all been printed in Kolkata as they bore tell-tell signs of it and the officials believe that the University did everything from printing to making the theses material to award of the degrees to those who sought such degrees across India and abroad.

“We have to investigate who ordered these theses to be printed at this printing press in Kolkata,” this is clear case of a bigger scam an official said while showing a thesis titled: Corruption in India – hurdles and remedies by one S VenkataLakshmi and submitted vaguely to faculty of Public Administration.

There were other bizarre copies of thesis with the hardcover tilled “Role of ICICI bank in housing finance – a case study NCR by one Sheikh Rafik Afsar, while the inside page was titled “A study of emotional intelligence and self concept of Kho Kho players and non Kho Kho players,” by one Amit Naru. Naru’s papers were supervised by Anurag Agnhotri, Assistant professor, CVS College, Delhi University.

These seizures followed after Jha the Chancellor of the University got a temporary relief from the Supreme Court in his anticipatory bail application where the apex Court held that he would get bail till the next hearing on the case. The order was passed last Friday.

The CMJ University as well as the Chancellor’s office has remained sealed for the past two odd months. In the first raid, nothing credible was found to substantiate the allegations leveled by Mooshahary against the CMJ University. The computers with the vital data were found damaged before the CID could conduct raids. (Eom)

ENVIRONMENT CARE-INTRODUCE GARDENING AS A SCHOOL COURSE

With the entire world focused on ways to protect the environment, a school student from Hyderabad had a unique proposal: introduce Gardening as a subject in schools, to bring students closer towards environment protection and care.



The proposal was made by a school student, Nidhi, from Vijay Residential School (VRS), Hyderabad, during the three-day National Conference on Environment for schools students from across India here at the North Eastern Hill University Convention centre today. About 500 students and teachers from different schools are participating in this Conference called, PEAS.



Nidhi said the importance of gardening is normally overlooked, but if it is introduced as a separate course in schools and even colleges, it would not only help in Botany and other classes, but most importantly bring students closer to nature.



“Most schools, colleges have gardens which are maintained by the gardeners, this responsibility must be shifted to the students where they water and care for the flowers and other plants. This would definitely bring students closer to the environment in terms of protection and care,” Nidhi said.

Calling environment as her first teacher, Nidhi said her attention towards music was drawn by the “songs of the birds.” “I am learning music and dance and it was the birds that first attracted my attention towards these activities, so the environment is my first teacher,” she said proudly.



Nidhi’s school principal, Vijay Rani feels that her ward’s proposal is not only unique, but is urgently required to be implemented in the country. “This idea of gardening as a course would definitely attract children's interest towards protection and care for the environment,” Rani added.



Apart from sharing ideas amongst fellow students on ways to protect the environment, the organizers have also asked students to bring waste, so that it could be demonstrate how these could be reused.



“I have brought coconut husk and cardboard from old diaries and would be demonstrating how these can be made into beautiful pen stands and picture frames,” Nidhi added.



Deepak Mishra, Sishir Mishra and Imran Alam, the team from Assam Rifles Public Schools, Laitkor, on the other hand have brought wrappers, bottles, shoe polish and deodorant cans, which could be reused meaningfully.

Similar demonstrations would be undertaken by students from other schools in the workshop with their litter during the workshop called “zero litter” slated later for the day.

HAIKU TO MARS

MY HAIKU (JAPANESE STYLE OF POETRY) FOR THE SEND A MESSAGE TO MARS CONTEST (MAVEN MISSION)
THREE ENTRIES WITH THE HIGHEST PUBLIC VOTE WOULD GET A CHANCE TO SEND THEIR MESSAGE AND HAIKU WITH MAVEN SPACECRAFT. PLS VOTE



Bang! White feather float
Thud! Earth burdened and troubled
Maven Lamp, Uh-huh...


LINK:
http://lasp.colorado.edu/maven/goingtomars/entry/?25371

NARENDRA MODI PM MATERIAL: FORMER LOK SABHA SPEAKER PURNO SANGMA

Describing Narendra Modi as a “Prime Minister material,” former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno Sangma today questioned the Congress party’s stand on secularism, saying, the Congress party usually sends Christian leaders to Christian majority states for election campaigns.



Sangma, who is touring the country and trying to create a new political equation by floating the National Peoples’ Party (NPP), with an eye on the tribal vote, said, he and his party “has no problems working with Modi” as the Gujarat Chief Minister has all the qualities of a Prime Minister.



“The less we talk about secularism the better it is for India…who exactly is secular,” Sangma said when asked about the Congress party’s attack on Modi’s secular credentials.



Recalling his days as a senior Congress leader, Sangma, who calls himself a “devout Christian” said, the Congress party usually reserved him and other Christian leaders to campaign for elections in Christian majority States of the country.



“Every time before the elections, myself and others like Margaret Alva, CM Stephen were send to Northeastern states like Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya to campaign during the elections,” Sangma said.



Stating that the Gujarat Chief Minister’s has proved himself and is accepted for his style of “governance, development and delivery” mechanisms, Sangma said, the country needs similar initiatives so that differences on caste, creed and religion could be done away with.



Sangma, however added, that the next two months would be crucial for Modi as he would try to reach out to the people across the Nation probably as a Prime Ministerial candidate of the National Democratic Alliance