Campus Watch
Visually impaired student from Sirmour cracks UGC NET in first attempt
SHIMLA- Umesh Lubana hails from Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh. He is completely blind with 100% visual impairment. However, his disability proved to be weaker than his will to educate himself. He is a second semester student at Himachal Pradesh University. He qualified for the UGC National Eligibility Test (UGC) for Lecturship in Political Science in his very first attempt.
Umesh has an incredible academic record. He is the topper of first semester in M.A. Political Science. He secured 81 percent marks both in 10th and 12th class, and was on 98th position in 10th class and 65th in 12th class in the State.
While his B.A. he received Dhirubhai Ambani Scholarship for meritorious disabled students. In B.A., he had secured 74 percent marks.
But that’s not all for him. He is ambitious and aspires to achieve more. Talking of his future plans, he said,
Now this time I will try for Junior Research Fellowship of UGC. But the University should be made disabled friendly. At present it is very difficult for a blind student like me to study as there are no facilities for us.
He gives credit of his success to his parents and teachers, particularly Prof. Ramesh Chauhan and his friends.
Prof. Ramesh Chauhan, chairman of Political Science said,
Umesh Lubana is a genius student. I had no surprise when he got highest marks in first semester in his class. Lack of sight in eyes has become no hurdle for him in the study as he is doing optimum utilization of the latest technology.
The news was shared with Himachal Watcher by Ajai Srivastava, chairman of Umang Foundation.
While congratulating Umesh, Mr. Shrivastva said he is a very brilliant student and uses Laptop for preparing notes in the class. Umesh is a member of Umang Foundation and he thanked the organization for supporting him in the following words
I’m proud to be associated with the Umang Foundation for the last four years. They have been supporting me throughout in my struggle.
Umesh Lubana completed his 10th and 12th class education from GSSS for Boys, Nahan and B.A. from the Government College, Nahan. His father runs a small business in District Sirmour and mother is government employee. He aims to be a professor in University.
Umesh is really an inspiration for other students suffering from one or other type of physical disability. It’s very unfortunate that Himachal Pradesh Government never showed any interest in attending to the needs and facilities required to educate such children.
Recently, after taking note of the PILs filed by Mr. Shrivastava, the HP High Court had directed the state arrange and provide free education disabled students upto University level.
Before that, Mr. Shrivastava fought a series of battles with HP Govt. to provide secondary education, special teachers, and hostel facility to disabled students from around Himachal.
The condition of the school for blind children in Dhalli, Shimla is not hidden from anyone. So far, the HP Govt. has not given any serious thought to the special needs of disabled students.
Similarly, Home for Destitute Women in Mashobra is in pathetic condition and Ajai Srivastava had recently exposed inhuman treatment of inmates too.
Then, an RTI filed by an RTI activist,Dev Ashish Bhattacharya, revealed that HP government has not constructed even a single shelter for homeless despite allocation of funds from centre.
According to an Article in the Times of India:
The reply received from the PIO-cum-joint director urban development department has revealed that, as on date, not even a single shelter has been constructed in the state and that the state received Rs 6,04,45,000 as on March 30, 2015.
The article further adds that in total, Rs 1,08,00,000 was transferred to 10 municipal corporations in 10 districts. But the joint director, urban development, failed to provide information regarding the utilization of the remaining Rs 4,96,45,000.
So, what is troubling the government now? They have funds but still they are not attending to such critical issues that need immediate attention.
There is no clue about mental health facilities. A few days ago, we had published an story of two mentally challenged destitute persons wandering on Sundernagar roads and eating from garbage. Despite official requests and information from a social welfare organization in Mandi, the district administration has not even provided temporary shelter and food to them in two months.
Solan: Naincy Sagar, an alumna of Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni has bagged a fellowship for pursuing PhD from France. Nancy has reached France and will be pursuing PhD in Forest Genetics from the University of Orléans under INRAE fellowship. INRAE is France’s National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment.
Naincy has completed her BSc Forestry from College of Horticulture and Forestry (COH&F), Neri in 2018 and MSc Forest Biology and Tree Improvement and Genetic Resources from UAS, Dharwad, under ICAR’s National Talent Scheme. Before leaving for France last week, Naincy was working as a Junior Research Fellow in a research project at COH&F, Neri.
She had applied for a PhD with a scholarship in Forest Genetics which was advertised by INRAE. Naincy was successful in the interview and was awarded a fellowship for three years for pursuing PhD at the University of Orléans. During the course of the PhD, she will receive a total scholarship of around Rs 70 lakh along with medical reimbursement. Naincy will be working on forest tree larch species in the Project titled ‘Vigour at what cost? ‘Trade-off’ of hybrid vigour in Larch-Phenological, morphological and physiological determinants of hybrid superiority in Larix X eurolepis’ with a team of 20 scientists of Joint Integrated Biology Research Unit having expertise in genetics, genomics and physiology for the enhancement of tree and forest diversity
Dr. Parvinder Kaushal, Vice-Chancellor of the university spoke to Naincy via web conferencing and congratulated her. Dr. Kaushal, who has also done his doctorate from France, shared some tips and suggestions. He asked Naincy to explore this opportunity to learn about new cultures along with doing research that could help to enhance and conserve forest wealth in the future.
Naincy expressed gratitude towards her father Satya Prakash Sagar (Retd. SDO BSNL) and mother Monika Sagar, who is working as SDO in BSNL for their continuous support for higher studies. She also thanked Vice-Chancellor Dr. Parvinder Kaushal, Dean Dr. Kamal Sharma and Dr. Dushyant Sharma, Project Investigator and all the university staff for their support and guidance. The university administration, Dean of COH&F Neri congratulated Naincy and wished her success.
Shimla-Dates for admissions to undergraduate courses for the session 2021-22 in colleges affiliated to Himachal Pradesh University has been extended, which has come as a relief to not only those students who were seeking fresh enrollments in the first year but also to the students of the second and third year.
The varsity informed that the decision was taken after considering requests received from various students regarding the same.
Now, willing students can apply for enrollment in both government and private colleges till 5 PM, October 25, 2021.
This extension of date would benefit students who recently passed supplementary exams or those students of the second and third-year who had missed admission due to delay in declaration of their previous results.
Solan– Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry (UHF), Nauni, has extended the last date for applying to various Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Doctoral programmes in Horticulture, Forestry, Biotechnology, Agribusiness and Business Management. Applicants can submit their complete online application on the university’s admission portal till 18th October.
The normal seats of BSc (Hons) Horticulture, BSc (Hons) Forestry and B Tech Biotechnology will be filled on the basis of scorecard of ICAR-AIEEA (UG) 2021.
Admissions to MSc, MBA (Agribusiness) and PhD (for normal and self-financing seats) will also be conducted on the scorecard of ICAR AIEEA (PG) and AICE-JRF/SRF respectively. Students who have appeared in the ICAR-AIEEA 2021 for UG and PG, or AICE-JRF/SRF examination and are interested in seeking admission, such students must fill the university online application form before 18th October. Undergraduate aspirants who have not appeared in the ICAR test can however apply for the self-financing seats for B Sc and B Tech Biotechnology programmes run by the university by filling the online application on the university website.
The university has also advised the registered candidates to submit complete online application forms along with online payment acknowledgement slip before the due date. The schedule for online counselling will be announced by the University on the website after the declaration of the ICAR examination result. Application forms other than online mode will not be accepted.
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