Shimla– The Vice-Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh Univesity, Sikander Kumar, is facing backlash from students after he made the varsity a laughing stock by releasing merits list for PG classes without completely declaring and settling results of UG classes.

Both student organisations, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Student Federation of India (SFI) are up in arms against the VC, alleging him of incompetence to handle the affairs of the varsity properly. Also, both students organizations have been alleging the varsity of irregularities in admissions to P.hD and MCA.  

The students are alleging that not only the dictatorial attitude of the VC mentally harassing thousands of students across the state but also harassing those students who are protesting against prevailing disorder and irregularities in the working of the authorities.

It’s pertinent to mention that the varsity on Thursday suspended 10 members of the ABVP for staging protest over delay and irregularities in the UG results due which students were facing huge inconvenience.

ABVP, during another protest on July 19, termed it a dictatorial and one-sided action aimed at suppressing the voices protesting against corruption and the harassments students were facing.

SFI also criticized this action of the varsity. Irrespective of the organization to which they belong, SFI condemns the suspension of these students who were protesting against prevailing disorder at the campus, said SFI campus secretary Jeevan Thakur.

Today, #ABPV staged another #protest over the suspension of its members at the #HPUniversity campus, #Shimla, in which students laid down on the ground pretending to be dead bodies, terming it a symbolic representation of the future of students.#HimachalPradesh pic.twitter.com/UMQtTAejiF

— Himachal Watcher (@HimachalW) July 20, 2019

Today, ABVP staged another protest over the suspension of its members at the campus in which students laid down on the ground pretending to be dead bodies, terming it a symbolic representation of the future of students.

The students warned that a movement similar to JP Narayan of 1975 that was organized to end the emergency like situation would be re-created against VC’s dictatorship.  ABVP demanded to revoke the suspension of 10 students and properly declare the UG results. The organization warned that if the varsity does not accept these demands, a massive protest would be organized on July 22 – the foundation day of HPU. Chandel has warned that not even the Chief Minister would be allowed to enter the varsity campus on that day.

SFI also alleged the current VC of adopting a completely dictatorial attitude towards students and raised questions over the working of the varsity authorities.

The varsity failed to settle the results of the sixth semester of UG classes by July 19. The students are compelled to visit the varsity themselves to get their results corrected. Moreover, without settling UG results, the varsity has released the merit lists of the entrance exams for PG classes, said SFI.

It said the VC is more concerned about protecting his staff responsible for creating disorder and indulging in corrupt practices. Letters with false allegations against them were being sent to the parents of those students who were taking part in protests, which is leading to mental harassment of both students and parents, SFI alleged.

Students are being treated like captives in hostels. Even 24×7 library was made inaccessible to students. The inter-hostel outing in girl hostels was also suspended, said SFI.

The campus president of SFI Vikram Thakur alleged that the varsity is consistently depriving students of their democratic rights. He urged the students to unite in order to end this dictatorial attitude of the VC.

Solan-The Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry (UHF), Nauni, has been ranked at 12th position in the ranking of agricultural universities and research institutes conducted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). It’s an improvement considering the fact that in 2016, UHF was placed at 51st position, which is improved to 38 in 2017. This year the university improved 26 places to bag 12^th position in this ranking.

The rankings were released earlier this week at the ICAR Foundation Day held at New Delhi, which was attended by UHF Vice-Chancellor Dr Parvinder Kaushal. This year the university has improved 26 places in the list.

In all, 60 agricultural universities of India featured in the ranking this year. The universities were judged on parameters like student and faculty profile, publications and citations, research, technologies commercialized etc.  

The National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, have been ranked at first and second places respectively in this rankings. GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar and Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar have bagged the third and fourth positions respectively. Panjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana and Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana are at seventh and eighth positions respectively.

The university has been continuously ranked among the top universities in the country. For the past three years, UHF has been the highest-ranked university in Himachal Pradesh in the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development’s NIRF rankings. This year, the university had achieved 80^th position in the top 100 universities in the country and was the only one from the state to find a place in this list.

The University has performed quite well on various parameters including the performance of students in ICAR NET, JRF, SRF and other state and national level competitive examinations. As per the university, the excellent placement of students in public and private enterprises, quality publications, technology transfer initiatives, implementation of ICAR Deans’ committee recommendations, timely release of grants from the state government and internal revenue generation were areas, which helped the university to register this big jump in rankings.

 Speaking at the occasion, Dr Parvinder Kaushal congratulated the students, faculty, and the staff of the university on the achievement and lauded their efforts for the betterment of the university and the agriculture community. Dr Kaushal said that in order to compete with global universities, UHF would strengthen students’ placement and career development, and linkages with world-class institutions. He added that the university will continue to strive in the areas of academic, research and extension education and work towards realizing the goal of doubling farmers’ income.

Shimla-The Himachal Pradesh University unit of Akhil Bhartiya Parishad today staged an aggressive protest at the campus over the suspension of its 10 members. The student organization alleged the university authority of one-sided action.

The unit secretary Ankit Chandel said that ABVP had held a protest at the campus on July 11, 2019 over delay and irregularities in the declaration of results of UG classes. For this protest, the varsity on Thursday suspended 10 students.

Chandel alleged that when the employees hold protests outside the office of Vice-Chancellor, no action is taken. However, on the other hand, when a student organization stages protest, then its members are suspended in a biased manner.

Earlier, ABVP entered the office of VC to submit their demand to declare results of UG classes. The organization said that the results for the second and fourth semester of UG classes have not been declared. As many as 5000 students were facing problems in their admissions due to this delay, ABVP said. However, when students did not find the VC or any other staff at the office to attend to them, they shouted slogans against the administration for over two hours.

#ABVP stages a protest at #HPUniversity over the suspension of its 10 members for protesting against irregularities. The organization alleges the Vice-Chancellor of one-sided action and demanded revoking suspension.#HimachalPradesh #Shimla #Education #HPUCampus pic.twitter.com/cWebRUEUMZ

— Himachal Watcher (@HimachalW) July 19, 2019

Chandel alleged that the varsity is adopting various tactics to suppress the voices protesting against the irregularities in the working of the administration.  While thousands of students are facing huge inconvenience due to delay and irregularities in the declaration of results, the varsity is leaving no stone unturned to give itself a pat on its back, he said.

Chandel reminded that cases of irregularities in admissions to P.hD and MCA were reported about nine months ago. When students protested against it, their voice was suppressed instead of taking action.

ABVP has warned the varsity authority of not interfering with the working of the student organization and instead mind its own job.  The organization has also demanded to revoke the suspension of its members. Otherwise, it warned, a state-wide protest would be held against the varsity. ABVP also demanded to declare complete results of UG classes immediately.