Anomalies in college professors' recruitment: Letters to THE EDITOR

Anomalies in college professors' recruitment

Through your esteemed daily, I would like to draw the solicitous attention of the Education Minister of the State as well as the Directorate of the Higher Education, Assam towards the perceived inconsistency with the stipulated guidelines of UGC and DHE in a recently concluded interview for the post of Assistant Professors in Economics and Sociology of the newly established Government Model College, Kaziranga. It must be mentioned that yours truly was quite taken aback at the arbitrariness with which the set norms of the interview which were supposed to be adhered unfailingly anywhere in the country for the recruitment of Assistant Professors were seemingly undermined. It was thoroughly disheartening to experience utter indifference on the part of the Principal of the aforementioned college and the assigned panel of subject experts towards the previously mentioned UGC and DHE guidelines, thereby failing to ensure any semblance of uniformity during the course of the interview. The panel rather imposed some capricious alterations to the set norms of UGC and DHE without any prior appraisal whatsoever to the candidates. Such whimsical temperament not only made the entire process farcical but also caused unwarranted perplexities and uncertainties to the prospect of many young aspirants. The assigned panel for the given interview adamantly refused to acknowledge certain academic publications in online journals that too, mentioned in Scopus, Web of Science and UGC Care List with any adequate explanation. The panel, in fact, betrayed bewildering indiscretion by overriding even the marking scheme sanctioned by DHE to be followed for the publications in either national or international seminars. Such unseemly deviations from the set norms should beget a few inexcusable questions in the mind of any man of principles. Firstly, if a given panel of interviewers in presence of the principal of a college may unscrupulously do away with the DHE guidelines to justify their whims, will there be even an iota of credibility left for the candidates hoping for only just treatment of merit and genuine scholarship. Secondly, if in future too, such exercise of willful aberration of UGC & DHE guidelines at the behest of the college administration continues to cloud the selection procedures, there shall be hardly any uniform academic procedure which the Research Scholars can adhere to without being susceptible to someone's indiscretion. Moreover, the DHE should extend the requisite authority to the respective principals of colleges as well as the whimsical interviewers, (whoever) dearly wishes to set up a 'preferred' data-base of journals in lieu of the current data-base of global distinction that includes Scopus, Web of Science to name a few. Otherwise, DHE should bring in some regulations to address any lacuna in its existing directives to curb such misplaced exercise of bestowed discretion by the panel of interviewers. In a just world, all the aspirants are entitled for a fair and transparent recruitment procedure solely justified by merit and unfailing scholarship. To conclude, it is our humble request that under no circumstance, the recruitment procedure should be complicit with any form of academic lordship, or transgress its scope for extending intended appeasement for any individual(s).

Puja sharma

ps6532507@gmail.com

Corruption in State

It is the right time for the Government of Assam to care to look upon the recent SI recruitment scam as an eye opener to the need of initiating the process of seeking lists of both moveable and immovable properties of many notorious people of the State who have accumulated huge property by illegal means derived upon pecuniary advantages. It will no doubt be crystal clear to the government and the citizenry as well that most of them possess assets which are disproportionate to the known sources of their income. It is likely that thousand crores of black money may be recovered which will not only enrich the exchequer of the State but also boost its faltering economy. Besides, the assertion - zero tolerance to corruption made on many occasions by the Chief Minister will surely be justified.

Dipen Gogoi,

Jorhat

Rape in India

Through the columns of your esteemed daily I would like to appeal to the citizen of this country to step forward and join together to give justice to Manisha Valmiki and hang the rapists.

Manisha Valmiki, a Dalit girl from Hathras, Uttar Pradesh was brutally gangraped by 4 persons of the upper caste. After the incident she was admitted to a hospital in Delhi where she battled with her life for 15 days and at last succumbed to her injuries on September 29, 2020.

The crime of rape is a major problem in India. I would like to enlighten the data that as per the NCRB statistics, every 16 minutes, a woman is raped somewhere in India, and every four minutes woman experiences cruelty at the hands of her in-laws. In 2019, the country had recorded 88 rape cases every day. Of the total 32,033 reported rape cases in the year, 11% were from the Dalit community.

The other countries have brutal punishments for committing such crimes whereas India has none. The government wants investigation so that the case subsides. We are hoping that this case proceed real fast towards justice.

Pinaki Nandy,

Guwahati.

Inadequate water supply

I read with much concern the news 'When will Guwahati have adequate water supply' published in your daily on 7th October, 2020. That the projects initiated in 2009 are yet to see the light of the day, definitely do not speak well of our systems and practices. The victims of the delay are the lakhs of ignorant and naive citizens, who are managing their daily water requirement by own means. We being the residents of such areas where there is no water supply know that the majority of the deprived citizens have lost faith in the system and with the government and silently curse their fate! Also, we have become too self-centric now to raise our voice unitedly against any government apathy.

It is highly paradoxical that citizens of Guwahati do not get a 24 hours drinking water supply, with mighty river Brahmaputra flowing by. A look at some other cities of India, providing regular water supply to the citizens do not have the luxury of such adjacent perennial sources. Governments elsewhere are spending crores, to lay long pipelines from distant sources to provide citizens with water. The blame therefore naturally points to inefficiency or corruption. But certainly, this government is different and expected to fulfill citizens' basic necessities.

For an aware citizen, not much information is available about status of such projects in Guwahati Development Department's website. It shows only names of the projects in 'Water Supply Projects of Guwahati under Execution'. The project details of only 'South Guwahati West Water Supply Project is provided in GMDA website. We request the government to upload the status of the all other projects in its website so those citizens become aware of the facts.

We were very happy when Guwahati was selected as a 'smart city', thinking that government water supply will be a reality now. Indeed, 'adequate water supply' is a core infrastructure element of a 'smart city'. But it is perhaps not to be with Guwahati! United Nations have framed 17 'Sustainable Development Goals' for countries to achieve by 2030 that includes clean water and sanitation (Goal 6). Government across countries is trying to provide safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030 by investing in infrastructure. In view of this, there should not be dearth of fund for water supply projects.

We appeal to the local political leaders to take ownership of these projects, for the sake of citizens and ensure that the projects are completed without further delay. Local leaders are our only hope now!

R. Goswami,

Guwahati.

Vaccination

It is heartening to know that the government has planned to vaccinate 25 crore people by July 2021 as per the statement of Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan. Doctors, nurses, paramedics and other frontline workers have been placed in the priority list but not senior citizens. The older people, especially people those above 50 years, are more vulnerable to the virus. The government should include them too on a priority basis. The government has asserted that there will be a fair and equitable distribution of the vaccine to all States.

Chandan Kumar Nath,

Sorbhog

Transparent recruitment

Union Minister of State Dr. Jitendra Singh has disclosed that interviews for jobs have been abolished in 23 States and 8 Union Territories of India. The interviews for Group-B (Non- Gazetted) and Group - C posts in the Central Government since 2016 have been abolished. The step was initiated after the suggestion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, 2015, on the occasion of Independence Day. This is a historic achievement and ensures a free and fair recruitment process. However, the cases of manipulations have also reported in writing examinations and online tests conducted for recruitment in some States. The need of the hour is that the Centre and all State governments must build up a strong mechanism for a transparent recruitment process and offer jobs to the eligible candidates.

Amit Singh Kushwaha,

Satna (M.P.)