In a bid to protect the sandalwood trees and check their smuggling from its Jnana Bharathi campus, the Bangalore University Syndicate on Thursday decided to entrust the responsibility of the trees to Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL).
Addressing a press conference after the Syndicate meeting, acting Vice-Chancellor N. Rangaswamy said the terms and conditions would be drawn up soon. “Our efforts to protect the trees (from smugglers) have failed. So we will ask the KSDL to maintain them. Once they mature, which usually takes 12 to 15 years, the KSDL is free to use the trees,” he said.
However, providing security to protect the trees will still be the university’s concern, said R.K. Somashekhar, Registrar (Evaluation), who conducted the meeting.
Mid-day meals
The Syndicate also decided to increase the price of midday meals provided to students and employees. With the MoU with Akshaya Patra having been renewed, students will now have to pay Rs. 5 instead of Rs. 3, while employees will have to pay Rs. 13 from the earlier Rs. 10. A section of the Syndicate stormed out of the meeting expressing discontent over this decision.
Distance education
The Syndicate decided to discontinue some courses under its Directorate of Correspondence Courses and Distance Education ((DCC and DE) owing to lack of patronage. Among these are: Postgraduate Diploma in Rural Management (one application), Diploma in Applied Nutrition and Dietetics (eight), Diploma in Hindi Translation (three), Certificate course in Nutrition and Dietetics (four), Certificate course in Kannada (three), MA in Telugu (one), MA in Urdu (three), MA in Philosophy (0) and MA in Sanskrit (one).
ISRO Chair
The university has appointed B. Manikkan as coordinator for the ISRO Chair, which has not seen any progress since its establishment almost 10 years ago with a Rs. 50-lakh grant from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The Chair, with a present allocation of Rs. 5.5 lakh, will focus on research in space science, technology and application.
