Question mark over EdCET
Nothing generates more interest among students than announcement of the Common Entrance Test (CET) dates as they are the culmination of year-long preparation by lakhs of them to get into courses of their choice. When the Telangana Government announced the convenors for CETs - EAMCET, ECET, PGECET, LAWCET, ICET and PECET -- the students were stunned to see Ed-CET - the most popular after EAMCET - missing.
Interestingly, the academic year of education colleges is almost supposed to end in a couple of months but the government is yet to take a decision on the second phase of admissions into these institutions through EdCET 2016. This has certainly raised doubts among the aspirants whether the 2017 EdCET would be conducted at all! Adding fuel to fire was Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s remark in Assembly that the government could not be expected to give jobs to all the 40,000 graduates who pass out of education colleges every year.
Shocker for State Govt.
The decision of the Union Water Resources Ministry recasting an expert committee to aid the Krishna River Management Board came as no surprise to Telangana government when three members of the panel were replaced.
The State lodged a strong complaint with the Centre expressing doubts over the effective functioning of the committee when it had a chairman and two members who served in different panels constituted by Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee that went into bifurcation of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
While the chairman and another member representing the National Institute of Hydrology were relieved, another member who was a senior official of the Central Water Commission sidestepped on his own. Hope, the new committee will get down to work at least now because the panel was mandated to submit a report within 90 days when it was initially announced in November. It has been tasked with evolving operational guidelines for KRMB, a major dispute between the two lowest riparian States - not a mean task to convince the govts. which are at loggerheads over the utilisation of the river water.
All eyes on judiciary
The recent removal of two IPS and one IAS officers of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT ) cadre by the Centre for their non-performance and corruption charges may not have created any new fear among certain IAS officers working in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. That is precisely because charges levelled against some IAS officers of the two States in cases of corruption investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have not been proved yet.
However, the Centre’s action could have unsettled them at least for some moments, certainly, as they have been charge-sheeted already. “They may not fear from the performance aspect since they are ‘able’ officers for the powers that be but the ghosts from the irregularities aspect will certainly give them a sleepless night or two till they are acquitted by courts,” a retired IAS officer enjoying a post with a whale of time for such talk remarked.
No respite from
heavy bags
The academic year 2017-18 held out hopes for parents that they might not have to burden their children who went to private schools with a heavy load of bags because the government promised to make State syllabus compulsory even in these institutions.
In the midst of ongoing tendering for printing of government textbooks, the School Education Department told the private schools in a hushed tone that they could go ahead prescribing their own syllabus for classes one to five. Their books cost anywhere from ₹1,500 to ₹ 2,500 per child and are a huge load on the backs of children. In contrast, government books are all for ₹ 200.
(R. RAVIKANTH REDDY, M. RAJEEV,
B. CHANDRASHEKHAR, N. RAHUL)
