NET applicants in a quandary

NEW DELHI, Oct 17: The University Grants Commission’s (UGC) attempt towards automation to simplify the evaluation system may actually deny many candidates a chance to sit in this year’s National Eligibility Test (NET) to be conducted at the year end.

The UGC this year, instead of advertising the net examination date and forms through the newspapers and the employment news, has introduced a new system whereby the forms are being sold only through four centres namely UGC net offices at Delhi, Pune, Madras and UGC eastern regional office, at a payment of Rs 450.

What this actually means is that students will have to travel to their respective UGC offices in their zones to collect and fill these application forms.

Besides, this decision of the UGC is likely to prevent a number of candidates from the economically poor sections of the society from sitting in these examinations, as they may not afford to travel to these centres.

Sources in the UGC office reveal that originally it had decided to sell the forms through fifteen centres, but somehow the choice fell on four centres only.

Said a senior official of the UGC on the condition of anonymity, "an internal committee of the UGC had recommended that it should sell the net forms through fifteen centres. But somewhere along the line the choice fell only on four centres and these alone are now selling them."

Besides, he said many a ‘non-serious student’ used to apply for the net examinations that "added to our work." It is a step towards disusading those students from applying. UGC secretary Dr C P Srivastav, explaining the change from the original format that was in vogue since 1984 to the present one, said, "firstly, this is simply an attempt towards automation and secondly, in the past few years a lot of litigation was taking place against us," he said adding, "the students used to sit in examination in those courses in which they had not done their masters."

"The universities, for no fault of their own, accepted application forms of these students and many among them qualified the NET. The plea they extended while accepting their forms was that the syllabus was identical for both the courses. But that is not true," he explained.

Dr Srivastav continued,"in Managment, for example, there are numerous streams and a person qualifying the NET under any one of them would apply for a job in the university, though technically he is qualified for a single stream which he has studied. This is what we are trying to curb,"he added.

"Since we are trying to switch over to a new system, some flaws and lacunae are now visible and we will try to sort them out,"the secretary added.

Former president of the Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA), and now its executive member, Dr Vijender Sharma was, however, critical of the UGC’s decision.

"This is an attempt to take higher education away from the reach of the commonman. How else can one explain it?"he asked.

The argument that a switch over is taking place, stands no merit but is just a guise to hide its real intentions, he charged.

"The move is but a step towards limiting the number of students who appear in these examinations," said Dr Sharma.

"The Government is surreptitiously trying to commercialise higher education and this action of the UGC is no different," he added. (UNI)

Third world to be hit most by impending global water crisis

NEW DELHI, Oct 17: If you were preparing for a scenario of being submerged under the rising water levels with the global warming, another impending crisis awaits on the flip side, in form of a world water crsis by 2025, according to a study done by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

The crisis will hit most to the developing countries says "Global water outlook to 2025: averting an impending crisis," a report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) released on World Food Day yesterday.

The leading research think tank said the crisis is due to rapid population growth and urbanisation in developing countries, water use for households, industry, and agriculture will increase by at least 50 per cent in the next 20 years.

Increased competition for water will severely limit the availability of water for irrigation, which in turn will seriously constrain the world’s production of food, it added.

As the immediate fall-out of the current trends in water policy and investment, "we will soon face threats to the global food supply, further environmental damage, and ongoing health risks for the hundreds of millions of people lacking access to clean water."

Using sophisticated computer modelling, the report projects that by 2025, water scarcity will cause annual global losses of 350 million metric tons of food production-slightly more than the entire current US grain crop.

"Unless we change policies and priorities, in twenty years, there won’t be enough water for cities, households, the environment, or growing food," cautioned Dr Mark Rosegrant, lead author of the report and senior research fellow at IFPRI.

"Water is not like oil. There is no substitute. If we continue to take it for granted, much of the earth is going to run short of water or food-or both."

Declines in food supply could cause prices to skyrocket, and higher prices will lead to significant increases in malnutrition, since many poor people in developing countries already spend more than half their income on food.

"For hundreds of millions of poor farmers in developing countries, a lack of access to water for growing food is the most important constraint they face," said Frank Rijsberman, Director General of IWMI.

"If countries continue to underinvest in building strong institutions and policies to support water governance and approaches to give better access to water to poor communities, growth rates for crop yields will fall worldwide in the next 25 years, primarily because of water scarcity." According to the report, it would take only a moderate worsening in global water policy to bring about a genuine water crisis.

"If fovernments continue to cut spending on crop research, technology, and infrastructure, while failing to implement institutional and management reforms, global grain production will drop by 10 per cent over business as usual levels, equivalent to losing the entire annual grain crop of India." it added.

Lack of adequate investment and poorly planned systems will hamper progress in providing water and sanitation services for hundreds of millions of people.

"Currently, more than 1 billion people around the world do not have access to a safe water supply, and adequate sanitation is even less available," noted Dr Joachim Von Braun, Director General of IFPRI.

"Lack of clean water and sanitation is a major cause of disease and child mortality. While world leaders recently agreed at the world summit on sustainable development in Johannesburg to cut in half the number of people without access to clean water by 2015, this goal will not become a reality unless Governments redirect their water policies to meet the needs of poor people."

Fundamental changes in water policies and investment priorities could achieve substantial benefits and sustainable use of water. For example, the report recommends pricing water to reflect its cost and value.

"Although water subsidies are commonplace in developing countries, they tend to benefit relatively wealthy people," explained Dr Peter Hazell, director of environment and production technology at IFPRI.

"Making affluent people pay for water would encourage them to conserve. It would also free up financial resources to provide clean, safe water to poor people."

The report also recommends increased investment in crop research, technological change, and rural infrastructure to boost water productivity and growth of crops yields in rainfed farming, which will account for one-half the increase in food production between 1995 and 2025.

"We need to invest in water conservation, for example, using innovative low-cost, small-scale irrigation technologies - such as a five dollar bucket and drip kit or manually operated treadle pumps -that allow smallholder farmers to irrigate crops using less water, and deliver water to crops when it is needed, " said Rijsberman.

"A number of useful new small-scale technologies and community-level water management innovations have emerged in recent years. Governments must learn from these practices in order to implement practical solutions for using less water in agriculture. Without conservation, aquifers, lakes, and wetlands will be further depleted."

"A crisis is not inevitable," said Rosegrant. "The world can both consume less water, and reap greater benefits. To achieve sustainable water use, we must act now. The required strategies take not only money and political will, but time as well." (UNI)