NEW DELHI 28 JANUARY 2024 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 28 facebook/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in A Right Royal Deal PLUS: 12 PAGES A Luxury of Waste MAGAZINE R E A D I N G L I ST 2 024 Wordly Pleasures EXCLUSIVE VOICES Local Tastes, Global Palates Pushpesh Pant Ravi Shankar Utkarsh Amitabh Anu Aggarwal Sathya Saran Shankkar Aiyar Makarand R Paranjape Geetha Ravichandran Rama’s Principles for the New Age As Long as You Live, Live Happily AMMA SPEAKS All Plussed Out Today’s Actions Impact Tomorrow Draft UGC guidelines seek to open de-reservation window PRESS CLUSIVE S U B A S H I N I V I J AYA K U M A R @ Chennai THE University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued draft guidelines for de-reserving vacancies meant for SC, ST and OBC candidates in higher education institutes (HEIs) and open them up for the general category if enough reserved candidates are not available. The guidelines for implementation of reservation policy in HEIs was released by the UGC on December 27 and the last date for providing public opinion ends on January 28. The draft states that there is a general ban on de-reservation of reserved vacancies in direct recruitment, but in rare and exceptional cases when a vacancy in Group A post cannot be allowed to remain vacant in public interest, the university concerned may prepare a proposal for de-reservation. To do so, it would have to provide informa- tion like the designation, pay scale, name of the service, responsibilities, required qualifications, efforts made to fill the post, and why it cannot be allowed to remain vacant. While the proposal for de-reservation for Group C and D posts can be approved by the ex- ecutive council of the university, for Group A and B posts, the proposal for de-reservation should be submitted to the ministry of education, giving full details for approval. After approval, the post may be filled and quota may be carried forward, the draft said. ‘CRITERIA VAGUE, NOT ENOUGH SAFEGUARDS’ “The criteria for de-reservation is vague. Universities can state that none of the candidates in the reserved category is suitable and de-reserve a post. De-reservation also doesn’t require a mandatory opinion from the SC/STs/Backward Classes panel,” said Kathiravan, president of TN Universities and Colleges SC/ST Teachers’ Association The draft also talks about shortfall and backlog in reserved vacancy posts and states that universities should try to fill the vacancies by calling for recruitment for the second time as soon as possible. It also permits de-reservation in promotions if sufficient numbers of SC/ST candidates fit for promotion against reserved vacancies are not available. The power to accord approval for the de-reservation of reserved vacancies in such cases is delegated to UGC/ministry of education. Nitish expected to resign today, stake his claim to head the new govt along with the BJP and take oath of office SPECIAL SITTING SC steps in as Calcutta HC benches give clashing orders S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi IN a special sitting on a Saturday, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud stayed all proceedings of the Calcutta High Court related to a case on caste certificate scam in MBBS admission after two benches of the high court issued conflicting orders. The bizarre chain of events began after a single bench of Justice Gangopadhyay handed over the probe in the case to the CBI on Wednesday. A division bench of justices Soumen Sen and Uday Kumar Ganguly stayed the order on the same day . On the following day, Justice Gangop a d h y a y overruled the stay order of the division bench and directed the central agency to go ahead with the investigation. Justice Gandopadhyay accused Justice Soumen Sen of the division bench of acting in the interest of the West Bengal gover nment. Staying fur ther proceedings in the case, the Supreme Court said it will hear the matter again on Monday . During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, said the division bench’s stay order appeared to be without jurisdiction as it was passed without an appeal memo. The West Bengal gover nment told the SC it will appeal the single-judge order directing a CBI probe into the case. INDIA fractured in Bihar, stabilises in UP Akhilesh claims Cong deal on 11 seats in UP, ‘final decision not yet’ R A M A S H A N K A R @ Patna EIGHT-TIME Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is expected to tender his resignation as the head of the Grand Alliance government by Sunday morning and become a nine-time CM later in the day, a source close to him said on Saturday . Before putting in his papers, he will hold a formal legislature party meeting of the JD(U) and then stake his claim to form the new government with the BJP and its allies. The swearing-in ceremony will be held around 4 pm on Sunday, the source said. Initially Nitish along with a few leaders of the BJP will take the oath of office. Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda will be among the prominent BJP leaders participating in the swearing-in ceremony of the new NDA government. On Saturday, the BJP held a meeting of its core committee in the presence of its Bihar incharge Vinod Tawde. Sources said the BJP will collect consent letters from its all 78 MLAs and hand them over to Nitish before staking his claim to form the NDA government. Amid the drama, Nitish invited all JD(U) MLAs to his of- ficial residence in the evening and shared with them the realignment plan. He was busy with his official programmes earlier in the day . Sources said Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan will also be present at the swearing-in. Chirag was initially hesitant but consented after meeting Shah in New Delhi. Both Nadda and Chirag will arrive in Patna from New Delhi on a chartered flight on Sunday . Despite power slipping away, RJD leader and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav put up a brave face, saying ‘Khel baki hain’ (game is still open). The party authorised his father Lalu Yadav to take the final call on the full-blown crisis. Another indication of the Grand Alliance falling apart came for JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar’s blistering attack on Lalu over the railway jobs-for-land scam he and his family are involved in. CITY COURT SUMMONS RABRI, TWO DAUGHTERS N A M I TA BA J PA I @ Lucknow JA I SO N W I L SO N @ New Delhi THE Congress finally got some positive news on seat sharing for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections after bickering with the Trinamool Congress and the AAP. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday claimed the Congress had settled for 11 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh as part of its alliance. “Our cordial alliance with the Congress is off to a good start with 11 strong seats. This trend will move forward with the winning equation,” Yadav said on social media platform X. Last week, the SP did a seven-seat deal with the Jayant Chaudhury-led Rashtriya Lok Dal. The grand old party (GOP), however, was circumspect. “Regarding Akhilesh ji’s X post, let me make it clear that any decision on seat sharing will be taken by our central election committee headed by Mukul Wasnik, “ said UP Congress Committee chief Ajai Rai. At present, the Congress has only one MP from Uttar Pradesh. If it accepts the deal, the SP will be left with 62 of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP Sources said during the initial rounds of . talks, the Congress had demanded 25 seats, or at least 21 seats it had won in 2009. A Delhi court on Saturday summoned former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi and her daughters, Rajya Sabha MP Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav while taking cognizance of the first chargesheet filed by the ED in a money-laundering case connecting the alleged railways land-for-jobs scam. Asking the accused to be present before the Rouse Avenue Cour t on February 9, Special Judge Vishal Gogne noted that “sufficient material” by the central investigating agency for issuing summons to the family members of RJD chief Lalu Prasad. Earlier, dealing with the case, the court had noted that the complaint was “accompanied by a voluminous record.” The case relates to alleged appointments made in the railways in return for land parcels gifted or sold to Lalu’s family when he was railway minister between 2004 and 2009. Earlier this month, a chargesheet was filed in the case, which had also named Hridyanand Chaudhary a former railway employee, , and Amit Katyal, the director of A K Infosystems who was arrested last November. WORLD’S LARGEST CRUISE SHIP BEGINS ITS MAIDEN VOYAGE FROM THE PORT OF MIAMI GOVERNOR’S PROTEST Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Saturday stages a sit-in protest in Kollam district against the police’s failure in preventing black flag protests by SFI students. Khan got off his car and sat on the roadside | PTI | P4 Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, which runs nearly 365 metres from bow to stern, is roughly as long as the Empire State Building is high. It includes seven swimming pools, an ice skating rink, a theater and more than 40 restaurants and bars | P9 WAGES FOR HOMEMAKERS ‘Selfie with Daughter’ man launches ‘Womaniya GDP’ H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh JURY ORDERS TRUMP TO PAY AN ADDITIONAL $83.3 MN TO E JEAN CARROLL Over former President’s continued social media attacks against the columnist on her claims that he sexually assaulted her | P9 THOSE who were thrilled by the ‘Selfie with Daughter’ campaign 9 years back have this coming from the man who promoted it with PM Modi’s active support. Sunil Jaglan, former sarpanch of Bibipur village in Jind district of Haryana, today launched a campaign ‘Womaniya GDP’ to recognize the “unpaid domestic work” being done by women at home. Jaglan is convincing hus- bands and other family members to pay between Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000 per month to housewives/homemakers, as per the financial capability, for doing household chores to their women financially independent. He says has so far convinced 140 families in Jind, Hisar and Nuh districts of Haryana besides Ayodhya and Meerut in UP and Nagpur in Maharashtra. Talking with this newspaper, Jaglan said: “The term GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is always in the news, but have you ever thought about the production of goods and services that remain outside the ambit of the GDP data collection -- the unpaid domestic work done by a woman in a house?” The question set him thinking about a “drastic tax.” The ‘Womaniya GDP’ right now looks like an exciting slogan without much following. However, there are like of Pooja, a married woman from Hisar, who says the campaign inspired her husband who now deposits money to her account every month for her work. Jaglan says only 30% of the 500 families have so far agreed to his “request.” “The purpose is to empower the homemaker so that she makes decisions independently. The initiative will also bring about a change in the patriarchal mindset,” Jaglan said. If approved, the guidelines will be extended to all the central universities, deemed-to-beuniversities, and other autonomous bodies/institutions under the central government or those receiving grant-in-aid from the UGC, central government, or consolidated fund of India. K Kathiravan, president, Tamil Nadu Universities and Colleges SC/ST Teachers’ Association, expressed shock and said that this is the first time such a provision has been suggested for the de-reservation for vacancies in universities. EXPRESS READ CM accepts demands, Maratha quota stir off Activist Manoj Jarange on Saturday called off his indefinite fast for Maratha quota after the Maharashtra government accepted his demands. CM Eknath Shinde announced that till Marathas get reservation, they will be given all the benefits enjoyed by the OBCs. P8 Indian Navy rescues UK oil tanker on fire Indian guided missile destroyer INS Visakhapatnam extended help to a merchant vessel that had a fire accident onboard following a missile attack. The vessel has 22 Indians and 1 Bangladeshi crew onboard. Yemen’s Houthi rebels later claimed responsibility for the attack. P7 Art 370 revocation key for India ties: Nawaz Nawaz Sharif’s party manifesto released ahead of the February 8 elections cites the restoration of Article 370 as a prerequisite for normalising ties with India. “Normalisation of ties with India cannot take place until New Delhi reverses the unilateral measures taken on August 5, 2019, in J&K,” the manifesto states. P7 NAAC to bring major accreditation reforms in higher edu institutes E X P R ESS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Bengaluru THE National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC) on Saturday decided to bring in major reforms in its accreditation to higher educational institutions (HEIs) like colleges, universities and recognised academic institutions. The council has decided to give “binary accreditation” to institutions, which means they will either be accredited or not accredited; and those accredited, will be given levels from 1 to 5 for excellence in research and education. The binary accreditation will replace the process of giving grades to encourage all the institutions to get on board in the accreditation process, thereby creating a quality culture in the higher education system, said a NAAC statement on Saturday . The other reform — to introduce levels — set to take place is the Maturity-Based Graded Accreditation (Levels 1 to 5).’ From Level 1 to Level 4, the HEIs will be marked as “National Excellence”, and for Level 5, they will be given the tag of “Global Excellence” for multi-disciplinary research and education based on different parameters. “The levelled accreditation shall enable Indian institutions to significantly improve their quality and position themselves among global top institutions,” said the executive committee of NAAC, which conducts assessment and accreditation of HEIs to derive an understanding of the quality status of the institutions. The metrics for both binary and maturity-based graded accreditation will focus on processes, outcomes and impact across different attributes of HEIs. The new process will also consider the heterogeneity of HEIs and categorize them based on their vision and legacy. Based on these, the institutions will be allocated categories rather than a one-size-fits-all model, said the release. “One Nation One Data Platform” will also be implemented to ensure integrity and transparency in handling institutional data. The system will improve the validity and reliability of the data through stakeholder validation for the ranking process.
Express Network Private Limited publishes thirty three E-paper editions of The New Indian Express newspaper , thirty two E-paper editions of Dinamani, one E-paper edition of The Morning Standard, one E-paper edition of Malayalam Vaarika magazine and one E-paper edition of the Indulge - The Morning Standard, Kolkatta.