Nation 5THE ECHO OF INDIA�SILIGURI

Tuesday• April 10, 2018

HRD seeks fresh applications forVC post in Visva Bharati University

NEW DELHI, APR 9 /--/The Human Resource De-velopment (HRD) Ministryis inviting fresh applica-tions for selecting a newvice-chancellor for theVisva Bharati University,weeks after President RamNath Kovind overturnedhis decision on the appoint-ment at the behest of thegovernment. The ministryhad asked Kovind to recon-

sider his assent to the ap-pointment of SwapanKumar Dutta as the head ofthe university inSantiniketan of whichpresident is the visitor andprime minister is the chan-cellor. The president hadalso scrapped the panel ofthree finalists forwardedby the ministry. "We havelaunched a fresh search forthe VC's post. Anybody

having outstanding aca-demic record throughoutand a minimum of 10 years'experience as a professor ina university system or in anequivalent position in a re-puted research or aca-demic administrative or-ganisation can apply for it,"a senior HRD ministry offi-cial said.

The Visva Bharati Uni-versity has been function-

ing without a regular headfor two years. The universi-ty's acting Registrar,Saugata Chattopadhyay,had written to the HRDministry last month flag-ging the administrative dif-ficulties being faced by theinstitution, as well as a gen-eral policy paralysis andzero recruitments. The ear-lier committee headed by SK Srivastava, VC of North

Eastern Hill University(NEHU), which had recom-mended Dutta's name alongwith P N Mishra of the In-stitute of ManagementStudies at Devi AhilyaVishwavidyalaya (DAVV)in Indore and SankarKumar Nath of the geo-physics and geology de-partment at IIT-Kharagpurfor the top job, now standsdisbanded.(PTI)

VADODARA, APR 9 /--/A group of farmers today pro-tested against the consultation meet organised here for ac-quisition of land for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai high speedrail project, alleging that it was called at a "very short no-tice". The National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRC),the special purpose vehicle executing the bullet trainproject, had informed affected farmers regarding today'smeeting by publishing a notice in newspapers yesterday.The notice stated that a "second stakeholder consultation"meeting would be held to facilitate the process of land ac-quisition, but farmers objected to it, claiming that therewas, infact, no first stakeholder meeting itself. Protestingfarmers, who arrived at the venue of the consultation meet-ing at Mahatma Gandhi Nagar Gruh, a town hall here, de-manded that NHSRC officials share with them details of thefirst round of the meeting.

"The agenda and purpose of the meeting, which officialsare calling the second round, is not clear. It was called at avery short notice and nobody knows when the first meetingwas held," said Krishna Kant, a farmers' representative.Calling it a rushed affair, he said that since notice for themeeting was published a day earlier, it was difficult for alarge section of aggrieved farmers to reach the venue. Amemorandum submitted to the district collectors ofVadodara and Bharuch by protesting farmers said the in-tent of the notice was to "merely dispense with a formality"rather than informing affected farmers.

Dwaipayan Dutta, a consultant representing theNHSRC, said that despite farmers complaining that theywere not intimated in advance, 60-70 farmers did turn upfor the meeting. He alleged that some "opposition party"members tried to disrupt the meeting. "We have begun dis-trict-wise consultation meetings for farmers whose land willhave to be acquired. We will have taluka-level meetings af-ter this.

The exercise is to determine the compensation thatfarmers will have to be paid for their land," Dutta said. Heinformed that 800 hectare of land will be acquired from5,000 families in the state, with Vadodara accounting for 747families and 163 hectare of land. The project was launchedlast year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japa-nese counterpart Shinzo Abe and it is expected to be readyfor commissioning by 2022. Japan has extended a soft loanfor the project which is a joint venture between the IndianRailways and that country's Shinkansen (literally meaningnew trunk line) technology that runs its high speedtrains.(PTI)

NEW DELHI, APR 9 /--/ Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman today said there is agrowing interest among various countries inthe Indian missiles and the government wantsto sell them to the friendly nations. "The in-terest in Indian missiles is definitely grow-ing and we are addressing it," Sitharaman said.She added India wants to sell them to the"friendly nations." Citing negotiations overaspects like cost, the defence minister saidarriving at a decision on a deal is at times "frus-trating," but the interest in the Indian mis-siles is "sustained." Sitharaman was speak-ing at an event organised by the Confedera-tion of Indian Industry. Several countrieshave shown interest in the Indian missiles.Countries like Vietnam are keen on buyingsupersonic Bramhos missile from India.

The defence minister said she will ad-dress the defence attaches posted in Indianmissions abroad to encourage them to mar-ket the capabilities of the Indian manufac-turing experts. The missions and embassiesof all nations have a defence attache, usually

AHMEDABAD, APR 6 /--/Social activist TeestaSetalvad and her husbandJaved Anand today ap-peared before the cityCrime Branch to recordtheir statements in a case ofalleged misappropriation offunds received by her NGOfrom the Union HRD Minis-try between 2010 and 2013.Setalvad and Anand werequestioned by police offi-cials for almost six hours at

Teesta Setalvad, husband questioned by Gujarat policethe Crime Branchheadquarter here, said As-sistant Commissioner of Po-lice C N Rajput. The couplealso submitted some docu-ments as demanded by theCrime Branch for the pur-pose of probe, he said. "Werecorded their statementstoday. While they have sub-mitted some documents,they assured that remainingdocuments will be givenlater. We may call them

again if needed," saidRajput. When asked if theCrime Branch would probeCongress leader KapilSibal's role in the case (as hewas the Union HRD ministerat the relevant time), Rajputsaid they have not found anyinvolvement of the Con-gress leader so far. Yester-day, the Bombay High Court,while allowing Setalvadand Anand's ̀ transit antici-patory bail' plea, had asked

them to appear before theAhmedabad Crime Branchtoday. T he Crime Branchregistered a complaintagainst Setalvad and Anandlast month, alleging thatthey used fraudulent meansto secure funds of Rs 1.4crore from the Union HumanResource DevelopmentMinistry between 2010 and2013 through their NGOSabrang Trust. The FIR wasregistered on the basis of a

complaint filed bySetalvad's former associate,Raees Khan Pathan. Thecase was registered againstSetalvad and Anand undervarious sections, including403 (dishonest misappro-priation of property), 406(criminal breach of trust),and 409 (criminal breach oftrust by public servant, orby banker, merchant oragent) of the Indian PenalCode.(PTI)

Guj farmers protest against bullettrain land acquisition process

Indian missiles evince interest: Sitharamana senior armed forces official, who takes careof the country's defence needs with the par-ticularly nation he is posted in. Similar is thecase with India.

"I am not asking them to be marketingexperts but they should be able to talk a loton what India's defence manufacturers aredoing to enhance the capacity of the coun-try's armed forces," This will create an in-terest among various countries about theabilities of Indian defence equipment manu-facturers and "in a way sell India withoutbeing marketing experts," she said.

"Defence attaches should not only iden-tify those defence procurement for us to buybut (they should) also be able to speak aboutwhat we are producing so that the nationsoutside can look at India as a producer's' mar-ket also, rather than a buyer's market," shesaid. Pointing out the cumbersome and time-consuming nature of the procurement proc-ess, the defence minister said by the time adecision for procurement is finalised, thereis little fund left to buy the equipment.

SRINAGAR, APR 9 /--/ Ayear after embroidery arti-san Farooq Ahmed Dar wasused as a "human shield" bythe Army in Jammu andKashmir, former JawaharlalNehru University studentleader Shehla Rashid todaysaid Chief MinisterMehbooba Mufti shouldstand up for its people. "He(Dar) was out to cast his vote...A year later he is yet to comeout of trauma. There is no

Mehbooba should stand up for people: Shehla on 'human shield'doubt the chief minister(Mehbooba) is legitimatelyelected, but we expect her tostand up for the people,"Rashid told reporters here.

On this day last year, ateam led by Major LeetulGogoi tied Dar to the bonnetof an Army jeep to escapeheavy stone pelting in centralKashmir's Budgam district,the image going on to makeglobal headlines and spot-lighting once again the civil-

ian-security polarisation inthe Valley. Rashid also con-demned police actionagainst students during pro-tests against civilian killingsin Shopian last week and ap-pealed to the authorities toallow student elections in thestate. "There are apprehen-sions about this or that hap-pening if these elections areheld. Nothing of that sort isgoing to happen... These stu-dents are intelligent.

Shashi Tharoor MP interacting with opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, A K Antonyand V M Sudheeran during Hunger strike for the solidarity of dalits at KPCC office,in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday