Annual Award Ceremony at Mount Abu Public School
children. Principal, Jyoti Arora congratulated the parents and students.
celebrated its Appreciation Day to praise the talented students for their splendid performances in the scholastic and co-scholastic areas. The program began with an elegant dance performance by the young students wherein they created a captivating aura setting the tone for the programme. The students were awarded certificates and trophies for their hard work and sincerity in scholastics and co-scholastic areas.
Principal, Ashok Kumar Pandey in his address expressed enormous satisfaction and pride over these thriving achievers. The list of honours also included awards like ‘Best Samaritan Award’, ‘Principal’s Award for Steady Achievement ‘, All Rounder’s Award’, and many more. Headmistress, Anju Gupta, Incharge Senior School, Puneet Duggal, Incharge Middle School and Dimple Puri were proud of the young students.
hosted a three day mega event to showcase the way technology has been integrated into the school curriculum and the work done as the MS showcasing school. The programme included training sessions in using the latest Microsoft tools, display of work done in school and a showcase presentation. Dr. Vinnie Jauhari, Director, Education Advocacy, Microsoft, was the chief guest. Also present were Swati Kaushal, ManagerEducation Advocacy, Microsoft, Vikrant Satsangi, Manager - Microsoft Innovation Center and Student Outreach, Higher Education, Rachna Swarup, a School Leader in different parts of India and the Middle East and Jyoti Chaba, Education Evangelist, Columnist and Co-Founder De Pedagogics. Principal, Mohini Bindra presented the vote of thanks.
organised the 3rd Inter-School Dance Competition with the theme ‘Exuberance of Seven Sisters’. Total thirteen schools participated in the event, representing various states of North East India. Trustee, Dinesh Gupta and Director, S.K. Bhattacharya were the honoured guests for the occasion. Mt. Abu Public School, Sec. 5, Rohini was voted the best performance. Second in the row was Venkateshwara Global School, Rohini and third prize was bagged by N.K.B.P.S., Rohini. Principal, Prashant Parashar presented the welcome address and Jyotsana Sharma, Incharge, Sec. Deptt. proposed the vote of thanks.
Gen Rawat, who had served in Jammu and Kashmir extensively, said if people in any country lose fear of the army, then the country is doomed.
“Adversaries must be afraid of you and at the same time your people must be afraid of you. We are a friendly army, but when we are called to restore law and order, people have to be afraid of us,” he said.
At the same time, he asserted that maximum restraint is being maintained while handling the situation in the Valley.
Gen Rawat said that as the Army chief, it was his duty to lift the morale of the army personnel in Jammu and Kashmir and he did it by awarding Major Gogoi.
“As Army Chief my concern is morale of the Army. That is my job. I am far away from the battle field. I cannot influence the situation there. I can only tell the boys that I am with you. I always tell my people, things will go wrong, but if things have gone wrong and you did not have malafide intent, I am there,” he said.
Gen Rawat said there was a ploy to break the trust between various security forces, and Major Gogoi could not have refused to provide security when polling agents had sought security assistance.
“Tomorrow elections have to be held in Anantnag and similar things may happen. If the army does not respond to call for assistance, then the trust between the people whom we are protecting, police and army will break.
“That is something I cannot allow to happen. This is what the militants want. It can create a divide between the army and other security forces,” he said.
The Army Chief said he had a broad idea about what was going on in the Court of Inquiry into the Gogoi incident, and that is why he went ahead with awarding the Major. “I know what is happening in the COI. It is being finalised. What do we punish him for.”
He said armed forces have the right of self defence and Major Gogoi could have opted for firing at the crowd but he chose not to resort to it.
Farooq Dar, who was tied to the jeep, says he is not a militant or a stone thrower, and was only returning home after casting his vote in the by-election when he was hauled away. He says he still suffers from physical and mental trauma after being paraded on the jeep’s bonnet with a sign slung around his neck, warning stone pelters of the consequences.
The Army Chief said just four districts of South Kashmir were disturbed and it was incorrect to say that entire Kashmir has gone out of control.
“It will have to be a composite solution. Everybody will have to get involved. Army’s role is to ensure that violence does not take place and the common man who is not indulging in this (violence) is protected,” he said, when asked about the solution to the Kashmir issue.
He also emphasised on the need for taking harsh measures to stop infiltration and counterterrorism.
The Army Chief also wondered why not much noise was made when young army officer Lt Umar Fayaz was killed by militants when he was on leave.
Asked whether there should be a political initiative to reach out to the Kashmiri people, the Army Chief said it was for the government to decide, adding such initiatives were taken in the past as well.
“Has political initiative not been taken in the past? What was the result, you had Kargil...,” he said.
To a separate question, the Army Chief said he does not anticipate a “limited war” with Pakistan. media sites through virtual private networks (VPN) and encrypted messenger services such as Signal.
VPN allows users to go incognito, and was extensively used in the restive Kashmir Valley after the government blocked 22 social media websites for a month since April 26.
If Kashmiris dodged the ban with technology, people in Sarsawa have a bridge to go to.
The BJP, which is trying to gain a toehold in the state and won its first seat in the last year’s assembly election, criticised the slaughtering of the animal while the Congress asked its cadres to use restraint during protests.
BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan tweeted the video of the slaughter, saying it was the “peak of cruelty”.
Youth Congress activists defended their move, saying it was a natural form of protest. “The Centre is denying food to the people, it is the biggest cruelty,” Youth Congress leader Rejil Makutty said.
The CPI(M) criticised the incident. “It is a thoughtless act and it will only help Sangh Parivar outfits. It is sad that Youth Congress activists stooped so low for publicity,” MB Rajesh, party MP, said.
Though Kerala is one of the few states where cow slaughter is not banned, animal lovers said “such brazen acts” glorify cruelty towards animals and demanded action against Youth Congress activists.
The Centre’s move to ban cow slaughter, which will hurt millions of poor farmers and squeeze supplies to the country’s ~1 lakhcrore meat industry, is being seen as a move to push the BJP’s alleged Hindutva agenda, and has been criticised by several states.
As protests mounted in Kerala, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the Centre couldn’t draw up a menu and change the food habits of people.
“Today it is saying you can’t eat beef, tomorrow it can say no to fish also. We will not allow this to happen in our state,” the chief minister said, adding the decision would leave many people jobless. The state government might challenge the notification.
Beef accounts for 60% of the total meat consumed in Kerala.
Since most of the cattle come from the neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Kerala meat traders fear the notification will embolden Hindu fringe outfits and hit supply leading to a shortage of meat in the state.
“But there were too many of his fellow-drivers at the spot,” said Guddu. “So they warned Ravinder that they will be back, and left in another e-rickshaw.”
Around 8 pm, they returned with a large group of friends. “While a few were armed with iron knuckles, one came swinging a towel that contained large stones. Without warning, they fell upon Ravinder and thrashed him for two to three minutes. He stumbled and fell into a puddle of dirty water, but their assault didn’t end,” said Manoj, another e-rickshaw driver.
A few in the vicinity tried to stop them, but failed.
“I tried to intervene too, but they began thrashing me instead. I barely managed to escape and call Ravinder’s family,” said Manoj. The attackers fled by the time the victim’s brothers and mother reached the spot.
“Ravinder could hardly talk, but he told me that the students he encountered earlier in the day were among the attackers. We first took him to our house at the nearby Kishore Market to administer first-aid, and then rushed him to the hospital. But he was declared dead on arrival,” Vijender, the victim’s brother, said.
DCP (North-West) Milind Dumbere said the two students leading the attack reportedly went to the Kirori Mal College after the initial squabble.
“We are investigating if they are students of the institute,” he added.
A murder case has been registered, and multiple teams have been deployed to hunt the culprits down. Police also visited the college on Sunday, but to no avail.
“Police have contacted us, and we are assisting them in the investigation. We don’t know if the students in question belong to our institution, or were visiting to take the end-of-semester examinations,” said Dinesh Khattar, the principal of Kirori Mal College. education and colleges determine their marks cut-off for various courses depending on the school results.
But Delhi University college principals said a dip in cut-offs was unlikely. Colleges often demand abnormally high marks, sometimes 100%, to study popular subjects such as maths, history and economics.
That won’t be a problem at least for Raksha. She scored full 100 marks in three subjects, including English, and lost just one mark each in history and psychology.
“I want to study political science in Delhi University’s Lady Shri Ram College, Miranda House or Jesus and Mary College. I am waiting for the first cut-off,” she said.
Her marks are better than last year’s topper, science student Sukriti Gupta, who scored 99.4%.
Sunday was special for Chandigarh, where science student Bhoomi Sawant of DAV School got 99.4% to rank second in the country.
The city’s Mannat Luthra and Aditya Jain, classmates from Bhavan Vidayalaya School, jointly took the third position. Both scored 99.2% in commerce.
Delhi government schools outperformed private schools in the city for a second year in a row.
The pass percentage for government schools was 88.27% — 9% higher than private schools.
The number of students achieving more than 95% in the Delhi region, including schools in the national capital, has dipped from 2,927 in 2016 to 2,326 this year. This is a first in seven years.
Delhi University principals said it will do little to keep college cut-offs down as the number of students scoring above 95% continued to rise in the country — from 9,351 in 2016 to 10,091 this year.
“The campus colleges will definitely see a jump in cut-off for most courses,” said RP Rustagi, officiating principal of Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC).
“The fact that the number of students scoring 95% above in Delhi has decreased won’t impact the cut-off as we get applications from across India.”
But there will be some such as 17-year-old Japjeet Kaur of BCM School in Ludhiana, who scored 96.4% in financial market management. She is busy packing her bags to pursue her bachelor’s degree in commerce in Australia.
In accordance with the court order, the CBSE declared its results on Sunday by tweaking marks from the total score of students. A number of states felt cheated, though they didn’t say that in as many words.
Punjab education minister Aruna Choudhary said marks moderation hides the “actual calibre” of a student.
“It should be scrapped as it would affect other boards. CBSE should let students know their actual capacity and accordingly they would choose their streams and make their careers.”
Officials in Karnataka, which has nixed moderation, said the southern state’s students might find it difficult to get admission in Delhi University colleges this year.
The state board’s pass percentage recorded a dip of 5% — from 57.2% in 2016 to 52.38% this year. This was the worst performance in Karnataka since 2012.
West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee suggested that the CBSE scrap the policy next year.
“Otherwise, it will be unfair for students of state boards that haven’t gone for moderation. Boards yet to do away with moderation should do it. There should be a uniform policy,” he said.
CBSE officials clarified that marks of high-scoring students were not increased. But those who fell short by “two-three marks” to reach the minimum grades for clearing the exam were adjusted.
The board’s pass percentage dipped from 83.05% in 2016 to 82.02% this year. Also, there’s a marginal dip in the number of students scoring above 90% — down from 63,387 last year to 63,247 this summer.
“We have only carried out moderation to bring uniformity in the evaluation process … No spiking of marks has been done in the garb of moderation,” a senior CBSE official said.
But 10,091 students scored above 95% marks, 740 more than last year, despite not getting the advantage of moderation.
The marking policy doesn’t apply to students scoring 95% and above.
The increase in scorers in this bracket might push up the cut-off marks for admission to Delhi University colleges. The first cut-off for most popular courses in DU was above 95% last year.
Delhi University will offer 56,000 seats in undergraduate courses this year.
More than a million students from 10,678 schools affiliated to the CBSE wrote the class 12 finals this year.