To speed up faculty recruitment, govt may kill interviews

speed up the process of appointing faculty to state run colleges, the Rajasthan government is planning to discontinue interviews and instead select teachers on the basis of written exams, higher education minister Kiran Maheshwari said Wednesday.

“Recruitment under Rajasthan Public Services Commission (RPSC) is a lengthy process. Moreover, we have to maintain the 1:3 ratio, where (minimum) three people are interviewed for one post. Now, we plan to simplify the process. We will send a proposal that the written exam should be the yardstick for selection. Interviews will be ended,” Maheshwari said.

The minister was replying to a query on the large number of vacancies in government colleges and the delay in filling them

Maheswari said that there were 1248 vacant posts in various colleges. Of these, 117 posts have been filled up while selections have been made for another 184. The interview process to fill the remaining posts is underway.

Her department has also asked the RPSC to start the examination process to fill another 939 vacancies that are coming up. “We hope to fill all the vacant posts March 31 next year,” she said.

Addressing a press conference on four years of the BJP government, she said the government will launch a ‘GuruShishya Samvad’ programme, under which college students can discuss with their teachers the issues and problems related to their institutes and prepare a roadmap to resolve them. The programme will be held in one nodal college in each district where students selected on merit and elected members of students union would participate in discussions with the lecturers.

The programme will be launched from Poddar College in Jaipur on December 11 and replicated in other districts later.

Highlighting the achievements of her department, she said the government will establish a college each at 22 sub-divisional office (SDO) headquarters where there are no such institutes. The state has 46 SDO headquarters.

Maheshwari said the government has allotted land for 60 new colleges.

The grant given to colleges for building construction has been doubled --- from Rs 3 crore to Rs 6 crore. The five state universities have been given Rs 20 crore for infrastructure development in three phases, she added.

In addition, under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a centrally sponsored scheme, Rs 200 crore have been given to 100 government colleges and five state universities have been given Rs 100 crore for infrastructure development.

Regarding state universities, she said the department has sanctioned filling up of more than 500 teaching and 700 nonteaching posts by March 31, 2018.

JAIPUR:To

has the highest number of habitations in India where the groundwater is contaminated by fluoride, a senior official said Wednesday.

Of the 13,492 habitations affected by fluoride in the country, Rajasthan has 6,695, principal secretary, public health engineering and ground water department, Rajat Kumar Mishra said.

This is a major problem. The department is making efforts to provide safe drinking water in the affected area, he said.

The areas where the groundwater has high presence of fluoride include those in Jodhpur, Nagaur, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Bhilwara districts, he said.

Mishra also said that the situation of salinity in groundwater in the state was also as grim. Of the 14,317 habitations in India affected by high salinity in groundwater, 12,800 or 89.40 per cent are in Rajasthan, he said.

The state also accounts for 57.72 per cent or 1,143 of the 1,980 habitations in the country where the groundwater contains high nitrate content, he said.

Mishra said that the state government was committed to deal with the issues.

Setting up 1,964 RO water purification plants, 970 solar water units and water conservation works under the Mukhyamantri Jal Swavlamban Yojna (MJSY) are steps forward to tackle the situation, he said.

JAIPUR:Rajasthan