Saturday, March 27, 2010

In the News

Open University and Kusumagraj Pratisthan hold a joint statewide workshop for budding writers
Nashik: YCMOU, with a view to commemorating its decennial year, has initiated various programs. One such initiative is the budding writers workshop. Newly published writers/poets participate in a four-day workshop to hone their talent; to polish them into better writers/poets is the motivation behind this workshop. In this workshop, 40-50 new writers will be participating. YCMOU in collaboration with Kusumagraj Pratishthan Nashik shall hold these workshops annually at Mumbai, Pune, Konkan, North and South Maharashtra like Kolhapur, Nagpur, Nashik, Marathwada and Goa.

Maharashtra’s rural and urban writers lack in expressing their thoughts/ideas on paper and nor is there much information that is organized as to how to author a literary work. This is why a need of such a workshop has been identified. If we want to develop a thinking, intellectual society then we must spawn prolific writers and thinkers. In this respect, YCMOU and Kusumagraj Pratishthan are together making an effort to change this. Talented writers/poets need to polish their talent, they need direction towards awakening social consciousness in their literature and it is this reason that makes it necessary for such a workshop to be held all across Maharashtra. Also, from 1-3 January, the first such workshop was organized at YCMOU’s headquarters.

Whosoever, writer/poet wishes to participate in this workshop must bring along his or her self-authored work. On this work, several noted authors shall give their comments and feedback. For this creative process to take place, the authors must write and submit their authored works. Noted authors/poets/playwrights from all over Maharashtra shall be invited to provide their valuable suggestions/feedback etc to the participants of this workshop. To participate in this workshop, contact Mr. Vijaykumar Paikrao, Director, Student Welfare Services & Extramural Studies Centre, YCMOU, Nashik.



Liberate schools are necessary to nurture Marathi
Panaji: “students want to study in English medium schools and so the number of children attending Marathi medium schools is decreasing. So liberate schools are necessary to enable the children select the subjects they wish to learn and also to nurture Marathi language” opined the ex central agriculture minister and the chairperson of Konkan Marathi parishad, Adv Ramakant Kalap.

In association with Kusumagraj Pratishthan and Dainik Gomantak, Yashwantrao Chavan Open University had organised a three day story writing, poetry writing and play writing workshop. Advocate Kalap inaugurated the workshop. Prof. Dadasaheb More of the external students cell of the Open University, Suresh Naik, the executive editor of Gomantak, Shri. Vishwanath Shinde, the head of the Marathi department, Shivaji University, Dr. Somnath Komarpant, ex head of Marathi department of Goa University and Subhash Naik, manager Gomantak were present on the occasion.

Adv. Khalap further said, “When the students do not get proper education, it affects the whole society. For this we have to widen the horizons of formal education to include the subjects that the children like and enjoy. Students lag behind in subjects like science and mathematics and so they drop out of schools. So the concept of liberate schooling has become very important.”

On its bi-centenary and to encourage socially aware writers, the Open University organised various workshops at different places. The first workshop was conducted in Nashik. This is the second workshop being conducted in Goa. In this three days workshop, the participants were guided by Prof. Dadasaheb More (story writing), Prof. Vishwanath Shinde (poetry writing), Dr. Somnath Komarpant (creative writing), Shri. Vijaykumar Naik (play writing) and by prof. S.S. Nadkarni (novel writing). Graduate and postgraduate students and other writers participated in this workshop. Upcoming writers presented their works and also wrote on the themes given by the speakers. All the works were put on display.


All public educational endeavors must focus collectively on women’s empowerment – Dr. Sudhir Gavhane
Nashik, 18th January, 2010 – YCMOU’s Vice Chancellor, Dr. Sudhir Gavhane, on the occasion of Savitribai Phule’s anniversary, at a function organized by the Savitribai Phule Chair, exhorted all public educational institutions to come together to make a collective effort in bringing about women’s empowerment which is absolutely essential in society today.

At an S.M.R.K Women’s University event, Mrs. Devyani Pharande, Deputy Mayor, Nashik Municipal Corporation, as chief guest of the event honored Mrs. Jayashree Rode, Mrs. Lata Waghere, Mrs. Smita Soni with the Savitribai Writers Award. At this event, Devyani Pharande said that the current scenario is conducive for women and women must make a mark at being empowered through independence.

This program was inaugurated by Mr. Y.K Baramatikar, Managing Director, Dr. B.R Ambedkar Khadi Gramudyog Association (GoI), Nashik. This event was organized by YCMOU’s Registrar Shri Prakash Wani, Mrs. Dipti Deshpande, Prinicipal, S.M.R.K Womens University, Mrs. Tejaswini Kadam and Mrs. Vijaya Patil.


Dialogue is the key to stop students’ suicides

Speech by Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Sudhir Gavhane at programme organised by the Nashik Municipal Corporation & Division of the Maharashtra State Primary Education Committee.

A race for marks is responsible for the death of the students. If the warmth in the relationships is maintained, the mindset of the students can be changed. Parents should emphasise on a more meaningful dialogue with the children. They should not burden their wards with their own expectations which make them only exam orientated and not knowledge oriented. If the atmosphere at home is cheerful and happy, the children find it easier to talk to their parents. This communication helps the parents to understand the children’s problems. Along with the parents, the teachers also need to change their perspective of judging the students according to their academic prowess. Recognising and nurturing the extra-curricular skills of the students helps them in their over-all development, which in turn helps the society to develop as a whole.

Even today, there is a strong belief in the society that each student should only focus on academic prowess and that other fields are of lesser importance. There are many students who are good in sports, music, dance and other extra-curricular activities. They should be given proper guidance and opportunities. It is important to nurture good values. The development of the country should be comprehensive. Just economic growth is does not make the country prosperous. It should be relative with social and cultural development too. Today most of the parents want their children to become doctors or engineers. If he or she has the capability or the skill to become a doctor or an engineer, it should be nurtured. But if not, the parents should not feel dejected. The child should be encouraged to excel in other areas instead of feeling burdened under the parents’ wishes. Creative persons are born in each era. Very few persons try to walk on the un-trodden paths where their creativity is nurtured and cherished. We need to think about this and create spaces for such creative minds to grow. We need an efficient administration to encourage creativity. And the administration should also be just along with efficient.

Progress gives rise to the expectations of the people. For various reasons, the rate of suicides is more in progressive states like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh etc. The burden of parents’ expectations, changing values due to changing lifestyles are all contributing to the rate of suicides.

Along with the suicides of students, the rate of suicides of married women is also very high. Women work in all the fields alongside men today. But the mindset of the society has still not changed much. Unfortunately, men are not able to match the speed at which women are becoming independent. Women have to take the responsibility of their jobs, their homes and the future of their children. But it is still expected that the women give enough time to housework, after doing a full-time job outside. To escape this stress, many women commit suicide. We need to change our social structures to help accommodate working women. The growth and progress of our society depends on it. There should be better communication at home with the women where the women are able to share their problems with their family members. Also the family should change their mind-set and share in the housework.

Instead of protecting the children as if they were fragile butterflies, they should be allowed to experience the good and the bad aspects of life. They should be taught to take success and failure in their stride. Parents grow and learn along with the children. They should also learn through their children’s experiences.

According to a survey conducted by the central crimes department, in 2007 the number of suicides was 1, 20,360. Suicides committed due to fear of exams were 1976 persons, out of which there were only 890 boys and about 1086 girls. Suicide because of failure in careers was 1273 persons out of which there were 156 men and 1117 women.


Mahatma to Mahatma March
The division of the society on the lines of caste, religion, gender and financial capacity is a dangerous. Mahatma Gandhi had made the freedom struggle against the British all inclusive. There were no distinctions of men-women, urban-rural, religions, castes when they were in the struggle together. Mahatma Phule gave a strong response to the issues of untouchability and gender bias in his writings and set an example for the people to follow through his actions. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar fought for the right to drinking water for all and awakened the society against injustice. In a country where such stalwarts were born, caste distinctions, gender biases are still rampant.

With the goal of awakening the masses to eradicate such biases, various social organisations have undertaken the project ‘Mahatma to Mahatma equality march’. The march which commenced on 2nd January from Phulewadi, on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Phule, will conclude on 28th January at Bapu Kuti, Sevagram. Water from the pond freed by Mahatma Phule and from the drinking water stream freed for the untouchables by Ambedkar, will be carried throughout the march and taken to Sevagram. The 900 kms march will take 57 days and will go through 110 villages from 8 districts. The marchers will hold dialogues with college students and villagers during the course of the march.

41 social organisations from Mumbai, Kolhapur, Pune, Aurangabad, Ichalkaranji, Ahmednagar, Jalna, Raigad etc have participated in the march. Some other social organisations too have extended their support to the march. YCMOU is always a part of such social activities. It will take care of the financial aspect of this programme.


Science Journalism Workshop
Nashik : National science and Industrial communication conference, Vidnyan Parishad and Yashwantrao Chavan Open University together conducted a three days workshop on scientific writing and journalism from 28 to 30 January, at the Open University.

Dr. K.K Dwivedi inaugurated this workshop. Mr. Abhay Ozarkar, chairman Media Centre and Ms. Aditi Morankar of Red FM attended the inauguration. Dr. Manoj Kataria, of the National Science and Technology Parishad, ex chief of the National News Bureau Dr. Vinod Varshane (concepts of scientific writing), advisor to national science and technology parishad, Dr. P.K Ingle (translation and editing of scientific writings), Girish Pimple (principles of good science fiction writings) etc were the experts who guided the participants. Dr. V.B Gaekwad of the science department Pune University addressed the gathering in the concluding session of the workshop.


Marks attained at degree should be considered the same for 12th standard: Administrative Court Ruling
Nashik: The degree granted by the Yashwantrao Chavan Open University is at par with a degree granted by any other university. Also, it should be considered that the marks obtained by the student at degree level, will be the same for 10th and 12th standard. This ruling was passed by the administrative court. Rajendra Dattatraya Ghunkikar attained B.A degree from the open university but was disqualified for the post of forest officer as he had not passed HSC (Higher Secondary Certificate.) Shri Ghunkikar appealed in the court against this injustice.

Since Shri Ghunkikar had failed his HSC exam, he acquired his B.A degree from the Open University and applied for the post of forest officer. But he was not able to mention his 12th standard marks as he had failed his HSC exam. So he was not selected for this post. Shri Ghunkikar filed a case against this and the court ruled that Shri Ghunkikar’s HSC marks should be considered equivalent to the marks he had obtained in his degree examination and he should be considered eligible for the post.

So that these incidences do not recur, the court announced that the marks obtained at degree level should be considered the same for 10th and 12th standard exams and the candidate should be considered eligible for appointment. The court asked the chief registrar and administrative office to make the necessary amendments. The Open University has sent this proposal to the government. This will definitely benefit the students.


Non-creamy layer certificate mandatory for B.Ed courses
Nashik, 11 January 2010 – YCMOU’s B.Ed program selects meritorious students to admit them to the course due to paucity of seats. According to the state rules, any Scheduled Tribe (ST) category students applying for admission must produce his caste certificate at the interview stage.

Vimukt Jaati (VJ), Nomadic Tribe (NT – B,C,D), Special Backward Castes (SBCs) and Other Backward Castes (OBCs), when applying for such reserved quota, must produce their non-creamy layer certificate. If they fail to produce the said certificate, their application may be summarily rejected. Thereby, it is the message of the Open University that students hopeful for admission must apply and have their caste certificate in hand while applying for admission. In this regard, please log on to http://ycmou.digitaluniversity.ac/ for more information.


YCMOU invites entries for the Shramseva Award 2009-2010
Nashik, 4 February – Every year YCMOU invites applications for the Shramseva Award. This award includes a cash sum of Rs. 10,000/- a memento and a certificate.

Every year on 9th May YCMOU honors a woman social worker or an NGO with Shramseva Award, who have worked specifically in the field of Adivasis, farmers, laborers, the sick, orphaned etc. For the same, interested candidates must send their relevant information/ proposal before 30th March 2010 to Mr. Vijay Kumar Paikrao, Director, Student Welfare & Extramural Studies Centre, YCMOU, Nashik. For further information please call on (0253) 223 0127.


YCMOU emerges victorious at national level youth competition
Rohatak (Haryana), 15th February- Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and Human Resource Development Ministry (HRDM) and Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana in a joint collaboration conducted a National level Youth festival in which the team that represented YCMOU secured third place in the mimicry and miming competition. With this victory, the Open University has now reached the top among peers nationally.

YCMOU had won the general championship in mimicry and miming art in the Western Zone Inter-University Youth Festival held in Mumbai earlier this year. The students who represented the university at this event were Yogesh Supekar, Poonam Sawant, Ujjwala Shingade, Govind Khairnar, Rupesh Dhadve, Nitin Kambli, Yogesh Mohite. The students were guided by Pramod Shelar and Chandrakant Shejwal.

The honorable Vice-Chancellor Dr. Sudhir Gavhane, the Registrar, Mr. Prakash Atkare and Mr. Balasaheb Ghorpade also supported the students.


YCMOU’s ‘Bhajan Competition’ sees Adarsh High School securing first prize
Nashik, 30th January – Celebrating Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Day, YCMOU organized a ‘Bhajan Competition’, which saw 15 schools from Nashik district competing for the prize. Prizes were organized for individual singers as well as group singing.

In the group competition, Adarsh Secondary School won the first place, the second place went to Rasbihari International School and the third place was awarded to Loknete Shankarrao Waje School, Sinnar and Daycare Center School, Nashik, together. Consolation prize was given to Bhonsala Military School, Nashik. The individual prizes, some of which have been jointly awarded to two deserving candidates are as follows –


  1. Roshni Shah (Rasbihari International School, Nashik)/ Aishwarya Aditi (New Era English School, Nashik) – First Prize
  2. Poorva Dahale (Adarsh School, Nashik)/ Eeshwari Dasakar (Navrachna School, Nashik) – Second Prize
  3. Mridula Kulkarni (Adarsh Secondary School, Nashik)/ Harshad Golesar (Loknete Shankarrao Waje School, Sinnar) – Third Prize
  4. Ute Janardhan (Tambe Parivar, Sinnar) – Fourth Prize
The judges who judged the competition were Shri. Balasaheb Deshpande, Ragini Kamtikar, Charudutt Dixit, Shripad Gholap, Satish Marathe and Praful Chikerur. Dr. Jaideep Nikam (Head of Mahatma Gandhi Chair), Shri Tejas Beldar, Jagdish Kulkarni, Mrs. Gujar, Shri. Shejwal worked hard to make this event a success.



Health Calendar
The health department has prepared a health calendar under the health bank project which gives pertinent information about health issues. It gives information about smokeless stoves, children’s health, benefits of aloe vera, home-made salines, first aid and recognising signs of under-nourishment and hygiene with appropriate pictures.


Prof . Vaibhav Jadhav’s thesis receives an award
Satara: In the Maharashtra State Secondary Teachers training conference (MESTA), prof Jadhav’s thesis was declared the best thesis. In the conference which was held in the high school of Patan, Koyna education society, prof Jadhav presented his paper on ‘the role of information technology communication in education training’. Prof. Vijaykumar Paikrao was elected to be a member of MESTA in this conference. This appointment is for three years.


YCMOU Today
A in-house journal ‘Samvad’ is published by the University to keep the students, teachers, trainers and centre facilitators informed about the various activities of the University. Two more publications Yashwant Sandesh and YCMOU Bulletin have also started from January 2010. The University has also launched a new portal http://ycmou.digitaluniversity.ac with a link to YCMOU Today to keep the readers informed about the various activities and projects taking place in the head office and regional centres of the university. This gives information about the tours of the VIPs, various programmes, the projects conducted by different departments and important news, incidents and happenings. We are sure that this endeavor will also receive a good response from the readers. We welcome your feedback and suggestions.


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