Haryana Spate of higher education legislation Haryana will have a National Law University, sited in Rajiv Gandhi Education City, Sonepat. In all, 16 Bills, including the National Law University Haryana Bill, 2012, five amendment Bills relating to higher education and the Haryana Private Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2012, were passed on March 9, the concluding day of the assembly session. The National Law University will be managed by a governing executive, academic councils, a finance committee and other such authorities as may, from time to time, be declared. One-fifth of the total seats reserved for Haryana domiciles will be allotted for the wards of land owners whose land has been acquired by the state government for the ongoing Rajiv Gandhi Education City project. Admission into these seats will be made on the basis of merit in the university’s Common Law Admission Test. Delhi NCPCR corporal punishment guidelines Schools should constitute special monitoring cells to take prompt action in cases of physical punishment or harassment of children, according to guidelines unveiled by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in New Delhi on March 5. The guidelines recommend establishing corporal punishment monitoring cells (CPMCs) in schools to hear grievances related to corporal punishment, child sexual abuse, mental harassment and discrimination, without any delay. These cells should forward recommendations to district-level authorities within 48 hours of a reported occurrence. Moreover the guidelines prescribe that all school children should be informed through campaigns and publicity drives that they have a right to speak out against physical punishment, mental harassment and discrimination. According to state government officials, NCPCR has framed the guidelines following a detailed study conducted in 2009-10 involving 6,632 children in seven states. The study revealed that nearly all of the 6,632 children had experienced corporal punishment, 81.2 percent had been subject to outward rejection by being told they were not capable of learning or were exposed to other types of verbal abuse. Speaking on the occasion, Union minister of state for women and child development, Krishna Tirath said: “These guidelines will serve as an important tool for sensitisation and creating awareness on the subject amongst various stakeholders.” Himachal Pradesh Government-NTPC engineering college The Himachal Pradesh government signed an MoU with National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for establishing an engineering college in the state’s Bilaspur district with hydropower engineering as its speciality. The MoU was signed by S.K. Dass, principal secretary (technical education), on behalf of the Himachal government and S.C. Gupta, general manager, Koldam Hydropower Project, for NTPC in the presence of Himachal chief secretary, Rajwant Sandhu, on March 3 in Shimla. Sandhu said the college will cost Rs.100 crore with NTPC contributing Rs.37.5 crore. This will be the first engineering college of its type in India because this is the first time NTPC — which only executes thermal power projects — has undertaken a hydro-power project to promote the 800 MW Koldam project in Bilaspur district. Bihar Microsoft digital literacy project The Bihar state government announced a partnership agreement…
