Celebrating Independence Day

TAKING A SALUTE: Vice-Chancellor Prof. Seyed E. Hasnain and Registrar C P Mohan Kumar (back) saluting during the national anthem.

CELEBRATION: University school children performing.

Photo: Rahul V. Pisharody

Song of Bansuri Mesmarises UoH

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia playing the bansuri
Photographed by Shiva

Dhanusha Damodaran

Bansuri (bamboo flute) maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia mesmerised UoH with his recital on the Sunday (August 8) evening. His ragas of yamen and praharee accompanied by Vijay Ghate on Tabla and Rukmini Devi on Tambura enthralled the gathering. Maestro’s bansuri cast a magic spell on the audience who couldn’t resist from making rounds of applause.

The maestro was here to inaugurate VIRASAT-2010 organised by the Hyderabad Chapter of the ‘Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst the Youth’ (SPIC MACAY). Kiran Seth, the founder and Chairman of SPIC MACAY, lit the lamp as he was asked to do so by the maestro.

Pandit Hariprasad was honoured by Prof. Seyed E. Hasnain, Vice Chancellor of the UoH. The UoH subchapter of SPIC MACAY was started in 2007 providing a good platform to organise cultural programmes involving many internationally acclaimed artists.

Ms. Kavita Dwibedi, Odissi performer, Mr. C. P. Mohan Kumar, Registrar of UoH, Prof. B. Anantha Krishnan, Faculty Co-ordinator, Rajeev Vellichetti, Cultural Coordinator of the UoH, Vikas Nagrare, Vice-Chairman to SPIC MACAY, Kumar Ashish, Coordinator to Subchapter of SPIC MACAY UoH, were also present.

Ramzan mess to be opened on the Campus

C. Jamsheel

A special mess is all set to be opened in UoH men’s hostel-C mess in accordance with Ramzan schedule.

Certain students of Muslim community of the UoH approached the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Seyed E. Hasnain, requesting him to open a special mess during Ramzan (August 13 to September 12). The Chief Warden, B. S. Sarraju, gave consent to open the Ramzan special mess after the Vice-Chancellor asked him to deal with the representation.

“Students have been demanding for a special mess to suit the Ramzan timings since long. Finally the authorities have given permission for opening the Ramzan special mess. Student Union and wellwishers helped us to make this happen,” said P. Mohammed, a representative of the students.

More than two hundred people, including students, teaching and non-teaching staff would observe fast during Ramzan in the campus. While university will provide mess hall , students have to hire crockery and a cook.

“Students are asked to pay Rs.1000 each in the initial stage. Food will be served both at Ifthar (the time of breaking the fast) and in the wee hours during the holy month. The students will take responsibilities of the day-to-day affairs of the mess,” added P. Mohammed.

The special mess will be opened on August 12 till the end of Ramzan.

Candlelight march against flames in Valley

ARNIMA RAO

A good number of students of University of Hyderabad on Thursday night, held a candlelight peace march against the unabated violence in Kahsmir valley. Under the aegis of the Students Federation of India (SFI), they displayed placards and banners expressing their solidarity to the victims of violence.

The students silently walked in the campus until their final halt at the shopping complex. Addressing the gathering, Zameer, a Mphil. student from Kashmir, of Comparative Literature, observed that Kashmir has been under siege. He found fault with the authorities and blamed the police for not acting effectively. “Because of this inactiveness, the death toll is increasing every passing day,” Zameer said.

A student form Manipur, Suresh, who is currently doing his research on Armed Forces, made parallels between the Kashmir and North Eastern states. “Ongoing killings of civilians during protests and fake encounters have shattered the hearts of the old and young. Unrest is seen in both the places and death has become a common sight,” he maintained.

The students raised slogans such as “awaaz do hum ek hai,” before concluding the programme.

Students showing their solidarity
Photographed By Rahul

Cheer up folks…Our voices to go on Air soon…

Mohammed Anvar & Arnima Rao

The top ranked journalism department in the country has added another feather into its crown! Literally, it is going to give voice to the hitherto voiceless.

Think about a voice that will make your morning worth it and fill you in with information about today’s programmes on the campus. Think about a friend striking the perfect cords on his guitar which the entire campus could listen to. Wait before you think that all these are dreams.

Yes. It is a dream come true situation for the people who worked hard and tirelessly for the past five years to set up a radio station on the University of Hyderabad (UoH) campus. Finally, only a few formalities to be completed and UoH hopes to go on air by the end of the monsoon semester. This will be the first campus community radio in the State.

“But the programmes are not only meant for the student community. It will cater programmes to all the community which comes under the 10-km radius of the radio station,” says the brain behind the project, Prof. Vinod Pavarala, Dean of SN School of Arts and Communication.

Though the duration, genre and anchors of the programmes are not decided yet, there will be about two to three hour air-casting at the initial stage and the idea is to reach out to all kinds of audiences. The programmes will be for the youth after all. People from the nearby community could also come and do a small programme for this radio. “It will reach the Hi-tech city too. If a techie listening to it may also come and do a programme,” the Dean elaborates.

The radio station is going to be run and managed by the students specifically. There will be a Station Manager to monitor things. A small group of people from the university will look into the day-to-day affairs of the station. “At the same time there will be a university level Radio Council comprising of experts from different walks of life and headed by Pro-VC to look into the policy matters,” explains Prof. Pavarala.

“The present radio stations are not using the full potential of the concept. We are going to air cast different kinds of programmes,” says Prof. Pavarala. He aims at involving people from nearby places by sharing their views and experiences to the students. In this way the radio will not only be just for entertainment but also educational, creative and informative. He wants to make them feel that it is their radio as well!

So gear up for the big opportunity as SN School offers that one platform to make people hear our voices and make our presence felt.

Photographed by Midhun Raj U.R.

BBC Hindi Holds Discussion

NIKHIL MG

BBC Hindi Radio conducted a discussion at University of Hyderabad on July 28 on ‘the state of higher education in India today’. The discussion revolved around issues like infrastructure in colleges and universities, absenteeism among lecturers, adherence to examination schedules and India’s bright chances of becoming a global super power.

The discussion was attended by the Vice Chancellor Prof. Seyed E. Hasnain, deans of various departments and students. In his opening remarks, the VC said: “In the past few years, education was not given as much attention as it required in India. The number of colleges and universities in the country are inadequate. We do not have resources to set up enough colleges with appropriate infrastructure.”

Talking about the facilities being provided in UoH, a science student (nano-technology) observed that, “we have all the necessary facilities in the university and the labs are well equipped. In spite of this, I think that there is a need to encourage sciences among students because there seems to be a trend where everyone wants to do an MBA to earn more.”

Prof. Alok Pandey, Head of Department of Hindi, was of the opinion that India can become a super power only if it strives to progress through its national language. This opinion was contested by many students who believed that progress can be achieved by thinking and acting globally. “Striving for progress in one’s national language only means limiting the possibilities of becoming a super power. Working towards the progress of the country’s poorest man will help attain sustainable development,” a student observed.

Talking about absenteeism among lecturers in UoH, a few students complained that they often faced this problem. Majority of the participants, however, thought otherwise. Students also opined that the university strictly adheres to examination schedules regardless of any political disorder in the city.

“The question that one needs to answer now is whether Indian higher education is producing enough people to make it a super power? And I strongly believe it is.” commented Venkat Ramana, Dean of Management.

(This reporter is one among the participants of the BBC Hindi discussion).

Workshop on Molecular Modelling and Drug Design

NIKHIL MG

A week-long workshop on Molecular Modelling and Drug Design is being conducted at the Centre for Modelling, Simulation and Design (CMSD), UoH, from 2^nd to 7^th August 2010. This workshop is sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology.

“The workshop is being attended by approximately 40 speakers and 100 participants from across India. 25% of these participants include faculty members from various academic institutions, 15% comprises of scientists from pharmaceutical and Biotech companies, 40% of the participants are PhD scholars and the remaining 20% are M-tech, B-tech and MSc students from UoH,” observed Dr. R.S. Rathore, Organiser of the workshop, Department of Biotechnology, UoH.

The workshop is designed in such a way that the participants would spend about 50% of time in learning the basic concepts of computational chemistry with emphasis on drug design and discovery. The other 50% of time would be spent in acquiring hands-on experience on useful chemistry tools applied in drug design and drug discovery.

The workshop is successfully bringing together an assortment of drug designing companies in the week to come. Some of these well known companies include Schrodinger Inc., ACD/Labs, Tripos etc.

“It is a one-of-its-kind opportunity for the participants to learn all the major tools in molecular modelling and drug design. I hope that the participants utilize this opportunity to the maximum extent,” said Prof. Reddanna Pallu, Organiser of the workshop, School of Life Sciences, UoH.