Letter to THE EDITOR: CCE-main exam

CCE-main exam

The APSC (Assam Public Service Commission) announced the dates for the CCE (Main) 2022 examinations. According to the schedule, the exam will be held on June 8, 9, and 10, 2023. The tentative schedule for the exam was in June. The AASU urged the APSC to defer the exam as the dates would clash with the postgraduate students’ semester exam.

The step taken by the APSC is indeed a saviour for a large number of candidates whose postgraduate semester exams clash with the earlier tentative APSC Main exam schedule. There are always ways to solve problems if the authorities concerned are willing to do so.

Topo Singha,

Milan Nagar,

Barbari, Guwahati

Governor-government tussle

State governors are consistently in the news. Recently, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose rubbed the state government the wrong way by paying "surprise" visits to state universities. Tamil Nadu and Kerala are the other states that are miffed by the governors' "excessive interference" in the functioning of universities. Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin was very keen that state governments wrest control of the vice chancellors' appointment process. The governor is the ex-officio chancellor of state universities. Generally, a state governor is the constitutional head of the state; he is expected to act on the advice of the state cabinet in line with Article 163(1) of the Constitution. Several court judgements have unequivocally underlined this aspect.

So far as matters regarding the state universities are concerned, at least the governor thinks he or she is vested with absolute power, and that's not exactly true. The very idea of appointing the governor as chancellor was to shield the universities, which are considered temples of higher learning, from political interference. Then it was thought that the governors, with their high learning and impartial outlook, would infuse sense and seriousness into the day-to-day administration of the state and would help smooth the process of vice chancellors' selection. But as the post of governor became a safe haven for old and retired politicians, the rot set in. Men and women with a particular ideology who would readily toe the line of their masters—the union government—shattered the sanctity of governorship, and the rest is history.

Dr Ganapathi Bhat,

(gbhat13@gmail.com.)

May Day

Labour Day is celebrated on the May 1 in many countries of the world, including India. The day is dedicated to the labourers and workers. Labourers around the world toil hard to make a living. A special day has been dedicated to them to celebrate their hard work and determination.

Jubel D'Cruz,

jubeldcruz@yahoo.com.

Climate change

the menace

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), India is expected to pay the most for the consequences of the climate crisis. Aside from extreme weather events like flash floods and widespread wildfires, the country frequently experiences long heatwaves and droughts that deplete the country's water supplies and jeopardize crops. The North-West and South West regions have been dealing with a prolonged wave of scorching and record-breaking heat since 2020, which was the hottest and driest month recorded in 130 years. Residents were subjected to temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius for several days in a row, with surface land temperatures reaching up to 60 degrees Celsius in some areas. Experts are unanimous in their belief that this unprecedented heatwave is a direct result of climate change.

VijayKumar H K,

(hkvkmech1@gmail.com.)