Delhi V-C writes to Maken, assures help to Chand

Delhi University Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh today assured Sports Minister Ajay Maken that all possible help will be provided to India's U-19 cricket captain Unmukt Chand, who has been denied admit card for annual examination due to low attendance.

Singh, while responding to Maken's letter, said that they have asked the St Stephen's College Principal to forward them all the necessary papers so that they could help Chand, who led India to U-19 World Cup win.

"The matter came to my attention two days ago and we have strongly urged the Principal to forward the papers to us at the earliest so that we can assist Unmukt," Singh wrote in his letter to Maken.

Maken had written to the Vice Chancellor yesterday that such episodes were discouraging for young sports persons.

"You would agree that fostering and development of a vibrant sports culture in the country which would ultimately lead to our better performances at the international fora is hurt precisely because of such systemic bottlenecks that only discourage young people from taking up sports but also stifles their career mid-way," Maken's had said in his letter.

.."episode squarely goes against the very spirit of encouraging sports and fitness among the young people, it also defies basic logic by subjecting a student who has gained admission into an institution through a sports quota to be subjected to attendance rule, that force him to choose one amongst sports and academics," Maken's letter said.
Singh, in his reply, also stated that they were discussing a major overhaul of the undergraduate teaching programme of the University.

"Under the proposed structure -- that is expected to be placed before the Academic Council in a couple of months -- participation in sports activities will be accorded credit towards regular Daily Programmes and the students will have the choice of replacing some of the academic courses with a structured recognition of participation towards his/her degree," he said.

Meanwhile, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal has also spoken to Singh as well as Valson Thampu, the Principal of St Stephen's College after India captain M S Dhoni and Maken rallied behind the young cricketer.

Sibal said he requested Thampu if he could use his discretionary powers to ensure that Unmukt could sit for his university exams.

Delhi University rules mandate a student to have at least 33.3 per cent attendance in an academic session after all exemptions, but 19-year-old Unmukt, a first year BA student, could not attend required number of classes owing to his cricketing engagements.