PATNA: More than 250 school and college students participated in the annual organic paddy transplantation festival organized by NGO Tarumitra on Friday. Patna mayor Sita Sahu was the chief guest. A PowerPoint presentation was made by Margaret Molomoo, who talked about organic farming and its technique. Two varieties of paddy seedlings — Bauna Mansuri and Kunjunju — were transplanted without any pesticides, fertilizers or toxic substitutes in two acres of land at Tarumitra organic farm manually prepared by the students.“The increasing pollution rate and degrading quality of natural resources affect us and also our future generation. Students should take a pledge to save the earth,” Sahu said. The educational institutions which participated in the event included Don Bosco Academy, Mt Carmel High School, Delhi Public School Patna, May Flower School, Kamala Nehru Shishu Vihar, S R Vidyapeeth, Baldwin Academy, Veena Vidya Niketan, Banaras Hindu University, Patna Science College, A N College and Gardanibagh Government Women’s College. Tarumitra founder Fr Robert Athickal, coordinator Devopriya Dutta and volunteer DN Prasad were also present.Magadh Mahila College girls protest: A section of Magadh Mahila College girls led by Yoshita Patwardhan staged a demonstration at the Patna University office on Friday in protest against the demotion of Shashi Sharma, who quit as the college principal recently following the university’s decision to demote her from the post of professor. The agitating students paralysed the functioning of PU office for some time before they were allowed to see the vice-chancellor, Rash Bihari Prasad Singh. The VC told them that Shashi’s demotion was based on the recommendation of the selection committee and the syndicate. Her earlier promotion, along with that of several other teachers, was reviewed following the high court order and under the chancellor’s directive, the VC said.PWC workshop: Patna Women’s College is organizing a workshop on ‘Quality education and challenges’ with the officials of the ministry of human resource department (MHRD) and Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) on Saturday. Joint secretary for higher education (MHRD) Ishita Roy and RUSA’s national coordinator B Venkatesh will also participate.BSEB compartment exam: Altogether 13,074 Class XII students appeared for the Intermediate compartment exam conducted by Bihar School Examination Board on Friday. In the first sitting, 12,590 science students wrote biology paper while 393 commerce students appeared for economics. In the second sitting, 72 arts students wrote philosophy paper whereas 19 appeared for Rashtriya Bhasha Hindi paper. BSEB chairman Anand Kishor inspected a few examination centres in Patna.JD(U) student wing secretary nominated: Chandan Kumar Chanchal, a student of TPS College, was nominated state secretary of Bihar Pradesh Chhatra Janata Dal (U) by its state unit president Shyam Patel here on Friday.

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