Guest lecturers across Karnataka seek regularisation after new hiring order
Bengaluru: Guest lecturers across Karnataka are expressing concerns over the Department of Collegiate Education’s recent notification inviting new applications for the 2025–26 academic year. Many lecturers, who have served in the same roles for several years, are reportedly being overlooked, despite their long-standing contributions to higher education.
Members of the State First Grade Colleges Guest Lecturers’ Welfare Association, quoted by The New Indian Express, have raised alarms after the department issued recruitment calls 4-5 times during the 2024-25 academic year, bypassing existing lecturers who have already proven their merit. They argue that fresh appointments are being made despite the Supreme Court's rulings allowing the regularisation of long-serving temporary staff in various sectors.
“These appointments are happening at the cost of experienced lecturers who have been working tirelessly for years. Instead of recognising our service, the department is treating us as replaceable,” TNIE quoted Santhosh NS, secretary of the association, as saying.
Guest lecturers are also expressing frustration over their compensation. Despite performing duties equivalent to full-time staff, often working 15-18 hours per week, they allege that they receive a fraction of an assistant professor’s salary.
“As per UGC Regulations 2018 and 2019, guest lecturers must be appointed on the same basis as full-time faculty, and their remuneration should reflect their workload - up to Rs 1,500 per hour and Rs 50,000 per month,” stated the association.
“We are 10,300 guest lecturers doing the work of full-time staff, but without recognition or security. The system is built on our backs, yet we remain invisible. We were selected through interviews and merit lists. We have been working for over 15-20 years. If this isn’t eligibility for regularisation, what is?” TNIE quoted Lokesh PC, president of the association, as saying.
The association also pointed out that while Siddaramaiah had advocated for the regularisation of guest lecturers during his time as Leader of the Opposition, as Chief Minister, he has reportedly overlooked their service and sent many lecturers home.
Citing examples from other states where long-serving guest lecturers have been retained regardless of UGC qualifications, the association urged the Karnataka government to prioritise experience and loyalty over rigid formal criteria. They have demanded that the recent notification be withdrawn, allowing current lecturers to continue in their roles, with new appointments made only for vacant positions.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Iran reimposes restrictions on Strait of Hormuz, accusing US of violating deal to reopen it
Cairo (AP): Iran swiftly reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, reimposing restrictions on the critical waterway on Saturday after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iran-linked shipping.
Iran's joint military command said on Saturday that “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state ... under strict management and control of the armed forces.” It warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the US blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.
The announcement came the morning after US President Donald Trump said that even after Iran announced the strait's reopening on Friday, the American blockade “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the US, including on its nuclear programme.
The conflict over the chokepoint threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy after oil prices began to fall again on Friday on hopes the US and Iran were drawing closer to an agreement. Roughly one-fifth of the world's oil passes through the strait, and further limits would squeeze already constrained supply, driving prices higher once again.
Control over the strait has proven to be one of Iran's main points of leverage and prompted the United States to deploy forces and initiate a blockade on Iranian ports as part of an effort to force Iran to accept a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire to end almost seven weeks of war that has raged between Israel, the US and Iran.
Iran said it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels after a 10-day truce was announced between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. But after Trump said the blockade would continue, top Iranian officials said his announcement violated last week's ceasefire agreement between Iran and the US and warned the strait would not stay open if the US blockade remained in effect.
A data firm, Kpler, said movement through the strait remained confined to corridors requiring Iran's approval.
US forces have sent 21 ships back to Iran since the blockade began on Monday, US Central Command said on X.
Truce in Lebanon could help US-Iran peace efforts
------------------------------------------------------------
The ceasefire in Lebanon could clear one major obstacle to an agreement. But it was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a deal it did not play a role in negotiating, and which will leave Israeli troops occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.
Trump said in another post that Israel is “prohibited” by the US from further strikes on Lebanon and that “enough is enough” in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The State Department said the prohibition applies only to offensive attacks and not to actions taken in self-defence.
Shortly before Trump's post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the ceasefire in Lebanon “at the request of my friend President Trump,” but that the campaign against Hezbollah is not complete.
He claimed Israel had destroyed about 90 per cent of Hezbollah's missile and rocket stockpiles and added that Israeli forces “have not finished yet” with the dismantling of the group.
In Beirut, displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.
The Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon reported sporadic artillery shelling in some parts of southern Lebanon in the hours after the ceasefire took effect.
An end to Israel's war with Hezbollah was a key demand of Iranian negotiators, who previously accused Israel of breaking last week's ceasefire with strikes on Lebanon. Israel had said that the deal did not cover Lebanon.
The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen US service members have also been killed.
