Widen your horizon

Interdisciplinary courses expose students to diverse fields of knowledge and provide a platform for holistic learning

Anisha.Sahijwala@timesgroup.com  11.07.2018  TOI

Gone are the days when a particular discipline solely focussed on one subject or method. The world today is a cultural, economic, and social potpourri that is constantly changing and demanding that its constituents cope with the change too.

Today, one needs a diverse set of skills, which a rigid discipline fails to offer. We are constantly bombarded with information, which we need to assimilate or discard depending on our needs in real-time. Hence, the need for interdisciplinary courses is on the rise.

Interdisciplinary courses expose students to a lot more than their regular curriculum. Any interdisciplinary course has a huge advantage over a pure disciplinary course. The core difference between the two is that the latter makes a person more adaptable. Several interdisciplinary programmes have received an overwhelming response from students and teachers alike, thanks to the variety they offer. A classic example is courses in mass media offered by many universities.

The beauty of such programmes is that it exposes students to several streams like pure arts, liberal arts, fine arts, commerce and management at one go. They also learn film-making, research, history, advertising and journalism. This exposure encourages them to choose a field that they are most comfortable with and pursue a post-graduation in the same.

Interdisciplinary courses provide a platform for holistic learning. They create better opportunities for the learner and prepare him/her to successfully face the challenges ahead.

With the increase in diversity of roles and the recent economic changes, the demand for freshers with a broad mindset and technical and specialised skills in the management and finance sectors is also on the rise. While a number of students looking to make a career in this sector continue to opt for the traditional B.Com. degree, universities across the country are now offering a multitude of professional degree courses that enable a better understanding of the industry while opening up a number of job prospects. Also, interdisciplinary courses make students more employable. This is because most of these courses focus on live projects and seminars beyond the syllabus, in comparison to pure disciplinary courses that usually focus on theory.

Rajini, AIADMK on top of agenda in BJP’s ‘Mission 2019’

Shanmughasundaram.J@timesgroup.com

Chennai:11.07.2018

BJP president Amit Shah’s cryptic statement about Tamil Nadu being among the most corrupt states in the country may have created some political ripples, but senior leaders admit that AIADMK and actor Rajnikanth were very much in the saffron party’s scheme of things for forging a strong alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Much of Shah’s political speech targeted UPA and there was no mention of AIADMK, pointed out state BJP leaders. Ahead of Shah’s tour to Chennai on Monday fora party meeting to draft a TN strategy for the general elections, BJP national general secretary Muralidar Rao said Rajini would play a significant part in the party’s poll plans for the state.

Rajini’s preference for ‘spiritual politics’ would suit BJP’s Hindutva ideology, state leaders said. “There has been no open talk about alliance matters yet,” said an office-bearer of the party, who attended a meeting of senior leaders with Shah on Monday.

“But we read the mind of our leader during the meeting. It’s a clear message that our options are open. Rajinikanth and AIADMK are definitely on the top of the party’s list and even the DMK is not being ruled out,” said the leader.

BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan said that the party president had insisted on developing and strengthening all the microlevel committees and roping in representatives from all the dominant linguistic and caste groups.

“We will discuss about the alliances once we strengthen our base. We are aiming at increasing the booth level committee members to 1.25 lakh. We are half way to achieving it. But we are not ruling out any possibility,” she said when asked about potential alliance partners AIADMK and Rajinikanth.

The state BJP would strive to fulfill its Tamil Nadu Mission to have a strong presence in all the 66,000 booths for the coming election. But, it is keen on having superstar Rajinikanth with his huge mass appeal or a party like the AIADMK “that has widespread and deep rooted base” in Tamil Nadu or both.

“Such a combination will help us strengthen our base in the state. We are working on other options too,” said another leader, who attended the meeting.



‘Shah speech was poorly translated’
Chennai:

Seeking to play down BJP president Amit Shah’s criticism that Tamil Nadu was the most corrupt state in the country, the ruling AIADMK on Tuesday said the BJP leader only meant electoral corruption and it was not aimed at the government. Senior minister D Jayakumar said Amit Shah’s speech was poorly translated during the party event held in Chennai on Monday. “A national leader visits the state to strengthen the party and propagate his party’s principles, like any other party. He would have talked nicely about the government. I think the translator got it differently,” the minister said. The BJP president talked about cash for vote and AIADMK had nothing to do with it, he said. “DMK is notorious for its Thirumangalam formula (the January 2009 byelection in this assembly constituency was marked by allegations of voter bribing). There is also another ‘Token king’ (referring to allegations of voter bribing against T T V Dhinakaran in the December 2917 R K Nagar byelection). Amit Shah would have talked about it,” said the minister. Meanwhile, TNCC chief S Thirunavukkarasar said in Madurai that the BJP had no base in Tamil Nadu and Shah’s statement that Tamil Nadu was a corrupt state was highly condemnable. TNN

Mobile ban makes Meenakshi temple more hospitable

Padmini.Sivarajah@timesgroup.com

Madurai:11.07.2018

The ban on use of mobile phones at the Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple has turned out to be a blessing in disguise as pilgrims are now moving faster without hindering the movement of others. The temple draws thousands of devotees, including tourists, every day.

After the fire ravaged the Vasantharayar Mandapam within the temple in February this year, the Madras high court had suggested the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department to takes steps to control the use of mobile phones within the temple premises as a security measure.

Special locker facility has been set up at the five-tower entrance for safekeeping of cellphones which the devotees bring along with them to the temple. The facility can store 8,000 cellphones at a time, with 40 employees deputed to take care of them.

Joint Commissioner of the temple N Natarjan said that managing the crowds within the temple has become easy after the mobile phones were banned. “They move faster now. Earlier, our employees faced problems with some pilgrims who were trying to take videos of deeparathana. All that has come to an end,” he said. Natarajan says that this is a good model to be implemented in other temples also.

An employee at the cellphone keeping centre said that the only problem was the entire process of collecting the details of the phone as well as the owner, which is done manually by noting down on a paper and giving a carbon copy of it to the customer. “Processing will be faster if it is computerised,” he said.

A photographer has been appointed by the temple to give anyone have their visit to the temple photographed. Earlier, when mobile phones were allowed, almost everyone used to click pictures including selfies at the temple. Now only about 100 pose for a snap by the temple photographer.

“People have become so obsessed with their phones. Some come out in half-an-hour, anxious over the safety of their phone. Anyone coming to this temple knows that going around in less than an hour is not possible,” said a temple employee.


NO PHONE ZONE: The temple draws thousands of devotees, including tourists, every day

Hurried Tamil Nadu Lokayukta Bill makes a mockery of its people

Jayaram Venkatesan  11.07.2018

The way the Lokayukta Bill was introduced and hurriedly passed on the last day of the state assembly session gives an inkling about the intention and effort that went into it — making one wonder whether it was done to protect the corrupt or to fight corruption.

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 was passed in Parliament after a significantly large people’s movement and following a series of consultations. Section 63 of the act clearly stated that every state shall pass a Lokayukta Act within a year of the central act coming into effect. However, Tamil Nadu had no intention of doing so until the Supreme Court asked them to implement Lokayukta and report progress by July 10.

On Monday, the draft bill was placed in the assembly and passed within a few hours without much discussion and zero amendments. Multiple requests from civil society to place the draft bill for public view were not heeded. The need for Lokayukta is to have an independent investigating agency as the present body, Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), is under the control of the state government. This basic point has been defied in Tamil Nadu’s Lokayukta Bill.

The Lokayukta Bill passed in the assembly is just a copy of the central act with few changes. While the Lokpal has several flaws, the Lokayukta Bill has made it worse. One of the most important requirements of independence in selection and appointment of staff has been ignored. The head of the Lokayukta in Tamil Nadu will be appointed by the chief minister, assembly speaker and opposition leader, making it convenient for the ruling party to have a person of its choice as head.

In contrast, the Lokpal selection committee had the Chief Justice of India and an eminent person selected by the other four apart from the Prime Minister, Speaker of the Lok Sabha and leader of the opposition. Second, with respect to appointment of officials and staff, the Lokpal Act and several other states have given the power to the head of the institution. In Tamil Nadu, this power too rests with the government.

While making inquiries about elected representatives will be done by the Lokayukta, the preliminary investigation of all Group A, B, C, D officials is to be done by the vigilance commission, which is under the state government. For Group A and B officials, the commission will submit a report to the Lokayukta, which will conduct a detailed inquiry if needed. For Group C and D officials, the vigilance commission will decide on the next course of action. This makes the investigation meaningless and dependent on the state. In such a case, the DVAC should have come under the Lokayukta. Further, the Lokayukta after inquiry will forward the report to the competent authority in the government for action. This means the body in TN has no independence in terms of functioning. Lokpal and states such as Bihar, Odisha and Karnataka have their own prosecution wing to chargesheet the accused and prosecute in a special court. Absence of these provisions has meant the Lokayukta in Tamil Nadu will be toothless.

The state government also imposes a limitation of four years regarding filing of complaints from the occurrence of alleged corruption. States like Bihar have no such time restrictions, while Odisha and the Lokpal Act allow for seven years.

States like Odisha and Karnataka, and the Lokpal Act mandate declaration of assets of public servants every year, but the Lokayukta in Tamil Nadu has no such provision. Exempting matters related to local bodies, transfers, postings and contracts from investigation raises serious doubts over the bill.

The bill must be returned by the governor as it lacks the essence of an independent investigation agency.

(The author is convener of the NGO Arappor Iyakkam)

Email your feedback with name and address to southpole.toi@timesgroup.com

Copnversation On Education

‘Politicking in educational institutions should TOI stop’

TOI Kick-Starts Series Where Experts Discuss Problems, Gaps And Solutions In Higher Edu
toi 11.07.2018

The Centre on Monday granted the status of ‘institution of eminence’ to six universities making them free from the regulations of the University Grants Commission. None of the institutions from Tamil Nadu made it to the list. In an interview, head of the selection panel, former chief election commissioner

N Gopalaswami,  tells Pushpa Narayan how the lack of adequate faculty and poor research output pushed many educational institutions out of the race

Why has no Tamil Nadu institute made it to the list?

Most of the state-run institutions don’t have enough money and many staff positions are vacant. Though it was not a criterion, we looked at staff vacancies because it affects research. While old institutions such as Madras University have invested in research, newer institutions focus only on teaching. The target in the next 10 years is not to be just a top Indian institution, but to feature in the top 500 international rankings. The capability is assessed from that point of view. International rankings have fixed parameters and focus should be on research and output of faculty. And it’s not any just research paper. We look for papers that have high citations. Unless it’s worthwhile it won’t get quoted. If universities are not ready with ’ these they won t make it to the list.

IIT-M has a high research output, it is also considered to be one the best in the country. Why did it not make it to the list?

There is no doubt that it is a good institution. We had given a longer list to the Centre, but it was decided to have just three institutions in the private sector and three in the public sector. So to qualify for the top three, we had to choose the one that does better. With higher slots in the international rankings, IIT Delhi and Bombay had better chances. And it’s not IIT-M’s fault. In world rankings, the number of foreign faculty and students play a part. Many don’t choose Chennai because of the heat; they prefer a more salubrious climate. So, although research and per person output at IIT-M may be good, they were behind others in the international ranking.

What should institutions do to get on to the list next time?

The institutions themselves know this. Look at the scandals in Tamil Nadu’s universities. Despite this they did not do badly in the recent Indian ranking. Madras University did well and Anna University did better. These institutions have displayed they have potential.

If they are good, where is the problem?

Politicking should stop in educational institutions. Many of the government institutions across the country are fund-starved. If you increase salary of teachers without increasing fee as a social welfare policy, it’s the state’s choice. But for this you can cut other budgets. Some universities have up to 50% staff vacancies. How can we expect proper teaching? Where is the time to invest on research? Ensure selection of teachers is based on merit and not on a phone call. Like many developed countries, we may not be able to afford one teacher for 30 students, but we must at least not have vacancies in sanctioned strength.

Jio University is yet to come up. How did you grant it IoE status?

The policy was framed to allow institutions to apply under the ‘green field’ category. Unlike the five other institutions, Jio University will not have the status from day one.

They will get the letter of intent only after we sign a memorandum listing all the promises they have made. In three years, they will have to write to the Centre saying they have fulfilled all the promises and then they will be awarded the status. It was a stringent evaluation process. There were 113 applications, of which 40 were from private and 73 public institutions.



FALLING SHORT: IIT Madras despite high research output could not make the cut because of lower global rankings

Child’s rape & murder: HC upholds death for Dashvanth

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:11.07.2018

About 16 months after S Dashvanth, a computer engineering graduate, sexually assaulted and murdered a seven-yearold girl at his house in Mugalivakkam, the Madras high court confirmed his death sentence saying his character was beyond redemption and that his reformation was but a distant dream.

Issuing the order against the 23-year-old, a division bench of justices S Vimala and S Ramathilagam, said: “Let the last second of this accused, at the long end of the rope, be the last second of the lust of potential offenders of the world towards womenfolk.” If at all there is a case warranting award of death, it is this, the judges said.



‘Mind of the accused reflected in the way he tried to dispose of the body’

Dashvanth lured a seven-yearold girl, his neighbour, sexually assaulted her and killed her. He took the body in a bag and torched it in a deserted area in February 2017. Till his role was exposed, he joined the team of police and family members searching for the missing girl. After a long stay in jail, he came out on bail, only to murder his own mother and flee to Mumbai with jewellery stolen from his own house. He was nabbed in Mumbai, but escaped from police custody, before being caught again within a day.

After so much drama, Dashvanth was sentenced to death by Chengalpet mahila court in the sexual assault-murder case on February 19, 2018. The present bench of the high court heard both the mandatory referred trial (RT) and regular appeal filed by Dashvanth against his conviction.

Confirming his death sentence with heavy heart, the all-women bench of the high court on Tuesday said: “Opponents of capital punishment may brand it as surrender of our emotions to grief and fear. But for the supporters, this is totally false. Many of us would find it hard even to kill an ant, much less a man. Accepting capital punishment means not that we surrender our emotion, but that we overcome it.”

Further, pointing out to the allegation that he had even murdered his mother, before fleeing to Mumbai jumping bail during the trial in the present case, the court said the act of accused clearly shows that reformation of the accused is a distant dream and, therefore, prudence should prevail in sentencing the accused to death.

Noting that the court though swayed by the demands for abolition of capital punishment from the pages of penology, is still conscious of the larger social interest and attendant implications of letting out the criminals involved in child sexual abuse, the bench said: “Left with the Hobson’s choice of sticking to the capital punishment as the appropriate punishment for the accused, we thereby, concur with the reasoning offered by Brutus after assassination of Caesar in Shakesperian history. Brutus said, I loved Caesar less, by that I loved Rome more.”

Answering to an ancillary contention to consider that the age of the accused must be considered, while imposing punishment, the bench said, it is to be pointed out that though age is a factor, it is not a determinative factor, for deciding the punishment. “This court is of the considered opinion that the mind of the accused is reflected in the way the body of the deceased had been tried to be disposed of. It shows the ruthless character of the accused, which shows that the mind is beyond reformation,” the court added.

After pronouncing the judgment, the court granted leave to the accused to file appeal in the Supreme Court as requested by the counsel for accused.


S Dashvanth

First transsexual SI files police plaint against ex

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:  11.07.2018

The country’s first transsexual police officer, K Prithika Yashini, has charged her former boyfriend with harassment.

In a complaint to the Aminjikarai police, Prithika, a sub-inspector, said she had a relationship with Janardhanan after meeting him on Facebook a few years ago.

They had differences of opinion and separated around the time she received her first police posting a year ago, she said. She had not been in touch with him since then.

She recently started to receive disturbing calls and messages from Janardhanan, Prithika said in the complaint. She said she made it clear to Janardhanan that the messages and calls were unwelcome.

The Aminjikarai police registered a case and questioned Janardhanan. They let him off with a warning after he promised officers that he would not attempt to contact Prithika again.

“We took an undertaking from Janardhanan before letting him go,” a police officer said.

Prithika, born in Salem in 1990, was the son of an autorickshaw driver, P Kalaiarasan, and a homemaker, Sumathi. As an adult, she underwent a sex change operation and changed her birth name of Pradeep Kumar.

She applied for the post of sub-inspector in February 2015, but came up against a brick wall in the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board, which rejected her application. Prithika moved the Madras high court, stating that the board had rejected her application for the post of SI on the grounds that the application had only two columns — male and female — for candidates to indicate their gender.

In a milestone November 2015 ruling, the court directed the board to include members of the transgender community under a “third category”.

Recruited as an SI, Prithika received her appointment order in February 2016. She is now with the Choolaimedu police.



HAVING NONE OF IT