Accused Anna University professor cries foul, says acted against erring examiners
While the FIR filed by the DVAC alleged that Uma and other accused had gone to the extent of destroying the answer scripts to bury evidence .

Published: 03rd August 2018 06:16 AM |

By Sushmitha Ramakrishnan

Express News Service

CHENNAI:A day after marks-for-cash scandal rattled Anna University, G V Uma, former Controller of Examination of the university and prime accused in the case, told Express that it was she who took action against 1,040 examiners after huge deviations were found in the re-evaluated marks last year. The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on Tuesday booked Uma and nine other teaching faculty members of the university and various colleges on charges of awarding marks to students for a bribe of just Rs 10,000 per student.

Uma, now a professor in Information and Science department, said she was surprised by the case against her several months after the issue came to light. “Action was taken against 1,040 examiners, when we observed that there were large deviations in the marks after re-evaluation,” she said. The punishment for the delinquent examiners, who evaluated the answer scripts in August last, was that they would not be allowed to take part in evaluation of the university exam papers in subsequent years. However, even after knowing that there were large discrepancies in the re-evaluated marks, no action was taken by the university except against the 1,040 delinquent examiners. It was not clear if the answer scripts were again evaluated after abnormalities were noticed.

While there were five-six rounds of inquiry by the university, Uma said, the only reasons such as stress, negligence and other personal problems were cited by examiners. “We didn’t stumble on any case of bribery,” she claimed. Enquiries were conducted during her tenure, which ended in March.

When contacted by Express over the issue, MK Surappa, Vice-Chancellor of the university, said, “Administrative decision will be taken, based both on criminal investigation and what we find out (from our internal probe).” According to M Venkatesan, the present Controller of Examinations of the university, the vigilance officers seized old answer scripts from his office and asked for further details related to the case.

While the FIR filed by the DVAC alleged that Uma and other accused had gone to the extent of destroying the answer scripts to bury evidence, Uma claimed that during her tenure, she improved transparency in the system.

‘Made answer keys public for transparency’

“I made sure answer keys were made public so that students would know if they were graded unfairly. The number of students who applied for revaluation dropped significantly after I introduced this system,” she said. She added that University College of Engineering, Tindivanam was removed from the list of evaluation centres for 2018, after she observed that the incidence of marks discrepancy was higher from that centre.

When queried about the charges alleged by the DVAC against her, Uma said, “I did not violate any norms and I discharged my duty honestly.” She has served as the Controller of Exams between March 2015 and March 2018. A total of 3,02,380 students applied for revaluation between April and June, 2017, of whom 73,733 students have passed and 16,636 improved.

Plan for uniform QR-coded answer sheets for TN varsities

Aimed at preventing students from ‘chasing’ answer papers to influence evaluation.

Published: 03rd August 2018 06:48 AM |

By S Mannar Mannan

Express News Service

COIMBATORE: The Department of Higher Education is taking steps to prevent students from ‘chasing’ examination answer papers, with the aim of influencing evaluation.It plans to introduce a uniform answer scripts with QR codes in all State universities, which is expected to hide the identity of each candidate more effectively than at present.

The new system will be tried out in one or two colleges affiliated to the Alagappa University, Karaikudi, for the November/December semester examinations.Based on the results, it will be adopted in all universities from April/May 2019 semester examinations.

“Different universities have different patterns now to prevent the ‘chasing’ of answer sheets. While Madurai Kamaraj University does not assign dummy numbers, some universities assign up to five bar codes, with different patterns, to the answer sheets. But no university uses QR codes now. We want to introduce a uniform system. A team of officials has studied methods used by different universities,” said a senior official in the Department of Higher Education.

The team is thinking of using QR codes, which can include a lot of information. Once the code is scanned, all the information in a particular answer script will be available.A team headed by Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education (TANSCHE) Member-Secretary R Lilly, who is also Joint Secretary (Higher Education) is working on the new script’s format.

“We want to ensure that nobody is able to ‘chase’ answer sheets and influence valuation. Manipulation should not take place. We are designing the entire system with this aim in view,” the official said, adding, “We will discuss it with controllers of examination of various universities before taking a final decision”.

The Department of Higher Education has already shifted the printing of answer scripts, except for universities which have contracts running, to the Directorate of Stationary and Printing, which will print the new answer sheet also, the official added.

Untold Stories of velachery

Historian Padmapriya Baskaran’s heritage walk will highlight the origins of the area and the people who shaped it.

Published: 04th August 2018 06:51 AM |

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By Roshne BalasubramanianExpress News Service

CHENNAI : The mention of present-day Velachery conjures visuals of a place that floats during the monsoon, has multiple ice-cream parlours, luxury shopping malls, tech giants, coaching centres and a good amount of traffic. But, little do we know about the rich heritage of this area, which is home to beautiful temples, with inscriptions that date back to the 10th century CE and a plethora of mythologies. Padmapriya Baskaran, writer-historian and founder of the Aalayam Kanden Trust, who will be conducting a walk in Velachery this Sunday, gives us a glimpse of its past.

“Every year, as part of the Madras Day celebrations, I try and choose one particular place or aspect of the city which isn’t getting as much as limelight as the others. Velachery is one place which is soaked in history but not many of us know about it,” she says. Selliamman temple, a small yet one of the oldest temples in the locality, bears an inscription dating back to the 10th century during the reign of Parantaka I. “The inscription identifies the place as ‘Velichery’. There are a minimum of six generations of Chola inscriptions that are currently available in the temples in Velachery,” she explains.

Velachery was within ‘Kottur Naadu’ (present-day Kotturpuram), a part of the ancient territorial subdivision known as ‘Puliyur Kottam’ and thus was also known as ‘Kotturnaatu Velichery’. “Inscriptions also talk about the area being referred to as Dinachanthamani Chaturvedimangalam, named after a Chola queen, the wife of Kulothunga I,” says Padmapriya.

Chaturvedi Mangalm, she says, is a settlement of Brahmins who are skilled in all four Vedas. During the Chola period, the settlement was well-developed and the temples in the locality became a hub for revenue activities. ‘Brahma deyas’, the land taxes, were given to the Brahmins and they became the local administrative heads constituting the ‘Maha Sabha’. “The inscriptions in the Dandeeswarar temple talk about these local administrators, who were known as the ‘Alangu Nattar’. Even today, the Yoga Narasimha temple, which we will be visiting, stands on Nattar street, which is named after them,” she says.

The many aspects of the locality, including the temples in the IIT campus and the story behind the name given to IIT Madras’s back gate, which is currently known as the ‘Appala kulam’ gate, will be discussed. “The area was named after Appaya Deekshithar, a scholar who lived in the 16th century, who visited and stayed in this part of the campus, which was previously a forest. So, ‘Appaya kulam’ became Appala kulam over the years,” she says.

Padmapriya will also be leading the city’s heritage buffs to the ‘Jeeva Samadhi’ of Chidambaram Periya Swamigal, who renovated the Dandeeswarar temple in the locality at the age of 80. “We will discuss why Dhandapani, a name that one would commonly associate with Lord Muruga was given to Shiva in this specific temple,” she adds.(The walk will be conducted on August 5 at 7am. For details, visit: www.facebook.com Aalayamkandentrust)

Another scandal brewing at Anna University
The DVAC officials said they are investigating the allegations now along with the cash-for-marks scam.

Published: 04th August 2018 06:49 AM 

By Sushmitha Ramakrishnan

Express News Service

CHENNAI : In what could be another scandal in the Anna University, the vigilance officers are probing whether the university officials caused Rs 60 crore loss to exchequer by printing mark sheets in huge quantum at an inflated price earlier this year.The convenor committee of the University (which was dissolved with the appointment of MK Surappa as Vice Chancellor), had formally lodged a complain with the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption. “The university needed only 2 lakh mark sheets. However over 20 lakh mark sheets were printed. We alerted DVAC in March,” said a source privy to the matter. These are empty mark sheets which would be later filled with the marks and distributed to the students.

The DVAC officials said they are investigating the allegations now along with the cash-for-marks scam. But an FIR is yet to be filed in the allegations over the mark sheet irregularities. Sources said that this many mark sheets should not be printed in one stretch as university grading system changes with regulations and these changes will alter the format of the mark sheet. Thus these mark sheets would go waste sooner.

“The cost of mark sheets ranged from `25 to `60, as opposed to single-digit cost usually incurred by other universities,” the source said. The printing company is said to have charged such exorbitant price claiming that reasons of improved security such as logos, hidden foils and other features that will prevent duplication. There are further alleged malpractices in tendering, according to another source in the University. “The tendering process was not transparent and the printing was done in a hushed fashion. Other authorised printed were kept in dark about the tendering process,” the source said.

On line Reporting of Resignation DGHS Notice 2.8.2018

DGHS COUNSELLING REVISED COUNSELLING 2018-19 SESSION

Aadi Perukku: 1,500kg of abandoned clothes cleared

Deepak.Karthik@timesgroup.com

Trichy:04.08.2018

As devotees visiting Cauvery banks on Aadi Perukku continued their custom of abandoning used clothes along the streams, rag pickers have been making the best use of the situation. On Friday, they managed to net around 1,500kg of clothes from the banks of Amma Mandapam in Srirangam.

Devotees believe that the Cauvery passing through Amma Mandapam ghats is as holy as the Viraja river believed to be flowing in Vaikuntam, the celestial abode of Lord Vishnu. During Aadi Perukku and Aadi Ammavasya (new moon day), ardent devotees follow the custom of abandoning clothes they wear during the dip signifying that they have washed away the sins of their past.

Since the Srirangam island here is known as “Boologa Vaikuntam” (heaven on earth) due to the presence of Sri Ranganathaswamy temple, the foremost of all 108 divya desam temples as per Vaishnavite belief, abandoning cloths in the Cauvery during Aadi Perukku has been a much practised custom for decades. “We believe that leaving our cloths in Cauvery and wearing new outfit will bring us good fortune. It is like starting a new beginning,” R Jayaprakash, a devotee hailing from Kumbakonam, said.

Trichy corporation had placed several bins exclusively for devotees to drop their clothes at Amma mandapam ghats to avoid the abandoned materials clogging the irrigation canals. However, the bins placed were barely used. Sensing an opportunity in the custom, a group of rag pickers had been annually picking the clothes abandoned by devotees as it flowed through the streams. Unlike last year, as water currents are high now, rag-pickers felt that netting the abandoned clothes was a challenging task.

“Last year we collected more than 2,500kg of clothes but this year due to good flow in Cauvery, we managed to get only 1,500kg. Even if you place bins, people find it satisfactory only if they leave clothes in the river,” A Arasan, one of the ragpickers in Amma Mandapam, told TOI. Arasan is accompanied by a team of 10 ragpickers who manned the Amma mandapam and Garuda mandapam ghats to collect the clothes abandoned.



CLEAN-UP DRIVE: During Aadi Perukku, devotees follow the custom of abandoning clothes they wear during the dip to signify that they have washed away their sins