HC allows girl to be promoted

STAFF REPORTER

MADURAI, OCTOBER 04, 2018 00:00 IST

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court allowed a petition filed by the father of a girl who sought a direction for promotion of his daughter to Class 10. Justice V. Parthiban ordered the promotion.

The petitioner, D. Alagusubramania Raja of Sivaganga, claimed that his daughter, a student of Kendriya Vidyalaya, was asked to re-write the Class IX Mathematics paper after she failed in it. The school also asked her to re-write the Science paper as she had secured low marks.

The student is said to have cleared both the papers in the re-examination. Though the girl had cleared her Mathematics examination, the school authorities denied promotion.

The school said if the overall marks were taken for Mathematics she would be clearing the examination, but she had failed to get the minimum if the internal assessment and written examination marks were considered separately.

Restaurant kitchen sealed

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI, OCTOBER 04, 2018 00:00 IST

A team of officials from Tamil Nadu Food Safety Department sealed the central kitchen of a chain of restaurants, Aasife Biriyani, in Guindy on Wednesday, citing sub-standard food and unhygienic environment.

According to officials of the Food Safety Department, the central kitchen was sealed as there was no response to repeated notices issued to improve and adhere to the quality standards under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

It is from here that main dishes are prepared and transported to different outlets across the city. The building was sealed after an emergency prohibition order was obtained.

UGC relief for Madras University

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI, OCTOBER 04, 2018 00:00 IST

35 distance education courses get the nod; pressure on funds may ease

The University of Madras has received the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) recognition to offer 35 distance education programmes from this academic year. Earlier this year, the UGC had granted permission only for two courses.

The recognition comes as a boost to the cash-starved institution, which has been heavily dependent on the revenue the Institute of Distance Education (IDE) generated.

As much as 95% of the total enrolment in the IDE was in 12 subjects: management studies, commerce, computer science, English, Tamil, criminology, politics and public administration, mathematics, history, economics, psychology and yoga.

Cracking down on ill-equipped distance education courses, the UGC had earlier ordered closure of study centres of universities outside the State and refused to grant approval for IDE courses which were being offered without adequate faculty members. Following this, in August, the university Syndicate approved the transfer of faculty from the regular departments to the IDE as a temporary measure until fresh recruitment was undertaken in the IDE.

Vice Chancellor P. Duraisamy said the UGC had now granted recognition for all the 35 undergraduate and postgraduate programmes for which it had applied. “It covers 93% of our student enrolment in the IDE,” he said.

“We have given an undertaking to the UGC on following the regulations of the AICTE and NCTE following which the UGC granted approval for six of our MBA and MCA programmes,” he said.

Mr. Duraisamy had earlier introduced some far-reaching reforms such as bringing the IDE programmes under the Choice Based Credit System and permitting students to take up to 20 credits under the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Students have also been given the option of moving from regular course to the IDE.

Leave God out of the examination, says university

Tanu Kulkarni

BENGALURU, OCTOBER 04, 2018 00:00 IST



Sebastian Francis 

RGUHS bans writing of religious names or symbols on answer sheets

It is a truth universally acknowledged that students desperate to do well in an exam will turn not only to their notes for last-minute revision but also to God. Evaluators have often noticed religious words such as ‘Om’ and other mantras written neatly on the answer sheet. Now the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), the affiliating authority for all medical, dental and Ayush colleges in Karnataka, has decided to ban students from writing the names of Gods and assorted mantras on their answer sheets.

Varsity officials believe that this is not just a matter of simple faith. M.K. Ramesh, Registrar (Evaluation) of RGUHS, said the university has come across cases where certain words like ‘Om’ or names of gods were written in pre-assigned spots to help the evaluator identify the student whose answer script he or she is evaluating. “We see that students write ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ on the top of the third or fourth page. All this is to give a signal to the evaluator. Writing such things in the examinations will henceforth constitute malpractice,” Mr. Ramesh said.

The principal of a medical college in Bengaluru, however, said this was a drastic step taken and that it could interfere with a student’s faith. “The university should instead say that students can write a god’s name at one particular place in the answer paper,” he said.

New malpractice rules

Besides the ban on religious words, the university has added seven other rules on what could constitute a malpractice. Students are now prohibited from writing the register number, their name, the letters ‘P.T.O.’ at the end of the pages, other irrelevant messages, any word, number, or sentence that is extraneous to the answers, answers that are out of context to the question asked, and tampering with the booklets. “Do not write any sign/symbol, letter, word which are likely to be construed as revealing the identify of the answer script,” states a circular issued by the varsity to all colleges on Monday.

Mr. Ramesh said that answer sheets of students violating these rules will be sent to the malpractice committee, which will decide on whether the student has to pay a fine or be disqualified. RGUHS also has another committee, the Professional Misconduct Committee, which will oversee the functioning of evaluators.

Students have welcomed the move as they feel that their peers have come up with novel ways of cheating.

Students’ Victory: Delhi HC Rules Favourable Decision on UGC Gazette

The High Court order on Monday came on the plea filed by the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and three others challenging the constitutional validity of the Gazette.

The Delhi High Court on Monday in the case against the University Grants Commission (UGC) Gazette 2016, made major intervention by ruling against the criteria of 100% weightage to viva voice for admission to MPhil and PhD. It has been held arbitrary and against Article 14 of the Indian Constitution. However, it upheld the guideline barring the number of students a professor can guide to three MPhil and eight PhD scholars, but said that the number of MPhil and PhD seats cannot be reduced.

The plea against the guideline was filed by the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and three other students, who had challenged the constitutional validity of the UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of MPhil and PhD degree) Regulations, 2016, effective from July 5, 2016.

UGC Regulations ‘irrational’

Following the HC ruling, the SFI issued a statement saying that the HC has also upheld the reservation policy for admissions as constitutionally mandated. “This is the first but major step to fight the draconian anti-constitutional UGC Gazette. The struggles for the fight for social justice must continue to ensure that the reservation policy is implemented in toto,” the SFI statement said.

The students and the SFI had contended that the regulations resulted in a massive cut in seats for MPhil and PhD course beginning in the academic year 2017-18 in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and other universities.

The petition filed by the SFI and the other students said that, in JNU, compared to 970 seats in the 2016-17 academic year for these two degrees, last year the number of seats had dropped to 102. The seats had reduced due to the cap on the number of students per research supervisor for MPhil and PhD courses.

Terming the UGC 2016 regulations as “irrational”, the petitioners had also alleged that it was contrary to the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy.

Students across Universities Welcome this Decision

Suresh, a PhD scholar from JNU, told NewsClick that even though the court has given judgement on only three points, it can be seen as a huge victory for them. “In the 2016 Gazette notification, these three were the main problems. Earlier, for M.Phil or PhD, 30 per cent weightage was given to the viva exam and 70 per cent weightage was assigned for the written exam. What necessarily followed the decision to give 100 per cent weightage to viva was that it reduced the written examination to merely a qualifying exam, which was a major problem and the court has given judgement towards this in our favour,” he said.

The other important problem was that to maintain a supervisor-student ratio which was three MPhil and eight PhD students per professor, JNU decreased the number of seats for applicants. Manish, another research scholar from JNU terming the Court’s decision to be in their favour, said, “The Court has ruled that you can not decrease the seats even though they have upheld the UGC’s guidelines which directly means that the University will have to recruit more professors and it will not adversely affect the students.”

He further said, “The minimum marks required by the aspirants from any category was capped at 50 per cent. With the judgement in our favour, reservation will not be affected now and the university will have to venture into a course of progressive discrimination.”

Akhil Sibbal and Gaurav Bharadwaj, who were the lawyers for this case had also argued the case along these three main points even though the case was presented for the scrapping of the entire Gazette.

Students have also maintained that this judgement can be viewed as an exposé on the attack on higher education by the Government of India. “The way the Government of India has tried to tamper with the constitutional mandates regarding reservation or the way it dealt with the supervisor-student ratio, shows the negative attitude of the authorities whereas a more student and education friendly way or a more positive way would have been faculty appointments rather than seat-cuts”, said Sumit Kataria, a student from the University of Delhi.

More Struggles Ahead

The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) President, Vikas Badauria, has further said that the students’ organisation will continue to struggle against the 30 per cent weightage to viva, too. “In a Supreme Court judgement, the Court had upheld that keeping in mind a prospective job, viva should not be given a weightage of more than 15 per cent, therefore, our demands will now be towards 15 and 85 per cent weightage to viva and written examination, respectively.”

CHAPPANI BEATS PARATTAI

Kamal Haasan’s MNM Seems To Have Got A Leg Up Over Rajini’s RMM As It Makes Its Presence Felt In Rural TN

Mayilvaganan.V@timesgroup.com

For years, Kamal Haasan’s movies largely catered to the urban educated audience, with subjects such as Caesium explosive devices, which sounded alien to rural masses. Though movies like ‘Virumandi’ were based in a rural milieu, it was more of a creative pursuit than intended to cater to the fan base there. But in politics, Kamal seems to have understood that the path to power is through villages.

Clad in a crisp dhoti, a beaming Kamal Haasan was seen seated on the floor at a gram sabha meet in a nondescript village on October 2. Since the launch of Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), the actor-politician has been passionately advocating about gram sabhas. Perhaps the Ulaga Nayagan feels gram sabhas are the best way to reach out to people in villages and initiate a change in the political culture of the state (read strengthening his party).

On May 1, his party members took part in about 2,500 gram sabhas across the state. On Independence Day, the numbers increased to 3,500 and on October 2, MNM workers made their presence felt in close to 5,000 gram sabhas. “In areas where MNM members are not residents, we participate as observers,” said a MNM district functionary.

Listening to grievances and picking up on issues, MNM is slowly gaining a foothold in rural Tamil Nadu, but publicity is not the intention behind their participation, say MNM workers. “We took up the cause of gram sabhas based on suggestions. Few NGOs also requested us. Rural penetration was not the intention, but strengthening the panchayat raj system is,” says former IAS officer and key MNM member R Rangarajan. Despite the denials, MNM party workers have begun issuing membership enrolment forms in villages. The choice of gram sabhas was because it is the only place where public can question authority — panchayat president — directly, unlike in municipalities where grievances are presented through representatives.

Rajinikanth, through his Rajini Makkal Mandram (RMM), too has joined the gram sabha bandwagon. RMM recently launched a campaign to popuralize gram sabhas and its importance among the villagers in and around Sholinghur in Vellore. RMM members say plans are afoot to expand the campaign to other districts. “We will also distribute saplings during gram sabha meetings to improve the green cover,” said a member of RMM in Vellore.

It might be surprising that the superstar, who has over the years cultivated a fan base in rural and semi-urban areas, is also embarking on such a drive. Though partymen refuse to admit the motive is political, insiders say that RMM workers are finding it difficult to rope in more members for the outfit. Most hardcore Rajinikanth fans are in their 40s and 50s, while what is essential for a robust party apparatus is youth, to do the spade work. “It was a surprise for us that in several villages, many youths were in other parties or indifferent to politics,” said a worker from central Tamil Nadu.

Political observers feel that if it was political mileage that the actors were aspiring for, they might or might not get it, but if the intention is to strengthen gram sabhas, then they are definitely off the mark. To start with the Tamil Nadu Panchyayat Act passed in 1994 was weaker on several counts giving less powers to gram sabhas. Unlike neighbouring states like Kerala and Karnataka, where village panchayats enjoy more financial independence, TN’s gram panchayats are dependent on the state for funding, which defeats the objective of decentralization. “TN’s panchayat raj system is extremely weak,” said political commentator C Lakshaman.

“In TN there was cult leadership, be it MGR or Jayalalithaa or Karunanidhi. Who would question the decision of such leaders,” he asked. There were several instances of panchayat presidents overturning the decision of the gram sabha. Besides, issues like caste complicates matters, resulting in situations where elections are not held and panchayat presidents are murdered, which MNM and RMM has to take into account. “MNM’s action shows their poor understanding of panchayat raj system in TN,” said Lakshmanan.

Rangarajan however underlined that the party is not blind to other issues pertaining to villages and gram sabhas are only a beginning. “There are a lot of reforms required in laws related to rural and urban local bodies,” he said.

Email your feedback to southpole.toi@timesgroup.com



PEOPLE CONNECT: Kamal Haasan attends a gram sabha in a Kancheepuram village on October 2; Rajinikanth’s RMM has launched a campaign to popuralize gram sabhas in Vellore

DVAC seeks govt’s sanction to initiate action against min

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai 04.10.2018

: The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on Wednesday informed the Madras high court that it had applied to the government for sanction to initiate prosecution against local administration minister S P Velumani based on the corruption complaint filed by DMK.

“In view of the amendment made to the Prevention of Corruption Act on July 26, state’s sanction for initiating prosecution against a public servant is mandatory. The complaint has been filed in September and the same has been forwarded to the government for obtaining sanction. On receipt of such sanction, further course of action would be initiated by DVAC,” advocate general Vijay Narayan said.

Opposing the submission, N R Elango, senior counsel for DMK, said that since the government itself was accused in the present case, the sanction for prosecution must be obtained from the governor and not the government.

In response, Narayan said that if the court permitted he was ready to argue on whether the sanctioning authority for the present case is governor or the government.

Recording the submissions, Justice A D Audikesavalu posted the plea to October 26 for further arguments.

On Monday, relying on more than 1,000 pages of documents to prove alleged corruption in government contracts awarded by Velumani, DMK's organising secretary, R S Bharathi, moved the court seeking to constitute a special investigation team to probe the case and alleged that the DVAC is unwilling to impartially and fully investigate his complaint against Velumani, which he filed on September

10.