Anna’s play, a critique of Hindu epics, taken off TN univ textbook

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:12.11.2018

The state-run Alagappa University on Friday removed from the textbooks a play penned by late chief minister C N Annadurai. The play titled ‘Neethi Devan Mayakkam’, which has been in the curriculum for MA Tamil in all the 40 affiliated and constituent colleges, is a critique of Ramayana and Mahabharata.

It has now been replaced with another play by Aru Ramanathan on Raja Raja Chozhan, said a circular sent to all the colleges under the university. S Rajamohan, dean, College Development Council, Alagappa University, said the decision was taken on a recommendation made by the board of studies.

“The board thought that students were unable to find enough guides explaining the play. They had to shell out extra money to buy them,” Rajamohan told TOI, when asked for the reason behind the decision.

Tamil scholars and Dravidian ideologues have called this explanation ridiculous.

K Ramakrishnan, a Tamil scholar from Coimbatore, said, “Neethi Devan Mayakkam, set in the 1940s debates the values demonstrated by Ramayana and Mahabaratha in front of a judge. There is no need for a separate guide explaining the content since Annadurai had adopted a straightforward and simple narrative throughout the play staged for common people across the state.”

Identify person behind univ’s decision, says K Veeramani

Condemning the move, Dravidar Kazhgam leader K Veeramani said there is an ulterior motive behind this. “The state should identify who was behind this decision taken by the university,” he said.

Seconding him, Ramakrishnan suspected the role of right-wing ideologues as a part of their nation-wide efforts to saffronize education. “An easy way to do it in Tamil Nadu is by eliminating content by Dravidian leaders like E V R Periyar and Annadurai,” he said.

Responding to the university’s claim of shortage of guides, Veeramani said, “We are taking about a university syllabus and not a high school content.” He warned of state-wide protests if the play is not reinstated immediately.

Dean Rajamohan said they were willing to stick to the old syllabus if there was opposition, and the circular sent on Friday will be declared null and void. Annadurai's plays like Or Iravu (One Night) and Velaikkari (The Maid) played a key role in communicating Dravidian ideologies to the masses and helped Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam (DMK) to win its first election in 1967.

Alagappa University, which is headquartered in Karaikudi, has most of its constituent and affiliated colleges in Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram.

This Christmas, flying to Kuala Lumpur costs more than to NYC
Maximum Fare To Singapore Touches ₹1.4L

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:

High demand has pushed up air fares to Southeast Asian countries for Christmas and New Year.

The fares have touched ₹1.2 lakh for a round trip to Malaysia and ₹1.4 lakh to Singapore, the most popular destinations for Chennaiites. The two cities are also transit hubs for people travelling to Indonesia, Vietnam and other emerging destinations. In comparison, a round trip to London costs ₹80,000 to ₹1 lakh, and to New York ₹75,000 to ₹1 lakh.

Travel operators hope that airlines might offer discounts to make travel affordable and to attract last-minute travellers. A two-way ticket to Bangkok is in the range of ₹20,000 to ₹34,000, to Kuala Lumpur is ₹13,000 to ₹1.2lakh, to Singapore is ₹23,000 to ₹1.4 lakh and to Dubai ₹27,000 to ₹37,000 for travel on Christmas week.

“It has doubled on most of the routes,” said Basheer Ahmed of Metro Travel. People who travel beyond Southeast Asia to destinations in Australia and the Far East are forced to spend more because of this, he noted.

Airlines have closed their lower economy seats and opened only premium seats for sale. This is considered to be a reason for the peak in air fare. “Fares out of Chennai are higher than other cities in the south. All flights to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand go full. This has reduced availability of seats. Hotels in these countries too have increased their tariff,” said Ahmed.

Karan Anand, head, relationships, Cox & Kings Ltd isn’t surprised. “Christmas and New Year are peak travel time for people across the world. This leads to a spike in air fares and hotel rates. It is always better to book at least one month in advance as reasonable deals would be available,” he said.

Indians travelling abroad during the year-end also prefer Australia, New Zealand, Turkey and Egypt. “We see demand for these routes picking up and expect fares to go up by at least 20%,” said Anand. Ahmed said air fares to Australia had increased by ₹25,000, compared to last month.

Anand said it is the best time to travel to the Middle East, as the weather is pleasant and places such as Bahrain and Qatar are opening up for tourism.

Denied entry into house, man burns father alive

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:12.11.2018

A day after a 56-year-old man succumbed to burn injuries at the Kilpauk Medical College (KMC) hospital on Saturday, police arrested his son for setting him afire at Zam Bazaar on Sunday.

According to police, hours before the murder, E Shankar, a resident of Tamil Nadu Housing Board Colony in Royapettah, had a fight with one of his three sons and refused to let him sleep inside the home.

Police said Shankar had three sons - Ramachandran, 29; Ramakrishnan, 28 and Vijay, 26. “Vijay and Shankar picked up quarrel with Ramakrishnan on Friday. Ramakrishnan was staying on the pavement as his father refused to let him enter the home due to bad habits. After neighbours alerted the control room, police personnel from the Zam Bazaar police station picked up Shankar and Ramakrishnan and questioned them on Friday night,” a police officer said.

After questioning, police let them go back home as they were fully drunk, and asked them to appear before the investigation officer on Saturday morning. “That night, Shankar’s youngest son Vijay slept in the first floor of the house while Shankar slept in his room on the ground floor. Ramakrishnan slept in front of their house,” the officer said.

At around 1.30am, Vijay heard his father’s cries and rushed downstairs to find his father afire, police said. Shankar, who sustained 95% burns, died without responding to the treatment on Saturday.

Based on Vijay’s complaint, police picked up Ramakrishnan suspecting his hand in the murder. During questioning, Ramakrishnan confessed to killing his father after buying petrol from a fuel outlet nearby. He poured the petrol through the window and set him afire, police said.

31% dip in sale of post cards, Speed Post bookings up

Yogesh.Kabirdoss@timesgroup.com

Chennai:12.11.2018

When was the last time you wrote a letter on a post card or an inland letter?

With the humble mode of written communication almost obsolete, sale of post cards, inland letter cards and envelopes has dropped by 31% in the past one year in Chennai.

These days, post cards are used by firms to connect with their clientele, which sustains the sale. While 47.25 lakh post cards, inland letter cards and envelopes were sold by 200 post offices in Chennai and suburbs of Tambaram during 2016-17, it shrunk to 32.56 lakh in the next fiscal of 2017-18. This has hit the revenue of the postal department by almost 50%.

According to sources, the significant drop in post cards, inland letter cards and envelopes indicate that personal communication through posts is coming down.

“The three are used in bulk by educational institutions, non banking finance companies and government agencies to communicate with masses. Individuals writing to their relatives or friends are almost negligible,” an official said. While a post card is priced at 50 paise, the cost of an inland letter is Rs 2.50.

Contrastingly, there has been an increase in the number of articles posted by unregistered and Speed Post, the latter recording an 18% jump in parcels in the past one year.

R Anand, post master general, Chennai City Region, said several business firms prefer the postal department to send official communication to their customers. “Around 55% of Speed Post customers are business firms,” he said.

Articles posted by unregistered post and Speed Post are up, with the latter recording an 18% jump in the past one year

Red alert issued as ‘Gaja’ may batter city on Wed, Thursday

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:12.11.2018

The Met department on Sunday issued a red alert to coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, for Thursday as the deep depression over the Bay of Bengal, which intensified into cyclonic storm Gaja, may turn into a severe cyclone in the next 24 hours. The cyclone, which may move towards north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coast, is likely to make landfall between Chennai and Nagapattinam on November 15.

The cyclonic storm Gaja, named by Thailand, was currently located 840km off Chennai coast and 980km away from Sriharikota.

According to IMD deputy director S Balachandran, the system may bring “heavy rain to Chennai and coastal areas.” However, it may weaken as it nears the coast and makes landfall on Thursday afternoon, said the forecast.

The storm had moved west northwest at 13km speed over the past six hours.

“While heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places over north coastal TN and Puducherry on Wednesday, heavy to very heavy rain with isolated extremely heavy rain is likely at a few places over north TN and Puducherry on Thursday,” said the forecast issued by the IMD.

GAJA IS COMING: May make landfall between Chennai and Nagapattinam on Thursday

City likely to remain cloudy on Mon, Tues

The city, meanwhile, may not get rain on Monday and Tuesday. “The sky condition is likely to be cloudy with the maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 32°C and 24°C,” says the forecast.

Private weather forecaster Skymet says the distance across the Bay of Bengal, warm sea surface temperature and low vertical wind shear may provide more strength to the system.

Flight cancelled after 10-hour delay

Pon Vasanth B.A

MADURAI, NOVEMBER 10, 2018 00:00 IST



Around 70 passengers got stranded in the boarding area of Madurai airport on Friday. 

Meanwhile, Madurai airport gets bomb threat

An international flight from Madurai to Colombo, operated by SpiceJet, was cancelled after 10 hours of delay, leaving passengers stranded in the boarding area on Friday. According to the passengers, as the flight was scheduled to depart from Madurai at 12.50 p.m. they had started to check in at the immigration counter.

While SpiceJet staff initially announced that the flight would be slightly delayed, there was no proper communication from them subsequently, the passengers claimed.

“At 7.50 p.m., we were informed that the flight has been cancelled due to technical problems,” a passenger, who was travelling with her family, said, adding there were around 70 passengers waiting to board the flight. The passengers included at least one who had to rush for a funeral of a close relative and another who had a connecting flight to Qatar on Friday night.

Airport sources said the flight, which operated as a domestic flight from Hyderabad to Madurai and then as an international flight from Madurai to Colombo, developed a technical glitch while landing at Madurai airport.

“Attempts to rectify the issue failed,” a SpiceJet executive, speaking on anonymity, said. The executive added that an alternative flight would be arranged on Saturday morning. Agitated passengers attempted to gherao SpiceJet staff.

Bomb threat

Meanwhile, around 7.15 p.m., Madurai City Police control room received a bomb threat to a flight in Madurai airport.

According to a senior police official, the caller, who identified himself as Ramasamy, claimed that he overheard two persons discussing that a bomb was to explode in a flight departing Madurai on Saturday morning.

Madurai SP N. Manivannan said airport authorities, including Central Industrial Security Force, had been alerted. “We will provide all assistance to them as required. Meanwhile, we are also trying to track the caller. The phone remains switched off,” he added.

Digital learning will have a big impact in education process: VC

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

KARAIKUDI, NOVEMBER 10, 2018 00:00 IST

‘ Enrolment in ‘Swayam’ has touched 2.750’


The word ‘digital’ is used in all spheres of human activity. It has become inseparable and inevitable in daily life, playing a pivotal role in the learning for students now, said N. Rajendran, Vice-Chancellor, Alagappa University.

Presiding over an one-day workshop on ‘Design and development of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)’ for the faculty members of the university and affiliated college here on Thursday, he said the digital initiatives would have a far-reaching impact in the education process. The Central government had exclusively dedicated the portal, ‘Swayam,’ for online learning and within a short span of its launching in 2014, it was offering more than 800 free courses in many disciplines, he said.

The online courses helped the students acquire knowledge and develop communication and other skills in an easy and interesting manner, he said. Thanks to online learning, a student could listen to a lecture of an eminent IIT professor while sitting at home.

Mr. Rajendran said when he assumed office as Vice-Chancellor in June this year, the enrolment in ‘Swayam’ in the úniversity was 1,000 and the number had increased to 2,750 now. The University was following the guidelines of University Grants Commission (UGC) in terms of activities of ‘Swayam, he said and asked the teachers to develop MOOC courses in regional language.

S. Gowri, Director, Education Multi Media Research Centre (EMMRC), Anna University, Chennai, who inaugurated the workshop, said that though many countries offered MOOC courses, India alone offered them free of cost to the students.

Referring to apprehensions that the technology would replace teachers in future, he said the technology, in fact, would support the teachers and make learning easy. “The technology reduces the burden of teachers,” he said.

He said 30 EMMRCs were functioning across the country, including two in Tamil Nadu. “EMMRC plays a key role in helping students learn at their own pace and at the place of their convenience,” he said.