Technical glitch makes VTU students write exam late

STAFF REPORTER

BENGALURU, JANUARY 15, 2019 00:00 IST

Students of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Belagavi, who appeared for the semester examination were made to wait for around one-and-a-half hours as there was a technical snag in the VTU server at its headquarters in Belagavi. There was a delay in the question papers reaching the students as the question papers are delivered online.

Students who were scheduled to appear for the afternoon session of the exam at 2 p.m. were made to wait till around 3.30 p.m. in some centres.

Satish Annigeri, Registrar (Evaluation) of VTU said: “We are using a new software and there was no problem for all the other examinations. Monday was the last day of the regular examinations and we had a small technical glitch.”

He did not elaborate on the exact nature of the problem, citing confidentiality reasons.

KGF reference

Many students who wrote the compulsory Kannada paper were surprised to find a reference from the recently released blockbuster - K.G.F.: Chapter 1 in their question paper.

Major fire in women’s hostel in Chennai

R. Sivaraman

JANUARY 15, 2019 00:00 IST

Risky abode:Police suspect that the fire at the hostel in Choolaimedu was the result of a short-circuit.

Short circuit suspected to be the cause

Five women, one of whom was pregnant, were rescued from the bathroom of a women’s hostel in Choolaimedu after a fire broke out in the two-storeyed building on Monday morning.

According to the police, the fire broke out on the first floor of Sri Dhanshika Lady’s Hostel, located on Third Street, Choolaimedu.

About 30 working women stay in the hostel. On Monday, only 10 were on the premises as the others had left for their home towns for Pongal.

Short-circuit to blame

Police suspect that the fire was the result of a short-circuit in a hall on the first floor. The blaze spread fast and the five women could not get out of the hall due to the flames and thick smoke.

Panic-stricken, the women locked themselves inside a bathroom. One of them called the hostel owner on her mobile, while another called a friend. The hostel owner, Mahesh, came with a fire-extingusher and tried to put out the fire. The neighbours called up the fire control room for assistance.

Fire and Rescue Service personnel led by Fire Officer M. Arifa reached the spot immediately. As the street is narrow, the water tenders could not enter the street. After much difficulty, the fire service personnel managed to spray water on the building to douse the flames.

The Fire Officer told The Hindu , “After putting out the fire, we managed to enter the premises surrounded by thick smoke. On reaching the first floor, we searched every room. We found five women in a bathroom. One of them was pregnant and unconscious. I physically lifted her and brought her down.”

The rescued inmates, Vidya, Kavitha, Pavithra, Ranjitha and Ayana, sustained minor burns. The owner of the hostel has been admitted to Kilpauk Government College Hospital with 41% burns.

Rules flouted

Senior police officers inspected the spot. “The building has no fire-fighting equipment, which is mandatory. We have registered a case of accidental fire. We are investigating whether the premises had the necessary licence and followed procedures. If there is any violation, we will take action against the owner,” a senior police officer said.

Rare Egyptian vulture spotted at Kannankurichi Lake

STAFF REPORTER

SALEM, JANUARY 15, 2019 00:00 IST



A rare and endangered Egyptian vulture, Neophron percnopterus spotted in Salem.

A rare and critically endangered Egyptian vulture, Neophron percnopterus, was spotted in Kannankurichi Lake here recently.

A. Kasi Viswanathan, a birder, spotted and photographed a lone juvenile Egyptian vulture soaring above the lake.

He said that it was totally an unexpected sighting as they look very different in juvenile and adult phases of life.

The adult bird looked dirty white with bare yellowish face and had black flight feathers. The juvenile bird looked all black and attained the adult plumage as it matured, he added.

Vulture conservationist S. Bharathidasan of Arulagam that works towards the conservation of fauna and flora in the State said that the population of Egyptian vultures was more than crows several decades ago. However, their numbers dropped alarmingly and today it was the rarest resident vulture species in the State. Apart from feeding on dead animal carcasses, these vultures feed on larvae in the cow dung.

S.V. Ganeshwar of Salem Ornithological Foundation said the other and only evidence for previous published sighting of the Egyptian vulture around Salem comes from a statement in the Vernay Scientific Survey of the Eastern Ghats, conducted in 1929 that reported a single bird on the Chitteri plateau. “Today, most of the Chitteri range falls outside Salem’s boundaries,” he added.

Mr. Kasi Viswanathan said the sighting was uploaded in eBird, an international database to document birds and was approved by ornithologists.

HC asks school to pardon student

STAFF REPORTER

MADURAI, JANUARY 15, 2019 00:00 IST

The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court has asked the school authorities to pardon a boy who allegedly threw ink at his teacher during an examination.

The mother of a Class XI student from Sivaganga moved the court after he was issued a transfer certificate.

The woman said her son’s ink pen had stopped writing and when he tapped the pen, ink splashed on to the trousers of the invigilator, who complained to the school authorities, terming it a deliberate act.

Following this, the Headmaster issued a transfer certificate.

KMCH performs heart transplantation

STAFF REPORTER

COIMBATORE, JANUARY 15, 2019 00:00 IST

Kovai Medical Center and Hospital (KMCH) recently performed a heart transplantation on a 26-year-old man from Erode.

The patient was brought to the hospital with only a 15 % heart function, as he had dilated cardio-myopathy, a condition wherein the heart muscle is too weak to pump blood.

Cardio-thoracic surgeon Prashant Vaijyanath and interventional cardiologist R. Sureshkumar examined the patient and concluded that a heart transplantation was the only solution.

The transplantation was performed last week when the hospital was allotted a heart donated from a brain dead person through the Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu. The transplantation was done free of cost as it was covered under the Chief Minister’s ComprehensiveHealth Insurance Scheme.

Chairman of KMCH Nalla G. Palaniswami said the entire process, right from harvesting the heart from the brain dead person to the transplantation, had to be done within a short span of time.

Website open for NEET application corrections

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI, JANUARY 15, 2019 00:00 IST

Portal can be made use of till Jan. 31

The National Testing Agency has opened its website for candidates to correct errors they may have inadvertently committed while filling the forms for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (UG) 2019.

The facility will be available on the NTA  websitewww.ntaneet.nic.in from 11 a.m. on January 14 to 11.50 p.m. on January 31.

The sale of applications for UG NEET began on November 1 and the last date was December 7. The NTA notification, signed by Senior Director NEET (UG), NTA, informs that a one-time correction facility has been provided to candidates to amend their online application form.

Candidates must pay additional fee while making the correction in gender and category. Aspirants have been advised to visit the NTA website for guidelines.

Candidates must pay additional fee for making corrections to gender and category

Engineering colleges struggle as number of admissions decrease

R. Sujatha

CHENNAI, JANUARY 15, 2019 00:00 IST

Dip in placements and faculty attrition plague institutions around the State

In the last five years, many engineering colleges affiliated to Anna University have seen their admission plummet from 10% to 50% or more.

While some colleges in rural areas have shut down, the seats of top ranked institutions get filled in the first few days of admission. Meanwhile, the middle-rung engineering colleges, where admission has fallen by about 30%, are trying to find ways to survive.

College administrators blame it on several factors, primarily on ranking of institutions by the Anna University, AICTE norms, faculty attrition and lack of interest from industries/companies to collaborate. K.S. Roopa, chief executive officer, Dhanalakshmi College of Engineering, said, “Students don’t flock to our college despite us improving on the placements. We placed 73 out of 200 employable students this year. Last year, only 38 students got jobs. But the ranking based on academic performance is telling on admission. This year we managed only 50% admission.” SKR Engineering College faces similar situation. “About 60-70% of the graduates get placement annually but admission has fallen to 350 against the intake of 500,” Divya Satish, a Computer Science professor, said.

‘Introspect, equip’

Experts say fortunes of these institutions can change only if they introspect and converse among themselves. TeamLease Digital’s business head Supaul Chanda cited the World Bank report that India lags in engineering education. “There are sufficient jobs for engineers provided they are equipped for it,” he said.

His suggestions are simple: involve the alumni in college activities; encourage teachers to publish papers and take up projects; and assess students’ aptitude periodically for the chosen branch of study. Rajendran Dandapani, Business Solutions Evangelist at Zoho Corporation, called attention to small details such as teachers maintaining communication channels among themselves.

Changes on the way

The same concept applies to college owners, feels P. Ravikumar of Digiterati. “Institution owners will benefit if they interact among themselves, communicate and converse, instead of living in denial,” he noted.

Some institution managers have begun reviewing their organisations though. R.S.K. Raguram, pro-chairman, PSNA College of Engineering and Technology, admits to a 10% dip in admission. He now plans assessment tests for students.

“Companies don’t want to waste time. They leave as the prospects are better elsewhere,” said A. Kanagaraj, chairman, Jaya group of institutions. He has realised that industry sees no point in collaborating and that faculty attrition has impacted campus placement.

Companies don’t want to waste time. They leave as the prospects are better elsewhere

A. Kanagaraj

Chairman, Jaya group of institutions